Graflex Reborn

[propmainiac]

Just received my ebay purchase, and in the words of Luke Skywalker What a peice of junk!
First of all the upper half is rusty, The clamp is a repro that has no tabs and has a GR on it. The bottom half is steel tubing and gives it good weight to it. The bulb release lever is missing and the pin that holds the bulb ears is not there. The pins beneath the red button are gone and it looks as if someone had dissasembled it at one time. It has two red buttons neither which are correct but it has the empire style grips and the empire d ring.
Is this worth working on? Whats a good way to clean rust off the body, And wheres a good source for parts?

 

[jbeatle]

Re: Junk Graflex

Some pix would be helpful to better gauge it's condition. There are options for removing the rust, it just depends on how bad it is.

Interesting that the clamp has "GR" on it. If I'm not mistaken there was a company called Graflex Reborn that was in the process of making replica flash guns and they stamped a GR on there clamps.

As far as I know, they never shipped.

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Re: Junk Graflex

So, I saw this on e-bay. Nothing there looks like it's original graflex parts. It's all Graflex Reborn stuff, which as a project from about 10 years ago to try to replicate the original graflex (the first of it's kind),

I'd look at it this way. Graflex Reborn was sort of a landmark in Prop replica history. It was the first time a fan tried to replicate the original graflex. The project never went the whole way. But back in the day these were very sought after parts.

To clean up the rust, you can use some rust remover and steel wool. Then you'll either have to plate the parts (which would be a pain). Or give them a few coats of clear coat paint so that they don't rust again.

You can find replica parts easily enough here The Graflex Shop - Graflex Replacement Parts
and here Graflex Parts - Saber Kit - The Ultimate Source for Saber Parts and Creation™

If you want to replace the socket so that the prop can take a blade, PM me and I'll send you an aluminum graflex replica socket for free.

-best

Dan

 

[JediG60racer]

Re: Junk Graflex

Graflex Reborn still owes me money for never delivering a product I paid for. Grrrrr to them.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Re: Junk Graflex

If it were me I'd use it as a relic saber, it seems like it would be too much effort to clean up properly. Use it as Anakin's saber as found by some gas miner on Bespin 100 years after the fact.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: Junk Graflex

Hi there,

I own a Graflex Reborn Darth Vader ROTJ style and compared to a real graflex it still has a distinct metal odour compared to the non smelling real vintage graflex. Leave yours as is and go on your quest for a real
vintage graflex, this can even be done on a budget ... all you need is patience and some determination
to look for a good deal. Or if you have lots of money to spend then go place a WTB in the junkyard

-Chaim

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Junk Graflex

Hello All

Here are some pics of the Graflex

 

[jazzygeoffery]

Re: Junk Graflex

So, I saw this on e-bay. Nothing there looks like it's original graflex parts. It's all Graflex Reborn stuff, which as a project from about 10 years ago to try to replicate the original graflex (the first of it's kind),

I'd look at it this way. Graflex Reborn was sort of a landmark in Prop replica history. It was the first time a fan tried to replicate the original graflex. The project never went the whole way. But back in the day these were very sought after parts.

To clean up the rust, you can use some rust remover and steel wool. Then you'll either have to plate the parts (which would be a pain). Or give them a few coats of clear coat paint so that they don't rust again.

You can find replica parts easily enough here The Graflex Shop - Graflex Replacement Parts
and here Graflex Parts - Saber Kit - The Ultimate Source for Saber Parts and Creation™

If you want to replace the socket so that the prop can take a blade, PM me and I'll send you an aluminum graflex replica socket for free.

