asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Mmmmm... yeah.... not sure why that's a problem...
Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
- Thread starter asalaw
- Start date
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Hey RPFeeples!
Good news and bad news. Good news is, I got to the shop last night after all, and now I'm sooo close to final paint on the handle I can smell it. Literally. It's got tons of primer on it. More good news is, I just got called in to work so I'm working today and tomorrow after all. Bad news is, I was just sitting down to post when I got the email. So I'm not sure what time tonight I'll get all this stuff up here.
So, here's another teaser:
EDIT -- Check that, I'm going to the shop tonight, so I won't be posting -- but I might, just might, finish the handle. Stay tuned!!
Hey RPFeeples!
Good news and bad news. Good news is, I got to the shop last night after all, and now I'm sooo close to final paint on the handle I can smell it. Literally. It's got tons of primer on it. More good news is, I just got called in to work so I'm working today and tomorrow after all. Bad news is, I was just sitting down to post when I got the email. So I'm not sure what time tonight I'll get all this stuff up here.
So, here's another teaser:
EDIT -- Check that, I'm going to the shop tonight, so I won't be posting -- but I might, just might, finish the handle. Stay tuned!!
Last edited by a moderator:
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Hey guys! No, it's not quite finished yet, still "preening" as Steve Neill likes to call it in his amazing 66" 1701 build thread.
But I'm SOOOOOOOO close... I'm going back to the shop tomorrow, and assuming I get in more than just a couple of hours, I'll definitely finish the handle. The end plate IS painted bronze now, so I hereby declare VICTORY!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!
I recall saying the same thing in Holland once,
you arrogant Yank *******.
Anyhoo, let's get started!
So last time, I assembled and installed the internal components of the handle. This involved much backing and forthing between the machine shop, the electronics bench, the snack machine, Subway's, the machine shop, snack machine, Subway's, snack machine, snack machine, snack machine...
Why is my blood sugar so ***king high?!
Point is, my hands got incredibly dirty (especially at Subway's - shudder), and I didn't wash my hands much (why? It's only dysentery).
And in the 21st Century, we call that the Paleo Diet.
Because marketing.
So my handle got filthy. (Sorry, I've overrun the maximum allowed 17 repetitions of sophomoric "parts" jokes.)
And by the way, I also created the threading for the machine screws that hold on the end plate. I did this by squishing lots of JB Kwik into the holes, dunking my screws in Vaseline, sticking the screws all the way into the holes, and then just unscrewing them when the JB cured. Easy. But that left little nubbins of JB sticking out, so I had to file those down.
Anyhoo -- dirty handle. I set about cleaning it, which only took a few minutes. I just used my handy-dandy alcohol pads. Now, it's probably cheaper to use bottled alcohol and cotton balls (damn, out of balls joke slots too), but that's just more heavy liquid to carry and I run the risk of spills. The pads solve both problems.
They also get all the dirt, oils, and grease off the surfaces very quickly and efficiently, always a plus when you're prepping for paint. (I still have ample alliteration slots, but they're kinda not as fun as ball slots.)
Since there was still some final shaping to be done (plus repairing various ya-yas and owies inflicted during handling), I made a sanding block. Once again, 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive, then 80 grit on one side and 320 on the other.
Remember, use a sharp blade and cut your sandpaper from the back, not the front! Why abuse your blade like that?
And then it was time to secure the crap out of the prong assembly at the top of the handle, thus putting it to bed for good:
Then I hit it with the 80 grit side of the block to flush the epoxy, which kicked before it fully leveled (as high-viscosity 5 minute epoxy will often do), and pulled out my new BFF, the Evercoat Metal Glaze.
After some sanding, Bondo spot putty, and more sanding, I had a thing going on.
And so did me and Mrs. Jones....
And now for something completely different, more of the same ****!
And finally the night's last coat of primer...
Ha! There was a green cutting matt laying around the shop, and I always wanted to show my own work on one... too bad this one was metric...
