Tom's Busch Custom Saber

[thd9791]

Hi folks,

I stumbled upon a couple Busch flashes over a few years. After gutting and engineering the stunt sabers from the OT, I felt more confident in exploring these flashes. I find the make-up fascinating. This is what's underneath that obnoxiously large black part of my first flash (#1)


(#1) And some more disassembly pictures. I had to unscrew the center pin/spring in order to get the release lever to tuck inside the tube. Then I was able to slide out the internals. there's a massive capacitor I chucked, as well as bad wiring, etc. LOTS of fiber washers, and I have to at least save the one in the middle of the socket pieces, so my sockets are properly aligned.


Also, there is the whole row of holes underneath the black thing too. This is hilarious and I want to fill some of them with LEDs.


Flash #2 is coming up next. I think the ring is red on this next one!

 

[thd9791]

Second one came with the shroud! Red ring... shorter, and machine finish as opposed to the coating on the other one. (I sanded and buffed the dull coating off anyway)

I spent the day stacking greeblies in the socket before re-installing it.. can't wait to show you

 

[BRRogers]

Found the Yuma box huh! (Jk) but the similarity is striking.
Looks like they could be some fun builds!

 

[thd9791]

Alright, so I gutted the flash. I took the whole socket apart and learned how it worked. There was a large gap in the middle where the bulb spring goes.. you’ll remember that from Graflexes, so I thankfully had 5/16 ID aluminum to throw in there. I then screwed the socket back together, without any special plates or anything. Exactly how I imagine they did for the graflex or mpp.

Thankfully I also had an extra core. Since this is a custom saber I didn’t outsource my drilling, and my drill press… something is still off. Maybe the plate is tilted or the force needed to bite in shifts the main spindle… who knows. Anyways it’s crooked and it aligns if I rotate all the parts a certain way lol

So I drilled for some LEDs and put an M4 grub screw in each socket section for the tang. Dry fit..

 

[thd9791]

Oh, on Busch flashes there is a big lever that pops out to remove the bulb. Without the lever there is a big rectangular hole so I filled it with an LED like the ones on the droids in OT and the lightsabers in the PT!

The hole in the socket and the LED display are larger than the hole in the flash. That and glue keep it in place

 

[thd9791]

So this post is a long time coming. I needed a few evenings to sit down and do some classic hand fitting and machining.

First off, I had to lock my core into the saber. I opted for the age old black bolt thing… and had to map out where the tang set screws were to avoid hitting them… plus this main hole is crooked so the orientation wasn’t the same in different places lol

Anyway, I eventually tapped for M6 and bored out the areas… making sure to be off center and misaligned (and even up under the shroud like the Barbican)

Shroud! I wrinkle coated the damned thing. Suggestion from redbutton and it was a great idea!

Where should the D ring go?

 

[thd9791]

I did a brave thing.. I took a piece of aluminum and designed a little D ring holder!

I drilled through for 4-40 screws on both sides of the retaining thumbscrew (went all the way through, it was just easier) and then barreled a little into the sides for a D ring.

I opted not the trap a whole D ring against the shroud, like the barbican, because I wanted the D ring to be closer to the outside surface of the shroud, realistically, to be used as a D ring. It’s a stubby shroud so you don’t have the vertical space to get at a lower ring.

Also, because of this I made the block lower in profile. It looks a bit more tasteful given the ratio of the shroud steps/dimensions.

I just went ahead and got black screws from the hardware store and made sure to get ones that took up some of the awkward space under there and it looks great!

The D ring I cut, spread, and squished into the side holes. They blow out into the 4-40 threads so I took the 4-40 tap and used a drill to run through the threads again.. clearing out the space and making sure the threads still line up!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

The d-ring block is tasteful, indeed! A part of me wished I had done that on mine!

 

[thd9791]

Thank you PoopaPapaPalps

Today I ran to grainger and grabbed some discount 0-80 taps. They have a spiral tip to push more swarf forewords. Gold colored, so coated with something.

I tapped the grips for little screws!

Also carved one of my energizer parts into an upper greeblie. I used these 4-40 screws with fillister heads that I got from a model airplane builder

I did find these cards on eBay.. edge connectors that were small, and had holes in them. I filled them with solder…

Watcha think everyone?

 

[redbutton]

Looks great! I like the red ring in the emitter and the D ring holder.
Great job getting other parts in the holes in the body of the
handle. Grips with tiny screws is brilliant too!

 

[thd9791]

Lol also, I drilled this with the saber sideways, instead of lengthwise under my drill press. This means I wasn’t sighting the t track like a gun, which I like to do, because I can eyeball the drill bit exactly perpendicular to the t track. With the saber behind the bit, it’s susceptible to very small angle differences you wouldn’t notice.

Lol look at my consistency though!

The drill bit might have also bent a little, the force needed to bite into the brass vs the force enough to bend it are very close together….

 

[redbutton]

Looks great! The inside kinda funny but it works on the outside
where it counts.

 

[thd9791]

I had a messed up blade floating around my basement for almost a year. The reflective fabric cut was terrible, I got glue all over the exposed part of the blade so I took a scrubby pad and stripped it of the excess… and called it a weathered blade. I fixed some loose fabric and put it on this custom saber! Feels pretty great to hold this saber with the extra weight needed to balance it.. please excuse the messy house

 

[redbutton]

I had a messed up blade floating around my basement for almost a year. The reflective fabric cut was terrible, I got glue all over the exposed part of the blade so I took a scrubby pad and stripped it of the excess… and called it a weathered blade. I fixed some loose fabric and put it on this custom saber! Feels pretty great to hold this saber with the extra weight needed to balance it.. please excuse the messy houseView attachment 1773387View attachment 1773388View attachment 1773389View attachment 1773390View attachment 1773391View attachment 1773392View attachment 1773393

Nice emitter and blade. A stellar job!