Luke ROTJ V2 lightsaber

[thd9791]

Folks, I have a big question.

I've been building some stunt sabers you may have seen and it led me to a question..

The V3 (and maybe V2) were bladed at some point during ESB.

Do we think they slid a solid cylinder of metal into the saber, where the motor used to be, or did this work because the Shares Stunt maybe was drilled out less, and had a decent amount of metal still in there?

 

[Halliwax]

Folks, I have a big question.

I've been building some stunt sabers you may have seen and it led me to a question..

The V3 (and maybe V2) were bladed at some point during ESB.

Do we think they slid a solid cylinder of metal into the saber, where the motor used to be, or did this work because the Shares Stunt maybe was drilled out less, and had a decent amount of metal still in there?

I think between the v3 and v2 they were different on the inside

I think the v3 was abandoned because it was too out of square/round to make it function, this is why the v2 was machined from scratch

I think the v3 rod inside was held on by something simple, this is why we see the emitter with blade fall out of it

Also what ever is holding on the inside could possibly be smaller then the inside dimension of the v3, making it LOOK like the emitter and neck is bent on a angle in that new photo we have

I want to really know if the v2 has it’s motor still during the time of ESB...

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I'm positive the V2 was machined from the same source the V3 is from and not from scratch. From my experiments, they probably only got the V2 and V3 due to just how labor intensive and time consuming it was to get the parts up to snuff. All the raw casts were made to look like the eBay one, as per vadermania confirmed when he said his stunt originally came looking like it, and his pommel was a separate scratch built piece he had made later. So for every one complete hilt, saber and pommel, required two casts to be made to get parts. So there were a number made, which correlates with the anecdote vadermania recalled in the original owner had fished it from the bin at the production workshop.

The V3 no doubt was just a back-up in case the V2 went out, but as discussed before, the extent to which it was finished inside remains unknown. The outside was only partially cleaned up so it stands to the reason that the inside may have been the same, partially hollowed out for the pommel and whatever secured its center rod in place. It may have been a bearing or lock nut, or even simply tape wadded around the base of the rod in whatever cavity existed.

 

[thd9791]

very well put. IF they used the V2 for fencing ever, I'm guessing they slid a cylinder, like the pipe stunt, up inside. I realized this after stripping my V2 the other day to refinish it, and having to drop the steel rod back in from the bottom.

If the V3 still had some meat in it, they may not have needed more than some set screws and the body of the saber was enough.

 

[Halliwax]

very well put. IF they used the V2 for fencing ever, I'm guessing they slid a cylinder, like the pipe stunt, up inside. I realized this after stripping my V2 the other day to refinish it, and having to drop the steel rod back in from the bottom.

If the V3 still had some meat in it, they may not have needed more than some set screws and the body of the saber was enough.

That’s my belief

As for the v2, when the owner of it says it was machined ... I tend to believe it...

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I believe the statement was "machine marks all over it" but that doesn't mean it was machined from scratch. Machined down from the cast, more likely. If it were machined from round stock, it'd be much cleaner than what's remarked about its exterior and interior.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

So, Brandon says that the prop has machine marks on it, inside and out, and no seam. He theorizes that if it was made from one of the metal castings then they may have gone over the prop with a lathe and machined off the rough surface of the casting.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Hi all,

I think the main body could have possibly started as the same cast piece (it would make sense since they are so close), it's just been cleaned up more extensively than the other piece. There's no seam line remnants like on the other one, and there are machine marks on it - but those could just be from additional clean up.

About the grips - the spacing between each silver ring is not exactly even, but the silver rings themselves are a consistent width all the way around.

The pommel and emitter could well have been machined separately. The pommel has additional flanges that fit inside the main body of the saber and allow it to be secured, so I doubt it was from the same cast piece. The pommel still has a piece of blue fishing line in the groove where it meets the main body - this is from the scene where Luke "Force grabs" it from the Emperor's throne.

