Maul to BD Maul and Plo Koon conversion

[cayman shen]

If I got a DM lightsaber, all I would want would be a battle damaged/half-maul. Now, say I got a full-sized one, cut it in half...could I just remove the emitter, put on the holy disc, machine a new emitter, paint the button black, and have a Plo Koon?

Or am I missing something huge here? Is the Maul big enough to get both sabers out of? I'm VERY sketchy on the dimensions of this one.

Am I an idiot or a genius?

 

[Hez]

I've lost track of what the various sabers are called. The Plo Kloon saber is the one seen on Mace Windus belt in the TPM Visual Dictionary, right?

If I remember rightly, that saber has a much longer series of grips than the Maul saber, something like 8 or 9 grips instead of 5. There'd be a lot of modification work, so you'd be better off just buying a half Maul and a Plo Kloon...

 

[cayman shen]

Yeah, it's the 'bastardized Maul.' Oh well, I was hoping I could get away with this.

 

[Darth Lars]

Maybe you could... A long shot, but anyway:
Check if the thick section above the five grip rings on the Maul is long enough for three rings. My RE Maul is perfect here - three rings is 16 mm, the thick section is 16 mm.
Then find a thin tube of the right size and cut three rings from it that you slide on. You might also want to use the same tube to cover the holes for the buttons, screwheads and LED bezels above the rings.

Sorry for not seeing this thread earlier.

 

[cayman shen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darth Lars @ Nov 25 2006, 05:19 PM) [snapback]1365560[/snapback]</div>

Maybe you could... A long shot, but anyway:
Check if the thick section above the five grip rings on the Maul is long enough for three rings. My RE Maul is perfect here - three rings is 16 mm, the thick section is 16 mm.
Then find a thin tube of the right size and cut three rings from it that you slide on. You might also want to use the same tube to cover the holes for the buttons, screwheads and LED bezels above the rings.

Sorry for not seeing this thread earlier.
[/b]

So basically with say a little help from a machinist, it's basically possible? I was always under the impression that the BM/Plo Koon was just a half Maul with the emitter chopped off and a new emitter stacked on the other end. Am I correct there? You're saying it has more rings, so it was obviously altered before casting. Any other alterations to the body? I REALLY want this to be feasable.

 

[Darth Lars]

There is a pretty good pic of the saber in the Ep1 Visual Dictionary on Mace Wind's's page.
Above the extra rings, there is a short neck and a short 1.5" thick (same as grip rings) section that are the same "color" as the main body. Then comes the shiny emitter.
I think a lot depends on the type of Maul saber you get. Also, do you want a polished saber or one that is half-grey/half shiny? I guess you could make the extra grip rings part of the piece the machinist makes for you.

Also, the covertec clip on Plo Koon's saber is on the thick section closest to the lengthwise ribs, not on the next.
But then I guess you will use the half that does not have any covertec clip attached.

You will also have to fabricate the knob that the holy disc sits on.

I am not an expert on this saber, nor on machining. I have built the Adi Gallia/Aayla Secura saber from hardware with rings that were slid on, so thought I should share that tip.
I have used anodized aluminum vacuum cleaner tubes. They are thin-walled. The section where these pipes connect can often be 1 1/2" thick - which would be the same as the ribbed section. If your source saber is anodized, perhaps the scheme I proposed could work without having to paint the saber silver/grey. However, there would be exposed metal at the edges but I think you could cover them up with a black wash for weathering.