The rest of the work I've done since is just more of the same sand/putty/sand/primer/sandsandsand/repeat shampoo cycle we all know and love, which after a certain point isn't worth the bandwidth. What I have right now looks pretty much the same, except I took down those lumps between the prongs with my Dremel, did more of the above, and got the endplate painted bronze.
But I didn't shoot pictures of that -- deliberately. Literally nothing new to shoot.
Oh, and the steel Phillips head screws are just placeholders, haven't picked up the slotted brass ones yet. I'll share the size and thread count I'm going with when I've got it in there... um... cuz I haven't measured it yet.
EDIT -- It's probably worth repeating here that I'm going after a very nice, smooth, new-looking finish, hence all the attention to surfacing. If I were going after the beat-up "proppy" look more like the original, I'd most likely be well along on the pistol internals by now.
Hey guys! No, it's not quite finished yet, still "preening" as Steve Neill likes to call it in his amazing 66" 1701 build thread.
But I'm SOOOOOOOO close... I'm going back to the shop tomorrow, and assuming I get in more than just a couple of hours, I'll definitely finish the handle. The end plate IS painted bronze now, so I hereby declare VICTORY!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!
I recall saying the same thing in Holland once,
you arrogant Yank *******.
Anyhoo, let's get started!
So last time, I assembled and installed the internal components of the handle. This involved much backing and forthing between the machine shop, the electronics bench, the snack machine, Subway's, the machine shop, snack machine, Subway's, snack machine, snack machine, snack machine...
Why is my blood sugar so ***king high?!
Point is, my hands got incredibly dirty (especially at Subway's - shudder), and I didn't wash my hands much (why? It's only dysentery).
And in the 21st Century, we call that the Paleo Diet.
Because marketing.
So my handle got filthy. (Sorry, I've overrun the maximum allowed 17 repetitions of sophomoric "parts" jokes.)
And by the way, I also created the threading for the machine screws that hold on the end plate. I did this by squishing lots of JB Kwik into the holes, dunking my screws in Vaseline, sticking the screws all the way into the holes, and then just unscrewing them when the JB cured. Easy. But that left little nubbins of JB sticking out, so I had to file those down.
Anyhoo -- dirty handle. I set about cleaning it, which only took a few minutes. I just used my handy-dandy alcohol pads. Now, it's probably cheaper to use bottled alcohol and cotton balls (damn, out of balls joke slots too), but that's just more heavy liquid to carry and I run the risk of spills. The pads solve both problems.
They also get all the dirt, oils, and grease off the surfaces very quickly and efficiently, always a plus when you're prepping for paint. (I still have ample alliteration slots, but they're kinda not as fun as ball slots.)
Since there was still some final shaping to be done (plus repairing various ya-yas and owies inflicted during handling), I made a sanding block. Once again, 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive, then 80 grit on one side and 320 on the other.
Remember, use a sharp blade and cut your sandpaper from the back, not the front! Why abuse your blade like that?
And then it was time to secure the crap out of the prong assembly at the top of the handle, thus putting it to bed for good:
Then I hit it with the 80 grit side of the block to flush the epoxy, which kicked before it fully leveled (as high-viscosity 5 minute epoxy will often do), and pulled out my new BFF, the Evercoat Metal Glaze.
After some sanding, Bondo spot putty, and more sanding, I had a thing going on.
And so did me and Mrs. Jones....
And now for something completely different, more of the same ****!
And finally the night's last coat of primer...
Ha! There was a green cutting matt laying around the shop, and I always wanted to show my own work on one... too bad this one was metric...
The rest of the work I've done since is just more of the same sand/putty/sand/primer/sandsandsand/repeat shampoo cycle we all know and love, which after a certain point isn't worth the bandwidth. What I have right now looks pretty much the same, except I took down those lumps between the prongs with my Dremel, did more of the above, and got the endplate painted bronze.
But I didn't shoot pictures of that -- deliberately. Literally nothing new to shoot.
