New thoughts on the Obi ANH 'Reflector'

[James Kenobi 1138]

Hi James, Russ will have my design for the connecting piece by the end of the week.
We're going to ship the connectors with the grenades.

I was more interested in dims and pics of your actual booster bearing for those of us with real booster bearings who might consider cutting them up.

I have a Russ emitter, but I wasn't getting the grenade so I guess I'm out in the dark on the connectors.........

 

[Howard]

I was more interested in dims and pics of your actual booster bearing for those of us with real booster bearings who might consider cutting them up.

I have a Russ emitter, but I wasn't getting the grenade so I guess I'm out in the dark on the connectors.........

I'll be sending the bearing for Russ to make further changes to - and this will be the basis for my design for the connector.

 

[Darth Lars]

Will a version of the "Reflector" that will fit in a real grenade be available to order separately?

 

[Howard]

Following a couple of weeks sending this piece back and to between Russ and myself, I believe we have a winner.

I'll post comparison pictures later today.

 

[mspaw]

Nice! thanks for all the great work, gang.

-Michael

 

[Brinn 71]

WOO HOO!!! CAN'T WAIT! :cool

 

[vaderdarth]

sweet!

 

[Sporak]

This thread I am watching with Great interest

 

[Howard]

I'll get better pictures up tomorrow in natural light.
This is basically the design, the re-worked booster bearing part.
I may still take .5mm off the front face.
I've been sending this to Russ, he's been shaving a little off, sending it back to me - so on and so on...

From the back it's a simple affair. The actual piece will have a small threaded rod at the back which will screw into the neck of the grenade.

I've matched the few pictures we have of the prop when working on this, allowing for the fact the top of the grenade's neck sits inside the emitter.
So on the actual piece Russ will produce once it's screwed into the neck, it's just a matter of pushing the connector into the emitter to the required position after a little glue is applied.

Here's what's left of that poor booster bearing part.

The connector Russ will produce will have a smooth outside wall to allow it to fit perfectly into the emitter, unlike my dremel ground piece seen here.

 

[Howard]

Will a version of the "Reflector" that will fit in a real grenade be available to order separately?

That's up to Russ.

 

[Serafino]

[Edit--Howard's post came in while I was writing this. More in response to the new post later! )

Now seems a good time to address a couple of my friend Howard's responses to my earlier comments.

2. I didn't mean to imply that the 'blob' is raised (I meant 'blob' as in 'a thing in the picture'). As I said previously, this marking doesn't tell us anything about the shape of the piece, the 'blob' could be on the inside of a hole, or on the front face of the piece.

3. I think the size of the main large hole is whatever recreates the appearance we see in the screen captures. Approximately 1/2" works in that regard, and a larger size doesn't work as well so far. Yes it is difficult to know the size of the hole directly, just by looking at the photo, but in making comparisons to various possibilities, the ones that look right are more likely to have the right hole size.

4. If the marks inside the hole are reflections they won't necessarily change as the saber falls. An interior reflection like this is unlikely to change unless the hole stops pointing at a major light source in the course of its fall.

I am looking forward to seeing the result of Howard and Russ's hard work here, but in the meantime I remain convinced that this isn't the right solution, popular appeal notwithstanding.

2. I see the 'Blob' as natural weathering, as seen in the pics of the cut down bearing above. I don't see an actual raised 'blob.'
3. It's difficult to tell the circumference of the hole on the prop.

I've been watching the scene where the saber falls onto Obi's cloak over and over again, and it seems to me the light and dark stripes seen inside the emitter (cone) do not change. Therefore they seem to be permanent markings rather than reflecting the cloak.

I'll have more pics early next week, once Russ performs a few tweaks.

 

[Serafino]

Great job Howard! That was a lot of work in the service of the cause! :cheers

So it genuinely pains me to remain on the opposite side from you on this issue.

My observations:

The result is about as predicted by my model (Howard's comparison is rotated a bit further than the prop in the horizontal plane):

...and I still think the cylindrical hole works better:

Don't be fooled by the light effects to the right of the hole which make it look larger--they can't be made to fit an ellipse of the same orientation as the rest of the emitter, therefore they are not part of the hole.

An additional observation regarding point 4 above: if the marks inside the hole are not reflections, then they are no longer relevant to the question of what shape the hole is. :angel

 

[Brinn 71]

From the back it's a simple affair. The actual piece will have a small threaded rod at the back which will screw into the neck of the grenade.

Just wondering if the hole could be simply threaded so we can add the rod in ourselves. My old Obi-Wan saber that I am adding these great new parts to already has a threaded rod holding it together. I think that would be great if no one minds?

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Just wondering if the hole could be simply threaded so we can add the rod in ourselves. My old Obi-Wan saber that I am adding these great new parts to already has a threaded rod holding it together. I think that would be great if no one minds?

Just JB Weld a threaded nut to the bottom of the cone. Same results, but keeps the inside of the cone flawless for those of us who want screen accurate sabers.

 

[lonepigeon]

Just wondering if the hole could be simply threaded so we can add the rod in ourselves. My old Obi-Wan saber that I am adding these great new parts to already has a threaded rod holding it together. I think that would be great if no one minds?