-best

Dan

Is that socket taken? i just started working on an anh saber

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Junk Graflex

HI thanks for the info. Sorry to hear some got burned by that project. If it is a repro then someone stripped it before a replaced the "guts" with what looks like original parts. I broke it all down and cleaned up as much as I could. The bulb socket looks very old. It has some parts broken off . The brass pins are very tarnished. Was able to clean off the rust with metal polish and fine steel wool. Not looking as hopeless as before. I peeled off the grips from the bottom half which appears to be steel. Used mineral spirits to remove the glue residue (very sticky stuff) and cleaned and polished it and rubbed it with a scotch brite pad to give it a more uniform finish. I have two red buttons both repros. Picked the best one and rummaged through some old stuff and found two glass eyes from previous saber builds. Gonna use one untill i find another red button. Also the "beer tab" was held on by a buttonhead screw.This will be replaced by a rivet. Have a few questions hope someone here can answer.

Is there a washer under the beer tab where the rivet goes through? Does anyone have pics of the Graflex reborn saber so I can compare? Also what is the overall length of the graflex Thanks

 

[jazzygeoffery]

Re: Junk Graflex

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your first question, are you asking if there's a washer on the interior or the exterior? And my original Graflex is about 10 1/2 inches, 26.8 centimeters. That's about all i can help you with since i don't have a GR hilt

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Junk Graflex

Jazzy
Thanks for the info... Is there a small washer under the beer tab on the outside of the body? Been a while since I owned a Graflex and cant remember.

 

[propmainiac]

Not so junk Graflex

Here are a few pics of the Graflex after some work to clean it up. Pin was missing for the bulb "ears" so the best I could do was use a pop rivet shaft. I removed the rivet portion and just used the log part. Cut it down and put some jb weild on it and slid it in. The little flathead screw on the back of the flash had nothing behind it to screw into. that part was missing from the bulb socket so before a put the bulb socket back in I used jb weild and filled in the area where the screw was supposed to go. After it dried I put it back in the flash and drilled out were the screw went. Then I slowly turned the screw untill it seated back into the flash. The rivet on the beer tab was missing so I used a hardware store rivet. Filed the head down so it was smooth then sanded it with different grades untill it looked how I wanted it. Before I put it in I placed a small washer under the beer tab, Then glued the rivet in from the inside of the flash. Going to continue to build this up. Not sure if Im going with esb or anh. Enjoy the pics.

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Junk Graflex

Hello again. So I find myself coming back again to the Graflex reborn saber I bought some time ago on Ebay. As some of my earlier posts state I thought it was junk....well after a good bit of cleaning and polishing Im impressed how good it now looks. Ive been going back and forth about making it an esb or anh so why not a little of both! NOt really screen accurate but Id have to own 5 different ones for that. Here are some more pics with a homemade red button that I made from a coax connector and pushbutton switch from radio shack. The clamp that came with this had no tabs inside so I used a peice of 1 1/2 inch diameter aluminum tubing cut to 2 inches long, cut out 1/2 inch lengthwise and inserted it into the inside of the flash. This made the top and bottom fit very tight! Now top and bottom do not rattle or come loose!

 

[avianoguitarist]

Re: Junk Graflex

I think it turned out great--nice job!

 

[thd9791]

Re: Junk Graflex

Great job! Cleaned up nice

 

[Jerome]

Re: Junk Graflex

That looks pretty good! I bet a lot of people would like to know how to make that second red button for their ESB lightsabers, if they didn't want to go and buy one.

 

[thd9791]

Re: Junk Graflex

Reading how you made the button, that is effing genius! its hard to find things that are knurled or ribbed like that

 

[propmainiac]

Re: Junk Graflex

Thanks for the positive feedback. Sadly radio shack no longer makes that type of ribbed knob. I had it left over from years ago when I used to make my own hardware sabers. The threaded peice below it is a coax adaptor that threads into the graflex so it screws in just like the real thing! Getting a real graflex knob is my goal but its proving a tough task. Seems no one wants to part with one and one by itself is half the price of a graflex flash. A good repro is looking like my only option.

 

[Mr Walker]

Re: Junk Graflex

That cleaned up better than I would have expected.

 

[thd9791]

Re: Junk Graflex

There is a guy in the junkyard selling graflex pieces and he has at least half a dozen of these buttons, he's way back though at least 5 or 6 pages into the JY.....hopefully he hasn't sold things so I don't look like an a$$, worth a shot though!