Oh, and the steel Phillips head screws are just placeholders, haven't picked up the slotted brass ones yet. I'll share the size and thread count I'm going with when I've got it in there... um... cuz I haven't measured it yet.
So that's it for the next couple of days. Shop tomorrow, and hopefully a finished handle at last...EDIT -- The screw size is 4-40. The flatheads match the screw that's molded into the bottom of the phaser 2, and they look right on the bottom of the handle, so that's what I'm going with.
EDIT -- It's probably worth repeating here that I'm going after a very nice, smooth, new-looking finish, hence all the attention to surfacing. If I were going after the beat-up "proppy" look more like the original, I'd most likely be well along on the pistol internals by now.
Last edited by a moderator:
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Wow, what a couple of days! The handle's finished!!!!!
Um, except I have to make a new end plate and tang nut. Somewhere, somehow, I lost the little baggie I was keeping them in. Turned my bags inside out, looked around the apartment... poof.
When I discovered this, I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. All that work... poof. I seriously was close to depression for probably half an hour. Then I told myself to buck up and get on with it, it's just a setback, and the replacements will be better.
Just as soon as I put my guts back in and
have some pizza.
So let me just cut to the chase: Here's what I have now:
Finally!! Looking nice and smooth, I'm very happy with the finish -- okay, I'm over the moon with this thing. It's exactly what I wanted, and now I can add "scratch-built phaser handle" to my resume. Um, after I make that new end plate and tang nut...
And by the way, there you have the same handle, painted Rustoleum Dark Bronze Metallic, shot moments apart, just a slightly different exposure, and the first photo looks much darker than the other.
Have I mentioned recently what lying bastards photos and screen shots are when it comes to color?
Hell, on my monitor, neither one of those even looks bronze.
More comparison pictures -- okay, the first one looks bronze here at home. The others, not so much. That's John's MM handle for comparison in the second and third photos, also painted with the Rustoleum -- what, 10, 12 years ago? I forget.
Moving on...
So anyway, that's it. See you guys after the break...
- - - Updated - - -
Oh wait...
- - - Updated - - -
Wow, what a couple of days! The handle's finished!!!!!
Um, except I have to make a new end plate and tang nut. Somewhere, somehow, I lost the little baggie I was keeping them in. Turned my bags inside out, looked around the apartment... poof.
When I discovered this, I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. All that work... poof. I seriously was close to depression for probably half an hour. Then I told myself to buck up and get on with it, it's just a setback, and the replacements will be better.
Just as soon as I put my guts back in and
have some pizza.
So let me just cut to the chase: Here's what I have now:
Finally!! Looking nice and smooth, I'm very happy with the finish -- okay, I'm over the moon with this thing. It's exactly what I wanted, and now I can add "scratch-built phaser handle" to my resume. Um, after I make that new end plate and tang nut...
And by the way, there you have the same handle, painted Rustoleum Dark Bronze Metallic, shot moments apart, just a slightly different exposure, and the first photo looks much darker than the other.
Have I mentioned recently what lying bastards photos and screen shots are when it comes to color?
Hell, on my monitor, neither one of those even looks bronze.
More comparison pictures -- okay, the first one looks bronze here at home. The others, not so much. That's John's MM handle for comparison in the second and third photos, also painted with the Rustoleum -- what, 10, 12 years ago? I forget.
Moving on...
So anyway, that's it. See you guys after the break...
- - - Updated - - -
Oh wait...
- - - Updated - - -
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Thanks to a fellow phaser nut who's been known to post here, I got my hands on a vintage Hubbell gasket. (I'll let him identify himself if he chooses to, or remain ever mysterious, shrouded in the misty tendrils of... something mist-like... with tendrils.).
So anyway, it's the one in the middle, surrounded by my birch plywood replicas fresh from the laser cutter. And smellin' sweet!
And then I tried laminated card stock from Michael's, and they just all came out awesome.
