Scott D's Custom CanonSaber (Model Y Conversion/Pics)

Scott D

Sr Member
The inspiration for this one began when I saw pictures of RPF member AnubisGuard's Canon model Y-based custom saber in the "Show Your Custom Lightsabers!" thread.

My immediate thoughts when I saw it were "This is my favorite custom lightsaber in the whole thread." and "I have to build one, too."

The Canon model X and Y flashes are currently popular with custom saber fans here on the RPF, but I scored mine on Ebay for a fair price. Judging from what I saw on Ebay today, the prices are not so fair any more.

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The model Y is way too short as it is, so there's some effort involved to make it the proper length. Actually, there was a lot of effort to make all of the parts involved in this project fit together. Lots of cutting, grinding, sanding went into this one.

Like most CanonSaber builders, I made the most of out every original part and fabricated the emitter from the reflector/bulb socket components.

$32.00 Canon model Y flash

$11.00 Aluminum tube from Onlinemetals.com

$5.00 Grip screws

$15.00 Roy's ESB D-Ring

$5.00 (?) Yodashouse circuit board, purchased 10+ years ago

Total $68.00

Finishing another cool custom for the collection? Priceless.

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Looks amazing, as always! I really love the clamps on these things. I wish I could find a box of just these clamps to use on absolutely everything. I wonder if there are any bubble strips that would fit in there nicely.
 
You can always trim the bubble strip Vader-style. That's what I did.

Looks amazing, as always! I really love the clamps on these things. I wish I could find a box of just these clamps to use on absolutely everything. I wonder if there are any bubble strips that would fit in there nicely.
 
Absolutely beautiful!!
inspired by al the canon lightsabers on here i also puchased a model X flash (for way to much)
But want to finish my ANH Luke build first :)

I am really curious as to what kind of grips you used, is it custom made or found? ive seen more sabers on here with those kind of grips and they look amazing :)
 
I love it! Especially the grip / clamp section. Any idea if it would fit the TCSS chassis parts?
 
I blame this site for the recent mark up in Canon X/Y's.:rolleyes

So true. :) There's been some very good Canon build-ups posted here. I think we're making the Heilands, King SOLs, etc. go up, as well. Still some good deals to be found, though.

It's gorgeous. I love it.

Thanks, AG! :cool And I truly appreciate everyone's compliments, by the way.

I'm repeating myself, but the RPF has inspired me many times over the years and I try to do my part to inspire others.

Looks amazing, as always! I really love the clamps on these things. I wish I could find a box of just these clamps to use on absolutely everything. I wonder if there are any bubble strips that would fit in there nicely.

I love the clamps, too, but these suckers are metric. The typical 1-1/2" diameter camera flash will not fit inside one of these. There's a pic below to help explain what I had to do to make my bottom tube fit to the Canon clamp.

Absolutely beautiful!!
inspired by al the canon lightsabers on here i also puchased a model X flash (for way to much)
But want to finish my ANH Luke build first :)

I am really curious as to what kind of grips you used, is it custom made or found? ive seen more sabers on here with those kind of grips and they look amazing :)

The grips are pieces of stainless steel from an Ingersoll-Rand valve kit. They're like a guide for a reed valve and they come in various lengths. I've had a bunch of them in my greeblie stash for years and and many were used on 12 custom Lightsabers that I built in 2015. (Pics of those projects are in the "Show Your Custom Lightsabers" thread) Between that and giving several sets of them to my fellow RPF members recently, my supply is starting to dry up.



I love it! Especially the grip / clamp section. Any idea if it would fit the TCSS chassis parts?

As mentioned above, these Canon flashes are Japanese/metric, so it's a good bet they will not be compatible.

Nicely done! Really like what you used for grips, and the knurled thumb screw on top of the emitter!

The thumbscrew is from the reflector assembly. Along with the screw right beside it on the tube, they are holding the emitter in place. I didn't mention this in my initial post, but I did my best to bolt everything together and use the least amount of epoxy. The only epoxy used was to hold some of the inner parts of the emitter in place.

Have a shot of the bottom? Curious what the end of the aluminum tube looks like. :)

Sure do. It's the original Canon endcap, heavily modified to fit in the Online Metals tube. Two tiny screws secure it in place. You can see one of the screws under the grip.

Going off topic for a moment, but I gotta say that the finish Roy's D-Rings are beautiful. I just placed an order with him last month, and all of the parts that I purchased are top-notch.

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I made the bottom piece to work with the nubs inside the Canon clamp so it locks into place, just like the original endcap did.

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As mentioned earlier, this flash is metric and I didn't have much luck finding an aluminum tube that would fit, so I had to make it fit.

The pic below is a re-enactment of what I had to do, using the leftover piece of aluminum in my home made tool. I basically cobbled some stuff together from the junk drawer in my tool box to make the ultimate shade-tree lathe in Georgia. :lol Seriously, don't try this at home. After cuting off material with a file, I put one of those sandpaper flapper wheels in the drill chuck and smoothed it out. The aluminum tube was polished up with one of those brown Scotchbrite (?) pads and given a light coat of matte clearcoat. It matched the finish of the Canon flash pretty good.

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If I ever build another Canonsaber, I'm hoping to find the flash that is already the proper length. (The model X)


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One of my favorite Canon Sabers so far! How did you reconfigure the inside for the emitter to fit? Is the micro sync wheel still functional?
 

As mentioned earlier, this flash is metric and I didn't have much luck finding an aluminum tube that would fit, so I had to make it fit.

The pic below is a re-enactment of what I had to do, using the leftover piece of aluminum in my home made tool. I basically cobbled some stuff together from the junk drawer in my tool box to make the ultimate shade-tree lathe in Georgia. :lol Seriously, don't try this at home. After cuting off material with a file, I put one of those sandpaper flapper wheels in the drill chuck and smoothed it out. The aluminum tube was polished up with one of those brown Scotchbrite (?) pads and given a light coat of matte clearcoat. It matched the finish of the Canon flash pretty good.

That's very clever. The approach I took with mine was I had a Heiland 2-Cell Synchro-Special (I think) that I cut down, removed the threaded endcap, and flipped over to fit the slightly-narrower threaded end into the clamp. Worked like a boss and once I affixed the grips it's impossible to notice the slight discrepancy in diameter.
 
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One of my favorite Canon Sabers so far! How did you reconfigure the inside for the emitter to fit? Is the micro sync wheel still functional?

Yep, still functional. I mentioned cutting, grinding, sanding earlier, and making the emitter parts involved a lot of that.

The black part of the emitter got chopped down this short, just beyond the threads for the knurled reflector knob. The excess pieces are laying next to the vice.



The front of the micro-sync wheel assembly got chopped as far as I could. I needed the room for the emitter and the shroud. The front/top threaded hole on the sync wheel assembly had to be sacrificed, but the now open/available hole in the top of the flash tube was used for the threaded hole in the black plastic emitter. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try again.



That's very clever. The approach I took with mine was I had a Heiland 2-Cell Synchro-Special (I think) that I cut down, removed the threaded endcap, and flipped over to fit the slightly-narrower threaded end into the clamp. Worked like a boss and once I affixed the grips it's impossible to notice the slight discrepancy in diameter.

AG, I think your method was much better! :thumbsup I've seen those Syncro Specials on Ebay and wondered if they could serve a purpose for custom saber builders. Vintage parts are always a plus.

My original plan was to make a near-100% clone of yours because it totally rocks. :thumbsup

Imitation really is the highest form of flattery, but I ended up going "Scott D style" in a few areas, especially with the grips.
 
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