The emitter head spins freely. It is secured (by two allen screws at the end) to an internal rod that runs down into the chamber where the motor was. At this point the rod's only purpose is holding the emitter on. At one point a rod would have run from here to the motor, and I imagine both the emitter and blade were secured to it. There is gaffer's tape over the joint where the emitter connects to the main body, theoretically to prevent it from spinning (probably added for ROJ.)

I don't have any idea what the lever is from.

Very best,
Brandon

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Dunno why we can't jump to pages in a thread anymore but this is all from page 35/36 on.

 

[Halliwax]

Brandon was in another thread recently, and he was very adamant that he doesn’t see any signs of it being machined from a casting.

 

[thd9791]

Hmm, it would mean they duplicated the mistakes on the grip ring spacing nearly exactly.

 

[Halliwax]

Hmm, it would mean they duplicated the mistakes on the grip ring spacing nearly exactly.

The ring spacing is different on the v2 and v3, the v2 has much more material removed.

The v3 looks like it had barely any work done to it after it was pulled from the mold you can even see the seam line inside the ring grooves still

The windvane lip on the v2 and v3 are both totally different, which really interests me

I would like the v2 to be machined from a cast. But the source says and is very positive that it’s not..

 

[Halliwax]

What really bothers me is if the v2 wasn’t cast. It’s aged aluminum nearly matches the aged aluminum of the v3

What are the chances of that?

 

[Mouse Vader]

Dunno why we can't jump to pages in a thread anymore

It's called progress.

, I don't see any evidence on the "V2" (I've never understood the name...) of it starting as a cast piece.

To clarify from Brandon's more recent post #243 pg13 my thread: Is Darth Vader's saber blade painted (ANH) & blade flexing.

Six of one & half a dozen of the other.

 

[thd9791]

OH MY GOD I never paid attention to the windvane lip. The V3 has the groove that you might see on a grenade ring (or Dan's first run), and the V2 does not. Just a smooth swoop

a good comparison when it comes to metal... those lytle cast mausers are aluminum. did we already rule out pewter?

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I dunno. I'ma have to still play devil's advocate. We have photos of the nipple screw placement being in different positions to the emitter's screws and actually having lathed down the casts in my experiment, I get a near, bang-on likeness dimensionally to Starkiller's last run V2 with very little effort. Yes, the rings are different from both the V2 and V3, but machining material off the raw casts creates a near perfect replication of where the V2 ring details sit. And like Halliwax brings up, the fact the two have aged to a patina, nearly matching the other, makes me believe these came from the same source. A real test of these ideas would be to fully document a complete disassembly of the V2.

From my experiments as well, for the groove in the windvane in the V2 and V3 casts, small grooves like that are hard to maintain when molding/casting in sand. Many times, the sand sticks in these smaller grooves and when the buck is removed, these details are often removed too. That, on top of corners always rounding when casts are made, may have contributed in the difference. Being the V2 was cut down, and it having that smooth lip on the windvane, would mean it was a detail made by tooling. That detail, that groove, existing on the V3 would also mean that the wood buck had it, too.

 

[Mouse Vader]

A real test of these ideas would be to fully document a complete disassembly of the V2.

We'll be a long time waiting & I doubt even then that that would sort it. Either or on methods, as a fellow experimenter, if your getting the results to match it's weight in that direction.

Just in case folk aren't aware here's what Jon Bunker had to say re. the V2 (from my ANH saber experiments thread).

- (some) OB1 spfx hilts were probably constructed differently, i. e. the emitter was a machined part and not cast aluminum

 

[thd9791]

I believe Vadermania has it too, that groove.

 

[thd9791]

I suppose it would look the same machining a cast item and machining from raw metal, if completely cleaned up.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

It is possible it could look identical to something machined from raw stock. When casting alu, if it's heated too hot, the structure of the metal becomes more crystalline, so no matter how much it's cleaned, the metal will have a subtle, ripple-y, orange peel texture to it. This was something I noticed on some of my earlier trials.

For me, the real difference is in "feel" between machine stock and something cast, I suppose. Alu is already a soft metal but when it's cast, it does feel a bit "softer." I don't know to describe it in words.