Assistance Needed for Part ID - OT Vader MoM Lightsaber Switch

[thd9791]

Okay - There have been a few scattered threads on this part, or it's components.

Part of it is on the Barbican Saber (or the ANH Vader Stunt lightsaber)

A cast of this part is on the Energizer saber and some other subsequent Don Bies sabers. (I think?)

The large box is on the ESB Graflex turned Vader Wood Chop stunt saber.

We've been doing this for decades, I had a few near hits recently. Lets share, discuss, and hopefully find this thing

and NOT oust ourselves. Play it cool, don't bring up Star Wars, and remember the fun is in hunting this obsolete equipment. and not turning it into a rare commodity if it isn't already. If it is, well, we're used to seeing that and we can handle it.

Lets pick up where we left off! I'll be posting as many reference images I have in a little bit.

Credit for the photos is due to who posted them. If you see yours I can tag you.

I've had near hits on Fuse carriers, microswitches and Circuit Breakers.

 

[Halliwax]

didn't we confirm from the original creator that is was randomly pulled out of his tool box? its got to be a easy off the shelf house hold part

or even some kind of automotive module...

 

[Halliwax]

then again... ive kept dress shirts and socks in my tool box... so what do i know?

 

[thd9791]

I don't remember that comment - who was the one that pieced it together for Jedi?

 

[Halliwax]

I don't remember that comment - who was the one that pieced it together for Jedi?

i forgot the name, but i distinctly remember someone talking to him, and he said he needed a control box, and pulled this random box out of his tool box. he said it was broken and hanging out in his tool box

 

[thd9791]

This is a pic dump and these are not my photos.

I also remember someone saying it was a switch and the screws are where the springs would go. Not sure I believe that because the rectangular hole in between them serves no purpose. There are many breakers and switches with screw mounts though


I believe the B&W is from user ProbeDroid

 

[thd9791]

Good links with more info and history
Definitive VADER ROTJ Saber Reference PIC thread

More details on the Vader ROTJ saber - Please archive

Darth Vader ROTJ Stunt "Mother Thread"

some facts have changed since then, but they're very useful.

 

[mugatu]

Perhaps someone could put up general dimensions and measurements of the piece in question. I have a strong lead on where to look IF the dims are close. The pieces I am thinking about seem like they are likely on a larger scale than this. At least in my mind it seems that way.

 

[nailuj]

The large box looks like a magnetic cupboard door lock to me. The two circles are magnets and the rectangular hole in the middle is where the opposite door latch seats. May be the same set of cupboards that the T track came off...

 

[roygilsing]

Yeah, I worked on those details a few years ago. And I looked for the box for many months with hundreds of different search terms without luck, most of them related to circuit breaker and electrical fuses (English most probably). I also came close but no match. A cupboard magnet could also be. Good idea.
Attached are my dimensions as found by 3D perspective overlay. I wanted to do a production run in that time but I stopped (I don't remember why )

Roy

PS: thd9791 maybe you should put MoM saber in the title: I bet more people will visit it then!)

 

[dr_slurpee]

i forgot the name, but i distinctly remember someone talking to him, and he said he needed a control box, and pulled this random box out of his tool box. he said it was broken and hanging out in his tool box

A prop makers toolbox could contain anything imaginable! Not to say it isn’t some super common item from whatever unknown decade, but it may also be the rarest item found in a surplus junkyard that made its way into his toolbox as well!

 

[Halliwax]

Yeah, I worked on those details a few years ago. And I looked for the box for many months with hundreds of different search terms without luck, most of them related to circuit breaker and electrical fuses (English most probably). I also came close but no match. A cupboard magnet could also be. Good idea.
Attached are my dimensions as found by 3D perspective overlay. I wanted to do a production run in that time but I stopped (I don't remember why )

Roy

PS: thd9791 maybe you should put MoM saber in the title: I bet more people will visit it then!)

View attachment 1244826

Freak’n awesome roy

 

[veektohr]

Could also be a contactor. Screws would be what tightens the clamps agains your leads. Some types clip into rails like a household circuit breaker would.

 

[thd9791]

I've thought about the above a lot.

Basically a terminal block, and there are many versions.

Weirdly enough, I've seen RAF equipment that is really close.

 

[thd9791]

Brevin Din-Shay "As for this WHOLE issue about the activation box having screws in it, I totally disagree. Besides blaming the lighting again, I know of a person who has spoken with someone that knows exactly what the original box was made from - a British momentary contact switch. The part that looks like threads are actually coils."

jd pilot "
Ok, first off it is a momentary switch. This coming from a professional movie prop maker in Hollywood that has also handled this saber.

Now don't ask me if they are screws or coils or what not. I don't know. I don't know too terribly much about momentary switches. I did try to get my friend who does a LOT of electrical work and who's MAIN job deals in none other than switches. He said right now there are HUNDREDS of momentary switches out there in use right now, and to look for a specific one that was use 20 years plus ago withOUT knowing the manufactorer would be like looking for a needle in a HUGE needle stack.

With having seen that thing in person and with all my pictures, I always thought they removed a few of the componants on the switch, and put two screws in the holes to attach it to the saber (most logical way to attach it...since the HUGE allen head bolts where to hold the blade assembley to the saber...yup, that's the only reason they were there). They didn't like the normal flat head screw heads showning so they put two big ciruclar black stickers on the top. In person they looked like stickers."

These are very old quotes but they're, personally, some of the best recollections I've read on the RPF

 

[roygilsing]

Very interesting.

Here are some more images:

 

[Halliwax]

Never seen this one roy

Thank you for sharing

Did they fill those holes!?
View attachment 1244951

 

[roygilsing]

Never seen this one roy

View attachment 1244950

Thank you for sharing

Did they fill those holes!?
View attachment 1244951

I have no clue what I'm looking at.

 

[dr_slurpee]

Adding credence to the screw theory is this picture where it does look like threads of a screw passing through the bottom.

 

[Halliwax]

Adding credence to the screw theory is this picture where it does look like threads of a screw passing through the bottom.
View attachment 1244990

Dang!! I see it now!