Modifying transistors for ANH OBI sabers

[ATL Kenobi]

First, find a pair of TO-5 or TO-39 case transistors (Fry's, eBay, etc.)

Cut off the legs and file the bottom flush.

The really hard part is finding an easy way to hold the transistor tight enough to drill without smashing it. I found a small piece of angle aluminum with 1/4" thick 1" legs. Using a drill press, I drilled a 5/16 hole and then to either side of it drilled and tapped two holes for some 10-32 machine screws.

The angle was then put in a vice and the 5/16 hole aligned with the chuck of the drill press. The transistor is then placed in the hole and the two screws were tightened down.

For this particular case, I was needing the transistors to fit the spacer from Roman's which is 8-32, so I drilled a hole with a #29 bit. It's important to set the stop so that the drill bit won't bump and dent the top of the can.:rolleyes

To avoid hitting the top of the can with the tap, use a "bottoming" tap (the lower one pictured) rather than a "plug" tap.

It's also very important that the tap be held perpindicular to the transistor or it will tap crooked. I used a "poor man's" :lol drill press to hold the tap and turned it with a 1/2" wrench.

Use a screw cutter to make some 8-32 studs - 1/2" long seem to work. Thread the stud into the transistor using a small drop of super-glue to hold it in place.

ATL

 

[lesternessman]

nice job! Now if only we all had drill presses! Thanks ATL

 

[ATL Kenobi]

nice job! Now if only we all had drill presses! Thanks ATL

:redface Yeah, I thought about that, but I couldn't drill a straight hole with a hand drill to save my life .

You could always visit someone who has a drill press:angel.

ATL

 

[ssdesigner]

Those look great ATL! :love

Any pics of the tops of the transistors after drilling them out?

-Ss

 

[Darth Lars]

The metal block looks a lot sturdier than the clamped-together wood-block which did not work very well for me.
What I did eventually was to make larger holes in the clamp instead, and tape large transistors to the inside. :lol

Btw, there are headless screws (small allen-key) on the market ... but I can not say how easy they are to find in 8-32.

 

[rmschneider104]

Looks great. After cutting off the legs and filing mine down, I just hot glued them to the saber. It maybe isn't perfect, but it works nice enough to get me by.

 

[Nexus6]

ATL

Nice. That's basically just how I did mine, only I didn't have a drill press, so I drilled them holding the transistors in my hand. I had a bag of 12, & I RUINED 10 of them. I just left the head of the screw on mine. *shrugs*

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Great Tutorial, I posted one very similar a few years ago.

I used a piece of hardwood with a slot cut to hold the transistor. I use router bits to clean out the insides and socket-head screws for the post.

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

i cant seem to find any of those resistors anyplace. i looked at frys. and nothing come up, and tried the ebay search and nada there too.

i would like to get a couple of those and the rings too, to replace what i have on there right now.

any leads to where i could get them?

 

[franz bolo]

i cant seem to find any of those resistors anyplace.

PM sent. They are Transistors

Look here for some part numbers:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=10569&highlight=transistors&page=4

Post #37

FB

 

[Darth Lars]

... I drilled them holding the transistors in my hand. I had a bag of 12, & I RUINED 10 of them. I just left the head of the screw on mine. ...

I'm surprised you did not ruin your hand too. :confused

 

[ATL Kenobi]

Those look great ATL! :love

Any pics of the tops of the transistors after drilling them out?

-Ss

Great Tutorial, I posted one very similar a few years ago.

I used a piece of hardwood with a slot cut to hold the transistor. I use router bits to clean out the insides and socket-head screws for the post.

JK, that wood block looks awfully familiar :lol . I initially used that approach, but after drilling into the metal bottoms of the transistors I used, using a drop of cutting oil, after a while, I couldn't tighten it enough. Your approach would work consistantly for the epoxied transistors.

i cant seem to find any of those resistors anyplace. i looked at frys. and nothing come up, and tried the ebay search and nada there too.

i would like to get a couple of those and the rings too, to replace what i have on there right now.

any leads to where i could get them?

Lan-Ed-Tul,
I can't post an active eBay auction, but do a search on - transistor* TO39 - and that's a letter "Oh" , and not the number "zero". The TO39 (transitor outline number 39) designation is an electronics industry standard for the case or package style, and not a particular type of transistor. As pictured above, actual transistors have numbers like 2N5109 or 2N4239.

ATL

 

[Darth Lars]

Those are some very nice washers you have there too, Mike. :thumbsup
Please tell us about them!

I think it is about time I posted how I customized mine.
I started out with a pair of Ob1kenny's olde aluminum washers. I don't think you could use my method for steel.

I constructed a simple tool for making the inner bevel. I cut a small triangle of sheet steel (which had been a dull saw blade) and embedded it into a piece of polymer clay (I used Cernit as it is the brand that cures the hardest). I propped this into one of the washers and baked it. Now I had a tool that I could turn inside the aluminum washer to manually hollow out the inner bevel. It took only about ten minutes of turning for each washer.

I think that Ob1kenny's washers were too thick to begin with. I also prefer my sabers to be only slightly idealized. So, instead of just sanding down the washers uniformly, I dished the bottoms to the curvature of the Graflex clamp using sandpaper that I had glued around a 1 1/2" tube.

 

[lesternessman]

I like the sanded bottoms, nice touch, I may have to try that someday...