Dewy and Anakin Starkiller's Accurate Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1 Lightsaber Design

[Reel Fakes]

While researching thrust bearings for my Kit Fisto lightsaber project, I stumbled upon this:

Anybody else think maybe something like this was used for the prequil lightsaber emitters? It's a self-aligning thrust bearing. They come in various sizes. They aren't cheap!

 

[thd9791]

While researching thrust bearings for my Kit Fisto lightsaber project, I stumbled upon this:
View attachment 1589036
Anybody else think maybe something like this was used for the prequil lightsaber emitters? It's a self-aligning thrust bearing. They come in various sizes. They aren't cheap!

Yes! I cam across these types of things 3 weeks ago. Thrust washers was a really good lead, I just... never found anything close.

 

[Reel Fakes]

Yeah - The closest I've been able to find are 42mm and 47mm (OD). We're looking for an OD between 44 and 45 mm...
These things are used in propellers, so aviation surplus would make sense...

 

[thd9791]

Yeah - The closest I've been able to find are 42mm and 47mm (OD). We're looking for and OD between 44 and 45 mm...
These things are used in propellers, so aviation surplus would make sense...

The american measurement 1 3/4" falls exactly between 44 and 45 mm

 

[Reel Fakes]

Sure does!

 

[thd9791]

Have you been able to find any thrust bearing racers that are beveled outside? All my results are like the Obi wan washers, squared rings with a beveled interior

 

[Reel Fakes]

Only the full thrust bearings with the measurements I noted earlier. I've started looking at boat propeller thrust washers. They seem to be about the right size, but they are all listed by part numbers and models. I found one in the wrong style that had a 1.75" OD, so this avenue is both promising and frustrating...

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

While researching thrust bearings for my Kit Fisto lightsaber project, I stumbled upon this:
View attachment 1589036
Anybody else think maybe something like this was used for the prequil lightsaber emitters? It's a self-aligning thrust bearing. They come in various sizes. They aren't cheap!

Did you find a source for the Kit Fisto bearings?

 

[thd9791]

Hey I wanted to ask if this, being solid, is build around a threaded rod? I just realized I only see a nub in the drawings

 

[Reel Fakes]

Did you find a source for the Kit Fisto bearings?

Ina Needle Thrust Roller Bearing, Bore 30mm AXK3047-A/0-10 | Zoro

Order Ina Needle Thrust Roller Bearing, Bore 30mm, AXK3047-A/0-10 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.

www.zoro.com

 

[teecrooz]

That’s the Kit Fisto I’ve been wanting. Really wish I would have gotten one from Oz when he was making them.

 

[Saberz]

EDIT: Oh, never mind, I thought you'd found the outer conical race, I see you're just talking about the bearings inside it on the KF saber.

 

[thd9791]

EDIT: Oh, never mind, I thought you'd found the outer conical race, I see you're just talking about the bearings inside it on the KF saber.

I wish!

 

[Dewy]

Hey I wanted to ask if this, being solid, is build around a threaded rod? I just realized I only see a nub in the drawings

This saber will not be built around a threaded rod. While that was the original intent, we decided that the only way to get everything positioned and clocked exactly as it is in the model (that I spent so many hours perspective matching and tweaking) was to have a precision machined solid “core”. If you notice in the exploded view I posted a few weeks ago there is a duplicate silver cylindrical part in the emitter. Our hope is to have this saber be buildable in two versions: one with the emitter bezel off center and at a slight angle (as is seen in our reference photos), and one with the emitter bezel centered and flat as it probably was when the prop was first built.