And here they are stacked, just because.
I came prepared to experiment and waste a lot of material, but it all came out amazing (except for the unfortunate little casualties that got sucked into the laser cutter exhaust, never to be seen again... a moment of silence...) So now I've got quite a pile of gaskets!
So here we are at last. The handle's finished (except for a rerun of the end plate and tang nut episodes), and I'm off till after Thanksgiving. Working holiday, really, and you'll see the occasional video backfill and such.
And now, a word about the original vintage gasket.
See, when our anonymous friend sent me this, just taking photos wasn't enough. I really, really wanted to know what these things actually are. I mean, I know they're there for insulating the business end of the plug, so that rules out anything flammable, like paper or felt or whatever...
So I looked.
And I looked closer...
And then I just went medieval...
And finally I could tell!
Some kind of highly compacted fiber. Nifty! All I have to do is find something similar that I can laser cut, and Bob's your uncle--
Uh... wait a sec.
Did you say some kind of highly compacted fiber?
It took some time for that to sink in, but when it did, it made perfect sense.
It's insulating, and it also has to be heat and fire resistant. And it's a mid-century antique.
I realized this thing could be made of asbestos.
I searched for pictures of asbestos gaskets, and found various ones, all from India (land of who gives a rat's ass about your lungs? Cash me!), that looked very consistent with the Hubbell gasket, including the color. Other colors too, but several of these burnt orange ones. I also e-mailed an abatement guy who was hosting lots of scary asbestos photos and sent him some pictures, but I haven't heard back from him.
Now, I'm not an expert of any sort (except maybe in some areas of law, depending on who you ask), but I couldn't find anything inconsistent with this thing being made of asbestos. So if anyone knows different, please speak up by all means.
Having said that, until someone provides credible evidence to the contrary, I'm treating this as probably asbestos.
So it's back in a little baggie, and I'll return it to its owner once I've made a good color match, and then good riddance to it. I never want another original gasket, I won't buy any, I won't trade in them, and I sure as hell won't sell them.
Sure, it's a very, very small gasket, and it gets sealed with paint, so you could argue that the risk is very small (assuming it actually is asbestos, which I don't know). If you're fine with that, mazel tov.
However, I'm perfectly happy to compromise having the "perfect" prop replica, with every single vintage item accurately sourced, in the case of a very minor item that could pose a health risk.
Cuz I'm one of these. And I don't mean cat.
Sooo...
I'm willing to sell them off extremely cheap. $5 gets you five of them, postage included (lower 48 only), till I run out. If you want more than five, it's $0.50 (fifty cents) each up to a limit of ten. Let me know if you want the wood (unpainted), the darker red laminated card, or the lighter red laminated card, or any combination thereof, assuming they're on hand. Please note neither of the card colors is an exact match, but it gets painted over anyway.
After that, we'll see... I may continue to supply them, as long as I have the time and I'm not selling them at a loss. If it becomes a burden, I'll have to come up with some other way to make them widely and cheaply available, but I definitely will.
So PM me anytime if you want some.
This is the last guy who ignored my safety advice.
Also, please note that these are the exact dimensions as the original, so I wouldn't recommend them for things like DST mods where the handle is very thin.
So I'll see you guys after Thanksgiving, when I'll be diving into the pistol and the P1, pretty much in parallel. I know the P1 will go pretty fast (my very first one only took a couple of days), but I expect the pistol internals will be as big an adventure as the handle has been. Meanwhile, I'll post the true, final pictures of the handle when I have the replacements made and the brass screws in place.
Ciao!
Ahhh......
GASKETS!!!!!
Thanks to a fellow phaser nut who's been known to post here, I got my hands on a vintage Hubbell gasket. (I'll let him identify himself if he chooses to, or remain ever mysterious, shrouded in the misty tendrils of... something mist-like... with tendrils.).
So anyway, it's the one in the middle, surrounded by my birch plywood replicas fresh from the laser cutter. And smellin' sweet!
