I finished this build up about a year ago and wanted to get some pics up of the final outcome. I bought the graflex in 2014 just as prices were starting to rise, i saw them go from $150 (which i thought was expensive) to $200 in 3 months. I was able to get mine for $175 which came tarnished and a little dirty but i love it and think it is perfect for a Luke ANH that looks used and appropriate to the movie.
I used Gino grips, calc bubble from philip over at rebelscum.com, and a handmade d-ring and strap based on @Sym-Chas measurements and templates.
The hardest part by far was constructing the d-ring and strap. At the time Roy was not yet offering his and i can tell you i would buy his in a second rather than build my own again. I used this thread in which sym-cha posted reference as a guide http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=103270. He mentions that he used 2.5mm wire to made the d-ring which let me tell you is impossible to find in the states. I looked literally everywhere for an 1" o-ring or d-ring that i could modify with 2.5mm wire, and it just did not exist until....one day i searched "2.5mm o-ring" on google and 6 pages into the search i found a place that had 1" o-rings with 2.5mm wire. it turned out to be a canadian site that sold hardware for fetish leather works. ok well no matter, i bought a bag and it was just what i needed. I cut a segment out of the o-ring with my dremel and spent the next 2 hours shaping it (2.5mm wire is tough to bend!) to match sym-cha's template, but in the end it turned out perfect.
mine is the bottom right. the two on the left were d-rings i purchased but you can see how the thicker wire does not look right.
Next came the strap. The strap was way more difficult to make. It started off as a strip of stainless steel .457mm x 25.4mm (k&s #87161). I had to buy a special metal cutting disk for my dremel and after that rough cut to the approximate dimensions provided by Chaim, it wasnt pretty at that time. I then bent the stainless over a piece of wire the same dimension as the d-ring and used a chisel with some cloth on the end and tapped with a mallet to tightly form the stainless around the wire. After 45min of grinding, filing, and sanding to the correct shape I came up with what you see below.
I initially was going to fasten it with the hex head screw because i was nervous about riveting but in the end i went the rivet route.
After i installed the d-ring and strap it was time for the grips. The grips are from Gino and they are fantastic. I first cut them to length and marked them with masking tape for the correct back angle. I heard many people file them down but i found using a steady hand and a dremel to be way cleaner and faster.
After i cut the grips i used the template on partsofstarwars.com to mark the proper location and spacing. cut the paper template a little short to mark the top and bottom placement of the grips.
I used E600 to glue on the grips which worked perfectly. I was nervous at first because it says E6000 stays flexible, but that is a relative term and it stuck them on hard as a rock quickly enough so that by the time i turned the saber to put on the next grip, the previous one was already fixed in place.
I used Gino grips, calc bubble from philip over at rebelscum.com, and a handmade d-ring and strap based on @Sym-Chas measurements and templates.
The hardest part by far was constructing the d-ring and strap. At the time Roy was not yet offering his and i can tell you i would buy his in a second rather than build my own again. I used this thread in which sym-cha posted reference as a guide http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=103270. He mentions that he used 2.5mm wire to made the d-ring which let me tell you is impossible to find in the states. I looked literally everywhere for an 1" o-ring or d-ring that i could modify with 2.5mm wire, and it just did not exist until....one day i searched "2.5mm o-ring" on google and 6 pages into the search i found a place that had 1" o-rings with 2.5mm wire. it turned out to be a canadian site that sold hardware for fetish leather works. ok well no matter, i bought a bag and it was just what i needed. I cut a segment out of the o-ring with my dremel and spent the next 2 hours shaping it (2.5mm wire is tough to bend!) to match sym-cha's template, but in the end it turned out perfect.
mine is the bottom right. the two on the left were d-rings i purchased but you can see how the thicker wire does not look right.Next came the strap. The strap was way more difficult to make. It started off as a strip of stainless steel .457mm x 25.4mm (k&s #87161). I had to buy a special metal cutting disk for my dremel and after that rough cut to the approximate dimensions provided by Chaim, it wasnt pretty at that time. I then bent the stainless over a piece of wire the same dimension as the d-ring and used a chisel with some cloth on the end and tapped with a mallet to tightly form the stainless around the wire. After 45min of grinding, filing, and sanding to the correct shape I came up with what you see below.
I initially was going to fasten it with the hex head screw because i was nervous about riveting but in the end i went the rivet route.
After i installed the d-ring and strap it was time for the grips. The grips are from Gino and they are fantastic. I first cut them to length and marked them with masking tape for the correct back angle. I heard many people file them down but i found using a steady hand and a dremel to be way cleaner and faster.
After i cut the grips i used the template on partsofstarwars.com to mark the proper location and spacing. cut the paper template a little short to mark the top and bottom placement of the grips.
I used E600 to glue on the grips which worked perfectly. I was nervous at first because it says E6000 stays flexible, but that is a relative term and it stuck them on hard as a rock quickly enough so that by the time i turned the saber to put on the next grip, the previous one was already fixed in place.
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