Making a replica Graflex clamp

Hexapuma

Hexapuma

New Member
So I can turn a Luke RotJ saber hilt on my small lathe without too much trouble. I'm working on milling a pommel for the same. But I cannot figure out how to make my own replica Graflex clamp. The cam lever and pin aren't too much trouble since they're a standard part I can buy cheaply enough and I have a roller to turn the stainless sheet into a ring but getting a neat bend in the end is giving me trouble. Has anyone made one of these from scratch? What technique did you use?

All I can think is that I might need to make a die and get a press. Form the shape that way and then trim to fit.

Does anyone have a better way?
 
If your trying to make a Graflex from scratch, I'd think you would be better off 3D printing? Otherwise tooling for one part would be prohibitive.

But I'm just a toad and not an expert. My journey into lightsaber replicas has only begun.
 
The little square Cs that hold the card? Yeah, they'd have to be die-pressed.

I had to make these little key shaped tube covers recently, which I had to run out and get a press for. 22Ga steel, was easy enough to get the nice tight radii with the 12-ton that I got, without even making a proper die- just clamped parallel barstock.

_MG_4480.jpg

Graflex clamps look like 18Ga or 20Ga, which would make it a little harder to get a really nice tight bend, but it should still be fine. May even be able to pre-bend a little and define the lines in a finger/box&pan brake, then crisp it up in the press. Or even heat the metal- but be careful then not to "forge" the metal thinner under pressure.

I'm planning on making one at some point, but no other ideas than what you've already figured out, basically.
 
Toad: I wish I could make everything using a 3D printer, to be honest. Combined with Solidworks it makes fabricating pretty much anything a breeze... And now you've put the idea in my head I'm wondering why I couldn't print the clamp. I've been avoiding it thus far because I want everything to have the proper, polished metal look but the Graflex Clamps always look different anyway and maybe a silver mirror finish plastic piece would work. Thanks for the idea! I may well try it!

Daegurth: Yeah, that's the conclusion I'm coming to. I got some 19Ga (BWG) stainless plates cut by a supplier and figured I'd put them through the rollers to get the ring and then just bend them in a vice, but fitting them in and getting a sharp bend was impossible, as well as mangling the finish. Then I tried bending before rolling which didn't come out much better. My only other thought is to make the collar itself out of the sheet and then attach a separate section that looks like the lock on top.

It's just something of a pain when you can make the entire saber out of £10 worth of materials but then need to buy a £40 trim element. The other option, of course, is to mill the control box out of Ali square stock and just screw it on to the body, which is a canon design, but is a shame when real Graflex clamps look so good!

Thanks for your thoughts guys! Not sure where I'll go from here...
 
Unless you are intentionally going the route of scratch-building it, you should consider just buying a repro for cheap, not worth investing in addtl. tools IMHO
 
You may as well get a replica clamp now they're available. However, people have made fairly decent clamps with no more than a vice. It really all depends on what you do first and last.
 
Clamps aren't machined, so to speak. They're sheetmetal. Essentially, a flat piece of metal bent into shape.
 
If I was going to do it, I would use a bench brake to put the 90 degree bends into the sleeve part, then bend in the shape. As far as the flat pieces the lever arm goes through, 100% accurate would be to follow those as well. However, with the tools it sounds like you have available, I would make them from solid stick shaped on a mill ... Just a thought.
 
There's a template in the hardware Graflex thread. Just go to Home Depot and get a some step flashing (for roofing and gutters, in packages of small 4x6 pieces(?). Then get a pair on long needle nose pliers with a straight edge of 2" or more. Start bending.

It may take you a few tries go get it right, but the flashing isn't terribly expensive. While the metal is a wee bit thin, it usually looks pretty good.
 
OdiWan: I'm trying to make as much as I can. It's a good way to learn new techniques and I'd like to make a few of these for friends, charity auctions etc. Buying one or two parts for a single saber is ok, but if I want to make half a dozen, then it gets prohibitive.

PoopaPapa: I've ordered one, but that's still £30. Maybe I'll take another swing at hand-making them from sheet. I just don't necessarily have the skill to turn them out high enough quality.

Straycatt: I'm hoping to add a bender to my tool collection some time soon, but for the time being I'm stuck trying to bend with a vice and mole-grips. If I can't get anything else to work then doing it in multi-parts might be my last resort.

Tan: I picked up that pattern a few months ago. I couldn't get it to work with the gauge of stainless I had but it might work with something lighter. Maybe I'll find some .9mm ali and see what I can do.

Thanks guys!
 
If you're planning making a lot of them, it might be worth investing in one of those tools mentioned, I believe, in that hardware Graflex thread. It's called a hand seamer and goes for about $30 at Lowe's
 
Ridire: Sadly I don't have the facilities to take the plates to 1900C and hold them there for ten minutes. It might well help, but it's far out of reach of my workshop.

Tan: Thanks for showing me that tool! We don't have Lowes here in the UK but I think I can get one of those seamers. I guess with thinner stainless or alu they'd actualy make bending quite easy and then I can roll the part. I'll see about procuring one.
 
Just a heads up... The hand seaming tool I mentioned above is on clearance at Lowe's. Item # 1080962. It's $32.98 on the website, but in the store I saw it for $4.06. If DIY clamps are in your future, it's worth the investment.
 
Hexapuma said:
Ridire: Sadly I don't have the facilities to take the plates to 1900C and hold them there for ten minutes. It might well help, but it's far out of reach of my workshop.

Tan: Thanks for showing me that tool! We don't have Lowes here in the UK but I think I can get one of those seamers. I guess with thinner stainless or alu they'd actualy make bending quite easy and then I can roll the part. I'll see about procuring one.
Click to expand...
You can get them on Amazon. I got this one one Christmas: Wiss WS3 3-Inch Straight Handle - HVAC Hand Seamer: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Here's a whole range of them, all about the 15-50 quid mark: Amazon.co.uk : seamer

They're really handy tools to have, I used mine the other day to reshape a set of parts drawers that had been dropped and the edge had folded. asavage recommends having two of them, so you can hold the piece with one and use the other to do the bending, so far I've coped with one (and pliers/vice/Mole grips) but I can see the logic. I might invest in one of the cheaper sets sometime as a dedicated holding pair...

If you wanted to try hot bending, B&Q etc have MAP gas (in a yellow canister) which burns hotter than butane and would help.
 
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