And then I tried laminated card stock from Michael's, and they just all came out awesome.
And here they are stacked, just because.
I came prepared to experiment and waste a lot of material, but it all came out amazing (except for the unfortunate little casualties that got sucked into the laser cutter exhaust, never to be seen again... a moment of silence...) So now I've got quite a pile of gaskets!
So here we are at last. The handle's finished (except for a rerun of the end plate and tang nut episodes), and I'm off till after Thanksgiving. Working holiday, really, and you'll see the occasional video backfill and such.
And now, a word about the original vintage gasket.
See, when our anonymous friend sent me this, just taking photos wasn't enough. I really, really wanted to know what these things actually are. I mean, I know they're there for insulating the business end of the plug, so that rules out anything flammable, like paper or felt or whatever...
So I looked.
And I looked closer...
And then I just went medieval...
And finally I could tell!
Some kind of highly compacted fiber. Nifty! All I have to do is find something similar that I can laser cut, and Bob's your uncle--
Uh... wait a sec.
Did you say some kind of highly compacted fiber?
It took some time for that to sink in, but when it did, it made perfect sense.
It's insulating, and it also has to be heat and fire resistant. And it's a mid-century antique.
I realized this thing could be made of asbestos.
I searched for pictures of asbestos gaskets, and found various ones, all from India (land of who gives a rat's ass about your lungs? Cash me!), that looked very consistent with the Hubbell gasket, including the color. Other colors too, but several of these burnt orange ones. I also e-mailed an abatement guy who was hosting lots of scary asbestos photos and sent him some pictures, but I haven't heard back from him.
Now, I'm not an expert of any sort (except maybe in some areas of law, depending on who you ask), but I couldn't find anything inconsistent with this thing being made of asbestos. So if anyone knows different, please speak up by all means.
Having said that, until someone provides credible evidence to the contrary, I'm treating this as probably asbestos.
So it's back in a little baggie, and I'll return it to its owner once I've made a good color match, and then good riddance to it. I never want another original gasket, I won't buy any, I won't trade in them, and I sure as hell won't sell them.
Sure, it's a very, very small gasket, and it gets sealed with paint, so you could argue that the risk is very small (assuming it actually is asbestos, which I don't know). If you're fine with that, mazel tov.
However, I'm perfectly happy to compromise having the "perfect" prop replica, with every single vintage item accurately sourced, in the case of a very minor item that could pose a health risk.
Cuz I'm one of these. And I don't mean cat.
Sooo...
I'm willing to sell them off extremely cheap. $5 gets you five of them, postage included (lower 48 only), till I run out. If you want more than five, it's $0.50 (fifty cents) each up to a limit of ten. Let me know if you want the wood (unpainted), the darker red laminated card, or the lighter red laminated card, or any combination thereof, assuming they're on hand. Please note neither of the card colors is an exact match, but it gets painted over anyway.
After that, we'll see... I may continue to supply them, as long as I have the time and I'm not selling them at a loss. If it becomes a burden, I'll have to come up with some other way to make them widely and cheaply available, but I definitely will.
So PM me anytime if you want some.
This is the last guy who ignored my safety advice.
Also, please note that these are the exact dimensions as the original, so I wouldn't recommend them for things like DST mods where the handle is very thin.
So I'll see you guys after Thanksgiving, when I'll be diving into the pistol and the P1, pretty much in parallel. I know the P1 will go pretty fast (my very first one only took a couple of days), but I expect the pistol internals will be as big an adventure as the handle has been. Meanwhile, I'll post the true, final pictures of the handle when I have the replacements made and the brass screws in place.
Ciao!
Ahhh......
:cool
Last edited by a moderator:
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Difficult to mentally process without high levels of
cognitive dissonance!!!!
Incredible!!! I remember those, and I may have even had one.
I would have made the same assumption. Have you got one I could borrow for comparison? I have GOT to know whether it fits the plug, how thick it is, and whatnot.
