Lightsaber Edge Cards - straight ESB style leads

[Xrad]

Mines not that close but still cool

 

[Gregatron]

I still skew toward symmetrically-spaced thin traces, with squared-off gold traces.

 

[Halliwax]

Tom in your experience, have you see any cards that would work with flat edge instead of round?

 

[thd9791]

Yes, in fact the flat edges look more screen accurate to me.

If you account for lens flare here (above) you can barely make out the rear corners of the gold leads. My belief is that the screen used saber here had flat and not round leads BUT manufacturing was not precise so it has softened corners. That doesnt put it in the round lead category as those usually are domed or half circles. To get this shape you need a flat lead with some softer design.

Ive seen maybe 3 or 4 in my searches thusfar

 

[thd9791]

Rounded leads and theyre a tad short..

 

[parfaitelumiere]

 

[Art Andrews]

Where did the squared off corners theory come from? It's so hard to tell in the photos.

There's one more left from the seller as well if anyone wnats the link.

Like I said, I have one more coming in and I'll contact you seperately thd9791 once I get it. I have a theory on it and want to discuss it with someone more knowledgeable and see if we can break this code.

Jumping into the middle of something I don't know a lot about, but since I just snagged a nearly mint Graflex out in the wild I am now looking into these things. I have held and photographed what you guys call the Ranch Saber (Luke's ESB saber that is at Skywalker Ranch). While I can't share the photos (NDA), the corners of those gold pieces are all very squared off with virtually no rounding at all. The gold does extend, a bit irregularly, out onto the thin silver parts. The entire thin silver area appears to be covered in clear glue residue.

 

[corliss1]

Thanks for sharing Art Andrews !

 

[thd9791]

Jumping into the middle of something I don't know a lot about, but since I just snagged a nearly mint Graflex out in the wild I am now looking into these things. I have held and photographed what you guys call the Ranch Saber (Luke's ESB saber that is at Skywalker Ranch). While I can't share the photos (NDA), the corners of those gold pieces are all very squared off with virtually no rounding at all. The gold does extend, a bit irregularly, out onto the thin silver parts. The entire thin silver area appears to be covered in clear glue residue.View attachment 1369947

Art thank you so much. That could also be a clear mask, the common shiny clear coating over the non-plug part of the board

The Barbican and the Wired ANH Stunt cast all have squared off gold leads as well.

Thank you again for sharing, this is somehing ive put so many years into, things like this are precious

 

[corliss1]

And if we're gonna get technical, the gold wouldn't extend into the silver, as the silver is the solder layer applied on top of the gold So it would actually be the silver being irregular on top of the gold contact plating.

 

[Gregatron]

Squared gold traces! I knew it!

 

[schrodinger555]

Hey Art Andrews thank you for sharing!

A quick question for you, aside from the squareness of the gold contacts, are the silver traces all centered on the gold contacts, or are some centered and others off center? That is one of the other "big questions" about this card!

 

[thd9791]

Oh Ive gathered from the blurry shots theyre not all centered. I dont think the wired saber or v3 pre decoration is either, and that clamp came from a graflex

 

[Art Andrews]

Hey Art Andrews thank you for sharing!

A quick question for you, aside from the squareness of the gold contacts, are the silver traces all centered on the gold contacts, or are some centered and others off center? That is one of the other "big questions" about this card!

As thd9791 stated, they are mostly not all centered. They are quite inconsistent, with only a few, near the grips being close to centered.

 

[teecrooz]

I agree. My archives reference and close ups show that they are all not centered. The card is also not the full width of the clamp. It’s barely in on the gold side and halfway on the silver trace side.

 

[thd9791]

I noticed this too

The bladed Wampa stunt card is not wide enough either, its crooked on screen

 

[Art Andrews]

Maybe this will help?

 

[schrodinger555]

Thank you Art! That is wonderful

 

[thd9791]

Maybe this will help?

I Absolutely get the idea from this, thank you!

 

[teecrooz]

That doesn’t quite match my close ups from the archive. The bottom six should also be more lowered and off center.