Tom’s 2024 custom lightsaber from a Cherry Flash

[thd9791]

So I’m starting this thread. Who knows what direction it will lead… but I found a Cherry flash at an estate sale today!

It’s short, so this may be an excuse to add an Obi Wan TPM style cutaway grip in the middle or something.

I do have a 10-hole balance pipe, same size as the socket so if I make a small neck… this could be something special.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I like that knurling on the bottom. I think I have some kind of knurling fetish.

 

[thd9791]

I like that knurling on the bottom. I think I have some kind of knurling fetish.

I do too, it reminds me of the Bespin blaster mount knob

tonight I took one of those accordion funnels that expand into a long tube, found an aluminum tube that fit, and poured resin around it inside. Weirdly, the resin droplets were just too thick and it didn't really fill the funnel, so I may cut a bigger hole and add more. It fits perfectly inside the diameter of this flash

 

[Halliwax]

It’s an actual cherry flash lol I thought you mean cherry as in clean lol

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

That's what I thought at first! I was expecting to see "Graflex" and then saw "Cherry" and went "Huh.".

 

[SethS]

On my travels to get every old rando flashtube out there I’ve only seen a couple Cherry’s that shroud is an interesting case, and that little dip in the rim exposing the socket is super cool.

 

[thd9791]

So... here is my spur-of-the-moment grip ring section. Obviously before sanding and paint. Remember those flexible long funnels I mentioned earlier? If you stick an aluminum tube inside, and then cut holes to pour resin around it...

I dug up a... brass? lamp rod out of my basement. I think someone in my house thought they'd fix a lamp and never got around to it. Anyway, it was just the right diameter, a little fatter than my aluminum tubing, and with a little extra layer, fit right into an incorrect balance pipe.

so that ring section is rock hard now and won't collapse. I thought about a windvane and dug around my parts. This was an Argus camera knob that I drilled and ground out for the lamp rod. I added an M2.5 set screw for the final assembly later on.

So I think this is going to look like a compact Obi Wan saber, similar to the Ep. 3 model. Clamp, pommel, etc. is still TBD but this isnt that ugly!

 

[SethS]

That’s great! A Canon Y/X clamp would look awesome on this.

 

[Sundowner]

I've never heard of a Cherry flash. Pretty cool

 

[thd9791]

So, I had some time to stare at this on my workbench. I realized, SethS put me onto an Obi Booster looking thing ages ago and never used it! I ground the flange down a little to slide into an Armitage Shanks bidet tap handle that I broke a while ago.


I went through my metal stock. Hilariously I had aluminum tube that fit inside the booster, and slid over my main lamp tube!


So, I'm sitting here looking at this, and decide to make the flash area clamp sized. I know, I was sad about it too


Because I still had a Leitz flash bracket. They're black, machined aluminum, and I took the dovetail, sanded the paint off and glued a TI-1200 display in there. Looks great!

So, to mimick the V2/Obi Wan Hero sections, the booster needed to be a tad longer. I found a Kodak lens ring in my parts bins....


I trimmed the lamp tube shorter so this crap could fit together


I kinda need to sand and paint the grenade section again. This ****** plastic has been acting up, its hard to putty and paint.

Anyway, I found these really old T nuts in my hardware, cut off the tabs and sanded the upper one down to fit in the balance pipe! Bottom one.... I drilled out the sink knob hole for it.


This is weirdly working out! Click on any photo to make it bigger

 

[thd9791]

So that sink knob… I gave it the ol’ OT fix

And to fix some bubbles and flakes on the ring section, I ran some very thin superglue around and let it harden, essentially creating an acrylic coating. I then dusted another layer of paint over that. It looks better. Not ideal but I can’t really go back

It’s pretty cool that this is a real balance pipe though lol

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey thd9791 ! You need to etch "2000" in below the Cherry logo.

 

[thd9791]

Ahhh, ahhh what’s the joke?

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Ahhh, ahhh what’s the joke?

Probably before your time:

Cherry 2000 (1987) - IMDb

 

[thd9791]

Probably before your time:

Cherry 2000 (1987) - IMDb

WOW what a bizarre movie My brother was born in 87, I in 91 so almost there lol

 

[Tan Djarka]

I kinda need to sand and paint the grenade section again. This ****** plastic has been acting up, its hard to putty and paint.

That's why I typically use washing machine or sump pump drain hose... It's already black! Actually a good guiding principle for anything that's likely to be handled alot, is to avoid paint altogether. I try to find parts that are already the color I want them to be.

 

[thd9791]

That's why I typically use washing machine or sump pump drain hose... It's already black! Actually a good guiding principle for anything that's likely to be handled alot, is to avoid paint altogether. I try to find parts that are already the color I want them to be.

Absolutely, this is advice I’ll take on next time! Hey, maybe I’ll swap it out if I find good shaped hose in a thrift store!

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey thd9791 ! The 48th beat me to it, yes, it would be a movie reference. Everyone needs a robot lover, or a lightsaber with a conscience at least that you can talk to. You could fill it full of movie quote fonts, it'd be a hoot!

Good Luck on your build!

Hey The 48th Ronin ! Did you catch Molly Ringwald on Seth Meyers last night? They were talking about Johnny Carson and the audience hardly reacted to who he was.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Hey The 48th Ronin ! Did you catch Molly Ringwald on Seth Meyers last night? They were talking about Johnny Carson and the audience hardly reacted to who he was.

I did not - I don't do late night TV anymore. That's just depressing and sad.

 

[Halliwax]

Interesting stuff going on in this thread.