That is just too freaky. I'd be very hard-pressed to believe it's a coincidence, but even so, it's baffling.
The only explanation I can think of, especially since I know absolutely squat about how this really happened (always the best position to pontificate from), is that somehow the gasket inspired the plastic disk.
Seriously, I have GOT to know...
Difficult to mentally process without high levels of
cognitive dissonance!!!!
Incredible!!! I remember those, and I may have even had one.
I would have made the same assumption. Have you got one I could borrow for comparison? I have GOT to know whether it fits the plug, how thick it is, and whatnot.
That is just too freaky. I'd be very hard-pressed to believe it's a coincidence, but even so, it's baffling.
The only explanation I can think of, especially since I know absolutely squat about how this really happened (always the best position to pontificate from), is that somehow the gasket inspired the plastic disk.
Seriously, I have GOT to know...
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
And to add EVEN MORE weirdness to the coincidence...
And I just found...
And hey, they're all over eBay! Anybody wanna pop $30 plus shipping and send me one?
And to add EVEN MORE weirdness to the coincidence...
And I just found...
And hey, they're all over eBay! Anybody wanna pop $30 plus shipping and send me one?
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asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
That would be wonderful news, since it would be safe to use... but isn't cellulose flammable?
EDIT -- Crap. Yes it is. So it's unlikely to have been used as an electrical insulator (and yet stranger things have happened).
That would be wonderful news, since it would be safe to use... but isn't cellulose flammable?
EDIT -- Crap. Yes it is. So it's unlikely to have been used as an electrical insulator (and yet stranger things have happened).
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Good point! However, the flammability of cellulose depends upon how it is treated. It's basically wood pulp and the raw element itself is flammable but it's usually mixed with something that isn't. Wikipedia cites that it is used in cigarette filters, and cellulose acetate is Safety Film Stock -- developed to replace highly flammable cellulose nitrate film, so it can definitely be made stable around heat/fire.
Vulcanized cellulose paperboard insulation is, evidently, an industry standard http://www.customgasketmfg.com/DieCutGaskets/FiberGaskets
Good point! However, the flammability of cellulose depends upon how it is treated. It's basically wood pulp and the raw element itself is flammable but it's usually mixed with something that isn't. Wikipedia cites that it is used in cigarette filters, and cellulose acetate is Safety Film Stock -- developed to replace highly flammable cellulose nitrate film, so it can definitely be made stable around heat/fire.
Vulcanized cellulose paperboard insulation is, evidently, an industry standard http://www.customgasketmfg.com/DieCutGaskets/FiberGaskets
Last edited by a moderator:
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Yes, and thanks!! So the question becomes, what treatments for cellulose were around 50 to 60 years ago? I'm not even sure where to start looking for that, except back to abatement guys. They're likely to run into all sorts of vintage materials when they're cleaning out places old enough to have asbestos. Chemistry was pretty far along by WWII, so I wouldn't doubt that such treatments were available. But was it used for this application, or did they go with asbestos because it was really cheap?
Oh, the places we nerds go...
Yes, and thanks!! So the question becomes, what treatments for cellulose were around 50 to 60 years ago? I'm not even sure where to start looking for that, except back to abatement guys. They're likely to run into all sorts of vintage materials when they're cleaning out places old enough to have asbestos. Chemistry was pretty far along by WWII, so I wouldn't doubt that such treatments were available. But was it used for this application, or did they go with asbestos because it was really cheap?
Oh, the places we nerds go...
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Nerd on! I'm curious about that as well and have snooped around vintage radio equipment sites and from what I can tell this kind of vulcanized paperboard insulation was standard well before WW2. And not just for small electronics but power transformers and cabling, etc. In fact, as a curious aside, the German Army used vulcanized cellulose to make the peaks of their caps as well as shirt buttons (WWII is another obsession of mine).
