So after wrestling to tune and learn to use my two new toys, I've finally started making things with my cheapo harbor freight lathe and milling machines. I turned parts in aluminum for a Han Solo ANH blaster on an HFC gas airsoft mauser, and that was my first true test of the two machines. While I still have a bunch of issues with weathering with aluminum black, it is mostly done except for a few odds and ends, and making a stand for it.
After building the DL44, I switched gears and bought a Graflex, which turned into a complete nightmare and by the time I acquired everything I needed to build an ANH version, that project was shelved until I get enough motivation to put it together. When Roman started his sale for the Obi sabers, I preordered a kit and the lightsaber bug grabbed back onto me. In the past I had started a hardware store Graflex and never finished it. I would do plenty of research to build other sabers but they never made it out of the planning stages.
Starting with the hero version of the saber, I machined Luke's hero lightsaber from ROTJ based on these blueprints,
Accuracy hasn't really concerned me thus far, since I can't yet machine to too close of tolerances to my own satisfaction, so a lot of it is just me winging it along the way, starting with a tiny prototype just to get me into the mood.
Originally i made the rings way too thick, and after painting I realized my mistake and went back and widened the grooves more, leading me here:
(in this picture you can see my first mistake....the windvane part....I put a lot of thought and effort into inventing those dimension for the second section from the top, because it didn't have a dimension in the blueprints. It took about a day before I realized it and had to question what in the world I was doing and how I came to think it belonged there)
I ordered some materials to make the activation box and in the meantime I moved on to a V2. Life became considerably easier this time around, since I had started learning to avoid the lathe's numerous shortcomings and annoying habits of destroying whatever I was doing by throwing parts from the chuck if it bit off more than it could chew. Eventually I also fixed issues with the mill, causing things like this to happen when it grabs on and flings the table and the part:
or more recently an entire axis of motion was completely seized up. But I finally got the V2 to around 75% done, it just needing some paint on the section below the Graflex clamp and then the whole thing needs to be weathered, I also have to get a D ring and put the various screws and holes where they belong.
Shout out to Roy and Slothfurnace for their amazing work on the clamp and circuit board
Now to the question and the only thing standing between the hero version and completion; how do I put a radius the bottom of the activation box so that it fits flush onto the body of the saber? What kind of tool/milling cutter would allow me to do it in the easiest and neatest way possible so that it can be square to the rest of the body(and won't cost too an excessive amount for a one time use thing)? I already know that I have to buy a keyseat cutter since I took the lazy way out and making the whole activation box one piece instead of the L channel like normal minded people use, I need a space for the circuit card to slide into, so I just have to figure out what else I need to buy along with it now :facepalm
After building the DL44, I switched gears and bought a Graflex, which turned into a complete nightmare and by the time I acquired everything I needed to build an ANH version, that project was shelved until I get enough motivation to put it together. When Roman started his sale for the Obi sabers, I preordered a kit and the lightsaber bug grabbed back onto me. In the past I had started a hardware store Graflex and never finished it. I would do plenty of research to build other sabers but they never made it out of the planning stages.
Starting with the hero version of the saber, I machined Luke's hero lightsaber from ROTJ based on these blueprints,
Accuracy hasn't really concerned me thus far, since I can't yet machine to too close of tolerances to my own satisfaction, so a lot of it is just me winging it along the way, starting with a tiny prototype just to get me into the mood.
Originally i made the rings way too thick, and after painting I realized my mistake and went back and widened the grooves more, leading me here:
(in this picture you can see my first mistake....the windvane part....I put a lot of thought and effort into inventing those dimension for the second section from the top, because it didn't have a dimension in the blueprints. It took about a day before I realized it and had to question what in the world I was doing and how I came to think it belonged there)
I ordered some materials to make the activation box and in the meantime I moved on to a V2. Life became considerably easier this time around, since I had started learning to avoid the lathe's numerous shortcomings and annoying habits of destroying whatever I was doing by throwing parts from the chuck if it bit off more than it could chew. Eventually I also fixed issues with the mill, causing things like this to happen when it grabs on and flings the table and the part:
or more recently an entire axis of motion was completely seized up. But I finally got the V2 to around 75% done, it just needing some paint on the section below the Graflex clamp and then the whole thing needs to be weathered, I also have to get a D ring and put the various screws and holes where they belong.
Shout out to Roy and Slothfurnace for their amazing work on the clamp and circuit board
Now to the question and the only thing standing between the hero version and completion; how do I put a radius the bottom of the activation box so that it fits flush onto the body of the saber? What kind of tool/milling cutter would allow me to do it in the easiest and neatest way possible so that it can be square to the rest of the body(and won't cost too an excessive amount for a one time use thing)? I already know that I have to buy a keyseat cutter since I took the lazy way out and making the whole activation box one piece instead of the L channel like normal minded people use, I need a space for the circuit card to slide into, so I just have to figure out what else I need to buy along with it now :facepalm
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