Working on my first Saber

[Hexapuma]

Or is it Sabre? I'm never sure.

Anyway, I just started in on this glorious past-time that is replica props and, since I have access to a lathe, I thought I'd start off with an attempt at replicating Luke's RotJ lightsaber based on the plans by Francisco Garcia and Rob Petkau. You can see the first stage below, which is turned from a bar of Alu. Because of the outer diameter of the emitter shield, I elected not to do it all in one piece. Not to mention that the pommel would be tricky to shape.



I've 3D printed the pommel cap, which I'm thinking I'll drill through into the pommel tang and tap. Hold in place with a recessed screw. I also need to print the emitter shield, although if I can find a suitable piece of Alu that I can fit in the chuck of my lathe then I might still turn it as a separate piece. Even if I paint the plastic, it's not going to have the same shine as metal.



Then it's just a matter of making and mounting the control box and painting the various sections.

I have to admit, looking at all the beautiful sabers people have on here, it's quite intimidating.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Hi Hexapuma,

and welcome aboard ... that's an awesome start on a magnificant lightsaber build ... keep it up

Chaim

 

[Hexapuma]

Thanks Chaim! Now I just need to start working on the finer details.

 

[Hexapuma]

I now have the emitter and control box printed. Painting the black elements of the body is in progress and I'm trying to figure out how to colour the ABS+ the parts are made of to match the brushed Aluminium the body's made from. A friend did suggest chrome spray-paint with an aluminium wash which I might try. My experiments with Aluminium tape came out rather hideous.

 

[Panaflex]

Nice job man. Impressive.

 

[Darth Lars]

Looking good so far! :thumbsup
I have seen on this forum some pommels with individual cubes glued onto a cylinder. If you could find a good way to get the inner radius... Maybe make a hollow cylinder and cut that up.

And BTW, "saber" or "sabre" is simply American vs. British spelling. George Lucas spelled it "lightsaber" so that is what I always do even if I use British spelling otherwise.

 

[cjchiu]

Nice. If this is what it looks like when you are first starting, I'm looking forward you all your future projects.

Also, I rarely get aluminum tape to look satisfactory on my projects....

 

[Sym-Cha]

For an ABS based Darth Vader belt buckle ... I tried chrome spraypaint as well ... but I was not satisfied and thus I dipped the whole painted rectangular piece in a small flat container with some white spirit for a moment or two and that gave a weird yet aluminium like appearance ... so it's worth to give it a try :wacko

Chaim

 

[Hexapuma]

Thanks for the kind words and advice guys! Darth Lars, I suppose I could lathe down the central cylinder and then get some Aluminium bar stock and cut chunks off of it. File those into shape and then either Epoxy them on or work out a way of attaching them from the inside by screws. I'm hoping that I can get a milling attachment for the Lathe I'm using which would allow me to just turn the part as a whole.
Chaim, I'm off to pick up some chrome spray paint in a little while. If it doesn't look quite right then I may well try your white spirit trick.
CJ, I knew it was a risk but I had hoped it could be buffed smooth and and would look pretty good. Turned out to be too shiny and far too wrinkly.Plus that stuff sticks like nobody's business. I ended up just printing a new copy rather than trying to peel the original.

 

[Hexapuma]

Next update on progress:
Aluminium was taped and sprayed to give the black elements, then the plastic parts were sprayed in preparation for a layer of chrome.

 

[Hexapuma]

New update!

Somewhat later than I'd hoped but qui cera cera.



I'm trying to make the pommel from a solid section of 50mm Alu rod stock. Turning to the correct size and shape on the lathe wasn't a problem but now I'm working on removing the material between the segments. It's taking a while, particularly since I won't want to damage the spindle. I can remove a fraction of the diameter to smooth out unexpected dings but not too much or it'll be out of size. I'll have to face the ends off again when I'm done as the vice, even with packing, is leaving nicks.

My first attempt at removing material was hacksaw and file but that's both risky and time consuming. The second attempt was a dremmel but that's almost as bad. I have access to a very small computer controlled mill and I'll need to see if I can manage the job with that. (I need to see if the part will even fit!

 

[russellsch]

Awesome work man. Enjoy the challenge of a good build :thumbsup. Great job so far.

 

[StitchFett]

Impressive. Keep us updated! I love scratch built sabers

 

[43moon]

Really cool build. I enjoy your spirit of jumping in and just doing it for your first build.

 

[thd9791]

Yes! I had a friend use something to try and cut out the pommel cubes on this saber and I don't remember what they used, but it left an in cut near the base.

He said he wished he had a mill, since thats what you'd need to remove that material!

 

[Lichtbringer]

And additional a rotary table (to get it done precisely if using a conventional mill instead a cnc).

 

[Hexapuma]

My latest attempt to cut the pommel in the tiny hobby mill I have available:



We've had this rotating workholder for years but never been able to get it working properly. I figured it was time to give it a good try. This is the pommel shape turned as a first attempt out of a 50mm diameter bar of Delrin. The next step is to see if it can handle aluminium. The mill is only rated for plastics but we were reliably informed that it will handle Alu as long as you're VERY careful. I need to calculate the speeds and feeds properly, centre-drill the bar stock and then see if it will hold up. Fingers crossed! Then I just need to hollow out the centre on the lathe and add a couple of minor trim pieces. Then that just leaves the control box. I've given up on trying to manufacture a Graflex clamp on my own. The metal folding required is just too fiddly.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words. It means a lot. I know I went kinda challenging for a first build but hey, go big or go home right? And I've learned an immense amount about techniques that I can apply to other projects!

BTW this was done on a Roland MDX-40A mini-CNC mill with the ZCL-40A rotary Z axis.

 

[Hexapuma]

Ok... So, important lesson. Never try to turn an Aluminium pommel in a mini-mill.



Basically there's just not enough stiffness in the system to handle cutting something as hard as aluminium like this. This is something like the third I've tried and all it's doing is costing me money in bar stock. At this point it's either do the pommel in plastic and find a better way to paint it or find someone who can machine it in aluminium and won't charge a small fortune.

I know a chap who may be able to machine them soon, so I may be holding off until then.

On the other hand, however, I have got a basic emitter shield.



Not 100% perfect as it's got some blemishes and there's that slight gap between the shield and the lower emitter I'm not happy with. But it secures quite well with a grub screw. I also want to detail the emitter slightly and not just leave it with a plain face. If I can get a dremmel fitted to the tool pillar on my lathe then I may drill holes in the shield but I guess we'll see.

 

[SethS]

Any parts that look decent that you decide to toss aside, I'd be interested in them for custom sabers!

 

[Hexapuma]

The problem with that SethS, is that shipping them to LA would be a bit expensive and I tend to put sub-standard parts in my bits-box anyway. They'll get cut down for some other project later.