How Accurate is Ant's Graflex Replica?

I'm nearing completion of my ROTJ Luke lightsaber, and have been thinking about a ANH Luke one.
Now I have seen the second trailer for The Force Awakens, my desire to make one of these lightsabers has increased even more!

I can't afford a real Graflex, and my enjoyment of this hobby is in the scratchbuilding anyway, so I was delighted when I found Ant's Graflex Replica:

http://www.tk560.com/jegner/Graflex-replica.pdf

I'n thinking of using aluminum instead of steel, so I'm not going for 100% accurate, but I'd like to be as close as possible.

I'm just wondering what the general opinion is on this set of plans?

I have noticed that the clamp isn't correct, but I think I know how to bend a proper clamp.

Is the tube template itself good?

Any recommendations for the build, general tips, or modifications to increase the accuracy?

So I just glanced over that pdf file ... and 1 thing is certain ... that D-ring is wrong ... this is my custom design which is a lot closer to the actual prop then Ant's G R A F L E X :



Chaim

Yes, I noticed the D-ring too.
The end ('pommel') is incorrect too, because the tube is open-ended and thus must be fitted with a plug. This is unavoidable if making the saber from a tube.

Another couple of things of note are the incorrect clamp and the fact that the rabbit ears are made as a separate components rather than as part of the emitter ring.
He explains that the rabbit ears (and it can be inferred also the clamp) were because he found the shapes too complex to cut out; the templates themselves appear to be correct.
Looking at the emitter ring, it also looks incorrect, but I think I have a good idea how to make this properly.

I do have another question; on a real G R A F L E X, what exactly are the rabbit ears for?
Do you squeeze them together to release a spent bulb or something?

Also, why are we spelling it 'G R A F L E X'?

I have a theory...
I used to have a type of fish called an Oscar.
Many people used to keep a plecostomus, or 'pleco', catfish in the tank with their Oscar.
They usually got along ok as tankmates, but there was always a chance that the Oscar would one day kill the pleco.
People on forums always used to refer to them as a 'pl*co', in the supersitious belief that if they typed 'pleco', their pleco would die.

Is 'G R A F L E X' a similar superstition, perhaps inviting the good fortune of finding one for $5 in a thrift store?

Jamesbeat said:

Is 'G R A F L E X' a similar superstition, perhaps inviting the good fortune of finding one for $5 in a thrift store?

Click to expand...

Haha!! LOL! I guess you might be right! But I think Sym-Cha is the only one consequently spelling it like that

Indeed ... when you squeeze the bunny ears the bulb will pop out of the G R A F L E X flashgun ... mostly thrown on the street by the photographers at the time ... so when riding a bike near a crime scene in the 40's you had to be very careful not to blow a tire on the glass ... and yes as a professional photographer I like to write G R A F L E X with capitals ... also when you hit a guy with a regular 35mm camera ... they probably just stand up after a few seconds ... but when you hit the same guy with a G R A F L E X 4x5" camera ... he stays down for certain, hence the use of capitals :lol



Chaim

Hi,I Used ants template to make my anh replica I tweaked dimensions but i didnt keep any template it worked well for the tubing holes but i like the MoM template for vader stunt saber.it has all the holes to the emmiter part .
About materials I used brass that works beautifully but you have to chromeplate later .
Aluminum could work but I would use stainless steel that is a bear to work with as the MR elite edition.Check out mi thread and feel free to ask.