 

[teecrooz]

Another thing that's always bugged me about this saber, and proved to be a real challenge when creating digital overlays of my model to the hero prop, is how the emitter bezel appears to be off center, at an angle... or both. I bought some niche software that allows me to transparently overlay images on my computer monitor while I work on the model in the background. This allowed me to float the emitter bezel and washer in my model and freely move them until they aligned with the overlayed reference images. It took a lot of iterations to come up with a configuration that actually makes sense. What really bugged me though is that the fact that this would mean the hole drilled in the emitter washer would have to be off center, which just didn't seem possible to me. Well after running out of options I did a some quick image analysis as a sanity check for my findings from the model and, call me crazy, but it really does look like the hole is off center:

View attachment 1570291

The yellow outline traces the edge of the washer, and the red outline traces the outline of the rod. Same image without the ellipses so you can see the edges:

View attachment 1570292

I considered that possible the emitter washer was domed and that the red outline was actually in a higher plane, but from the reference images you can clearly see sanding lines from when this thing was pushed up against a belt sander which would lead to a planar face.

Here's how this same analysis would look if it was centered:

View attachment 1570294

This saber will not be built around a threaded rod. While that was the original intent, we decided that the only way to get everything positioned and clocked exactly as it is in the model (that I spent so many hours perspective matching and tweaking) was to have a precision machined solid “core”. If you notice in the exploded view I posted a few weeks ago there is a duplicate silver cylindrical part in the emitter. Our hope is to have this saber be buildable in two versions: one with the emitter bezel off center and at a slight angle (as is seen in our reference photos), and one with the emitter bezel centered and flat as it probably was when the prop was first built.

I believe we may have a perspective interpretation issue here. Those circles are marking the true center of the ellipse, not the center of a circle when tilted at perspective. The center is in fact higher than you have marked. The far side of the ellipse should not appear equal or larger than the front when marking the perspective center versus the ellipse center.

I hope that helps.

 

[Dewy]

I believe we may have a perspective interpretation issue here. Those circles are marking the true center of the ellipse, not the center of a circle when tilted at perspective. The center is in fact higher than you have marked. The far side of the ellipse should not appear equal or larger than the front when marking the perspective center versus the ellipse center.

I hope that helps.

View attachment 1590217


View attachment 1590225

We ended up taking a series of measurements from Anakin Starkiller ‘s production made resin casting and matching the model to that. I then perspective matched and overlayed the model on reference photos to verify everything matched up. At some point this saber got damaged and the emitter bezel ended up very slightly off center (almost like the internal threaded rod got tilted or bent), but it’s mostly that the emitter face & bezel is at a slight angle.

 

[teecrooz]

That may be, but I still believe the overlays on page 2 are incorrect in where center is marked. Have the center marked dead on and then tilt the model/overlay to match. You’ll find the center isn’t where those images are showing, as I indicated above.

Almost all of production castings I have seen suffer from some warping and casting defects. I would take cues from them for sure, but not make them absolute for accuracy. I’ll see if the person who bought the molds from production still has them in storage. I was in talks to purchase them at one point.

 

[Dewy]

That may be, but I still believe the overlays on page 2 are incorrect in where center is marked. Have the center marked dead on and then tilt the model/overlay to match. You’ll find the center isn’t where those images are showing, as I indicated above.

Almost all of production castings I have seen suffer from some warping and casting defects. I would take cues from them for sure, but not make them absolute for accuracy. I’ll see if the person who bought the molds from production still has them in storage. I was in talks to purchase them at one point.

Just to be clear, those overlays with the centers marked were not used. Everything went back to perspective matching the 3D model to the hero prop:

The above picture is even a slightly outdated overlay before final refinements. It’s just the latest I have saved with publicly available references.

 

[Dewy]

To expand further, I’m not doing any modification or perspective correction on the original reference photos. I am generating virtual cameras in the 3D model space and replicating each reference photo (both the viewpoint of the photo and the focal length). This process is arduous, but results in a robust model. I can tweak things based on one view until the overlay is as close as possible, then I can switch to each of the other views and see how the changes affected those overlays. From there you iterate. It is incredibly tedious, but in the end you get a model that nearly perfectly overlays to every reference photo it is compared against.

 

[teecrooz]

Sounds good.