If you have a Russrep emitter you're in the same boat with the rest of us.
What exactly is the plan to make all these parts fit?
What will the grenade attach to and how?
Does a threaded rod come up through the center of the grenade to screw into the neck from inside?

Is the 'bolt' end of the emitter connector solid or does it have a hole through it?

Brinn - I think you'll just have to cut your threaded rod shorter or something.

 

[Howard]

Great job Howard! That was a lot of work in the service of the cause! :cheers

Many thanks my friend!

So it genuinely pains me to remain on the opposite side from you on this issue.

confusedlol

My observations:

An additional observation regarding point 4 above: if the marks inside the hole are not reflections, then they are no longer relevant to the question of what shape the hole is. :angel

If the marks inside are not reflections - and I don't think they are, having watched the scene frame-by-frame, then they at least adhere to the surface of whatever's inside the emitter. They do appear to taper backward inside, suggesting a cone to my eyes.

I've spoken with Russ and we're going to go with this design.
However, we'd really like to offer an alternative for those on the other side of the fence that see Chris' and Andres' cylindrical untapered connector as being accurate.
So if Andres wants to draw up a print for this, Russ will offer both designs together.

To answer Chris' questions:

There isn't at this time any master plan to make all of these parts fit together. From the onset, the idea was to just replicate the parts as accurately as possible, leaving the building to the collector.
Saying this, developing a connector between the grenade and emitter was an obvious choice, not wanting to leave guys high and dry regards this problematic area.

I have an idea for a clamp spacer. This design (still on the drawing board) will overcome the problem of securing the grenade to the clamp's front end and the booster to the rear. The design will no affect the integrity of either the booster or the grenade as accurate reproductions, and will also allow the transistors to be fitted before the spacer is applied.
More on this when I've something to show. The design does not use a threaded rod running along the length of the prop, but will be solid enough to support the weight of the grenade.

The 'bolt' or threaded rod portion of the connector will feature a hole running through it.
There's very little material to play with regards fitting the rod portion into the rear of the connector piece and at the same time matching what we can see externally regards the grenade stem sitting inside the emitter's first stage.
Perhaps Andres is correct when suggesting the top of the grenade stem was cut down (perhaps cut down to the first raised ring, giving the prop builder a somewhat larger area to play with) but I think we can match what we're seeing without having to do so.

Regards connectors machined with threading to match member's real grenades.
This will be an option, but you must be absolutely sure what type of threading is inside your neck.
If members feel comfortable with sending Russ their neck portions, he will be happy to work out the appropriate threading and machine the rod to accomodate.
There will be more details regarding this once the interest thread is up for the connector options.

Thanks all!

Howard.

 

[Sumatra]

I have to say, I'm just not seeing what you're seeing Howard in regards to the size of the hole. Andres' untapered hole seems to fit perfectly.

 

[Dewy]

To answer Chris' questions:

There isn't at this time any master plan to make all of these parts fit together. From the onset, the idea was to just replicate the parts as accurately as possible, leaving the building to the collector.


Howard.

With all due respect you guys keep flip flopping on this position. First it was totally accurate reproductions of the individual parts, then it was totally accurate reproductions in terms of external appearance that would allow for easy construction, and now it's back to total accuracy. I'm not complaining but I guess I'm wondering what the overall plan is going to be in terms of construction of the saber...

 

[Serafino]

Part of the problem here is that if someone hasn't followed all the discussion in various threads on this issue then they're missing context for things said now.

Dewy says there has been flip-flopping, well it helps to know that Howard and Russ have been trying to keep everyone happy and there was an uproar about the changes made to the grenade for easy assembly, so the design mod to the neck for easy assembly was scrapped. The attachment piece design is still being guided by an 'ease of assembly' principle.

The best way to track and influence these issues is to keep up to date with the JY threads and speak your mind there as projects rev up and details come forward. Or just put your vote out there in the relevant thread for what you want to happen in upcoming projects.

Howard and Russ are definitely listening and responding to feedback.

 

[Sith_Lord_Hritz]

With all due respect you guys keep flip flopping on this position. First it was totally accurate reproductions of the individual parts, then it was totally accurate reproductions in terms of external appearance that would allow for easy construction, and now it's back to total accuracy. I'm not complaining but I guess I'm wondering what the overall plan is going to be in terms of construction of the saber...

I agree, when I jumped on board and decided to purchase the parts separately over time I just assumed that they would be made so that I could put each piece together easily. I got the emitter and transistors already and paid for the grenade, I really like the quality and appreciate the hard work that is going into these pieces but im a little worried that putting the complete saber parts together might be more difficult then I thought. I agree with those who want the most accurate parts I do to, but I think the inner connections can be made by the machinist so that we get the best reproduction of this saber possible and not sacrifice accuracy on any visible areas.
Here is how I see it the saber is a replica in every way, but the great thing about having one custom made like this is that you get the awesome appearance of the original lightsaber without all the flaws of trying to get the parts to stay together tightly. I am still new here and I don’t want anyone to think im talking bad about your work on this project. I want the parts ether way this is just my opinion on the matter. Thanks