Nerd on! I'm curious about that as well and have snooped around vintage radio equipment sites and from what I can tell this kind of vulcanized paperboard insulation was standard well before WW2. And not just for small electronics but power transformers and cabling, etc. In fact, as a curious aside, the German Army used vulcanized cellulose to make the peaks of their caps as well as shirt buttons (WWII is another obsession of mine).
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
Now I'm going to look into vulcanized cellulose...
I went through a WW II obsession decades ago, and it went on for years. I even found ways to work it into my history minor.
Awesome! Cross-pollination rocks.
Now I'm going to look into vulcanized cellulose... I went through a WW II obsession decades ago, and it went on for years. I even found ways to work it into my history minor.
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
In this handle, I have an 8-32. It looks close enough to the photos, and they have that size at KnifeKits.com. (Thanks to robn1 for the link.) However, next time I'm going with a 5-40, still a standard machine screw size but the diameter seems closer (a #5 is 1/8, or 0.125).
But I can't find a 5-40 "tang" or "pommel" nut anywhere, so I may have to make those. Much to my joy, Techshop just started selling metal stock by the inch, which is perfect for making one-offs, so I expect to solve that for a couple of bucks plus a 5-40 tap in the worst case.
There's also the possibility the original nut might be metric, since I've been shown photos implying it could have come from a German or Japanese 35mm SLR camera. But since 5-40 is, as far as I can tell, the exact size or at least near enough as makes no visual difference, that's what I'm going with.
Having just said all that, I just now got idly curious (always dangerous) and I tried different terms for the nut. After all, the idea that there's only one vendor having "tang nuts" doesn't make a lot of sense. These things just can't be that rare.
So I just tried "slotted nut brass" as a Google image search and the result was very promising. I don't have time to go spelunking right now, but I think that's where the answer lies -- a 5-40 round slotted nut or metric equivalent. Obviously you want a standard size and thread so you don't have to make your own threaded rod.
Wish I'd thought of this before I turned the Knife Kits one down on the lathe. Huge pain.
Wow, thanks! You guys really keep me going when it gets tough. I mean that!
In this handle, I have an 8-32. It looks close enough to the photos, and they have that size at KnifeKits.com. (Thanks to robn1 for the link.) However, next time I'm going with a 5-40, still a standard machine screw size but the diameter seems closer (a #5 is 1/8, or 0.125).
But I can't find a 5-40 "tang" or "pommel" nut anywhere, so I may have to make those. Much to my joy, Techshop just started selling metal stock by the inch, which is perfect for making one-offs, so I expect to solve that for a couple of bucks plus a 5-40 tap in the worst case.
There's also the possibility the original nut might be metric, since I've been shown photos implying it could have come from a German or Japanese 35mm SLR camera. But since 5-40 is, as far as I can tell, the exact size or at least near enough as makes no visual difference, that's what I'm going with.
Having just said all that, I just now got idly curious (always dangerous) and I tried different terms for the nut. After all, the idea that there's only one vendor having "tang nuts" doesn't make a lot of sense. These things just can't be that rare.
So I just tried "slotted nut brass" as a Google image search and the result was very promising. I don't have time to go spelunking right now, but I think that's where the answer lies -- a 5-40 round slotted nut or metric equivalent. Obviously you want a standard size and thread so you don't have to make your own threaded rod.
Wish I'd thought of this before I turned the Knife Kits one down on the lathe. Huge pain.
asalaw
Master Member
Re: John Long Phaser 1 Kit Buildup plus MM P2 Restoration
The large bold type in my posts is a link -- I do that so people can skim a page quickly and spot the links they're looking for. So you can also just click on that search term and try your luck. I won't be looking for that for some time, since I'm moving on to the pistol and P1 right after the break. I hope to see pictures of your build!
The large bold type in my posts is a link -- I do that so people can skim a page quickly and spot the links they're looking for. So you can also just click on that search term and try your luck.
I won't be looking for that for some time, since I'm moving on to the pistol and P1 right after the break. I hope to see pictures of your build! 
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