GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ? Knurling TOO!

Ridire Firean

Sr Member
Hey Gang! Does anyone know what the GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye thread size/pitch is?

I need to buy a tap to adapt a Red Button to a GRAFLEX style TCSS MHS Blade holder but I'm having difficulty finding the info on the threading.

Just to be lightsaber crystal clear, I'm trying to adapt a working GRAFLEX Red Button by drilling out the whole and tapping it so that I can screw the button into the blade holder and wire it to be a functioning aux button. I'm not looking for the 10-32 threading of a Red Button Thumbscrew as that's already drilled and tapped there from TCSS.

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know what it is.
 
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GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Funny I️ was just searching everywhere earlier this week for this exact answer. Your gonna want a “5/8-24” tap. To be clear that would be for such items as a vintage Graflex glass eye or Button or also for most replicas. Bought mine for like $15 on Amazon with prime shipping. Good luck!


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Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

If you're inexperienced like me, That yellow and blue brand Irwin sells taps that have a non-tap part near the tip, that helps you keep it straight as you begin to turn.
 
Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

U know my buddy recently order a TGS glass eye and we could thread it into the Romans graflex.

The threading looked the same but it wouldn’t work... I had to re thread it on my lathe to make it work

Does anyone know if TGS threading is the same? Or was it just that I had a defective thread


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Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

If you're inexperienced like me, That yellow and blue brand Irwin sells taps that have a non-tap part near the tip, that helps you keep it straight as you begin to turn.

Those with a starting angle are just hand tapping tools, those without are for tapping with machines (more precise control). But with experience they can be used for hand tapping, too.
 
Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Thanks andrew25rs ! I've got my eye on a tap now and I'll get it ordered up tomorrow if I can't find it locally!

I'm with ya thd9791 ! All my taps look like that kind!

Hey halliwax ! Yeah, that's what spawned the question. TGS has two Red Buttons: one for Original GRAFLEX and one for 2.0/Roman's threading. Which is weird, because I would've thought that Roman would have made that exactly like the real-deal since he took the time to make it a functioning flash and all. Of course, he may have used that as a tell for his replicas being...replicas. I reached out to TGS and to Roman a couple of days ago through their Contact Us forms, but haven't received an answer from either yet.

If it's true that Roman's is a different thread than the Original GRAFLEX, I guess it shoehorn's me into getting the TGS Red Button for Original GRAFLEX, since that's the only threading I now know (THANKS AGAIN ANDREW25RS!).
 
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Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Hey @thd9791 ! Yes please! If you have the time, I'd love to see 'em side by side.

Can you see a difference between them in hand?

And did you try threading your Original GRAFLEX Red Button or Glass Eye back into that hole after having inserted the Roman's?
 
Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Ask and yes shall receive! The RE is on the right. These are all my red buttons from sabers. I VHB taped the early graflex button to my ANH stunt saber too so the threads are visible. visible
 

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Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Thanks @thd9791 ! That's a handsome collection of Red Buttons you have there. How long ago did you pick up your RE Red Button? You can really see the difference in the bevel at the top. I wonder if the Gen.2 Red Button has been altered to be more accurate?

Speaking of angles, are the two Originals on the far left in pics 1 and 2 knurled at a slight angle? Or is that just camera distortion? That'd be pretty wild if you had a set of uniquely knurled Red Buttons on your Luke ESB!

Thank you again for the photos, they help a lot!

p.s. The 5 button variant saber idea is growing on me! One for "Micro-Saber", the 2nd for "Mid-Length", the 3rd for "Full Extension", the 4th for "Blaster Bolt", and the 5th for full on "Death Star BEAM". Anouncer voice: "Focus your skills with the new 5-stage hilt from Father & Son Sabers and cut planets in half from adjacent galaxies! Coming to a Jedi armorer near you soon. Please wear protective goggles and gloves when utilizing the 'Death Star BEAM' TM stage. Father & Son Sabers not responsible for end-user saber handling. All rights reserved."

HA! Too funny!!!:lol
 
Re: GRAFLEX Red Button and Glass Eye Thread SIZE/PITCH ?

Ask and yes shall receive! The RE is on the right. These are all my red buttons from sabers. I VHB taped the early graflex button to my ANH stunt saber too so the threads are visible. visible

those are some mighty fine buttons there tom! :thumbsup
 
Hey Gang! My 'artist's eye' has been bothering my brain for a few weeks now concerning more than just the standard "Dude, the bevel is off on the button." line that my eye sees on all the replica Red-buttons lately. Specifically, that the number of knurl ridges/teeth appear to be off.

So, my brain finally decided it was time to get this off my mind, and allowed the rest of me to do a little 'GRAFLEX Red-button Fingerprinting' today! What's that you ask? Remember making fingerprint art when you were little? Or watching movies/documentaries where they had a small cylinder that when inked and rolled on a piece of paper an image was stamped out onto the paper? Well, that's what my brain told me to do today to solve half of the equation.

What I had started doing first was to take a Micron pen and put a little dot on each tooth's triangular top as I counted around the button's bevel. I got one number twice, then a different number, and I realized it was too early in the morning to try and see what I was doing without even having eaten breakfast. So, I took a break and had an idea spring into mind. Yep, unscrew the Red-button from the flash and it's retainer (Beer Tab), take a felt tip marker, coat all but one of the knurl rigdges/teeth with a bit of ink, hold it between finger and thumb and run it across a piece a paper, and then count the lines between the spaces and then add in one for the uninked ridge/tooth! TA-DA! No more different numbers coming in from the same Red-button. Interestingly though, I did get different numbers from one of my Red-buttons, and a different number still on a Thin-ring Red-button.

Here are the results...
Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 01.jpg

Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 02.jpg Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 03.jpg

Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 04.jpg Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 05.jpg

Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 06.jpg Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 07.jpg

Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 08.jpg Ridire Firean - GRAFLEX - Red-button Fingerprinting Counting Knurl Ridges - 09.jpg

...My Thin-Ring Red-button GRAFLEX with 6 straight posts has 49 Knurl Ridges/Teeth. Two of my GRAFLEXes (one 2-Cell, and one 3-Cell) have 51 Knurl Ridges/Teeth. And then, even though it's the exact same diameter, my other 3-Cell has a whopping 53 Knurl Ridges/Teeth!!! I've been recounting it all day and the number I come up with hasn't changed once.

So, if you don't mind looking like you just stepped out of an Iraqi voting booth by the end of the expiriment, I'd love to see what numbers y'all come up with for your Red-buttons. Every kind is appreciated (Real and Replica)! I'd like to see if there is a concensus on the Real GRAFLEXes and my 'artist's eye' is eager to see the results on the replica buttons.
MCM ! I know you just mentioned having...
I own a graflex shop, vintage, and Roman's first and second Graflex replicas.

...and I'd love to see your results if you have the time and are willing to find out what yours have! I'm also very curious to see if there is any difference in the bevel between the Gen1 and Gen2 Roman's Graflexes' Red-buttons and how they compare to The Graflex Shop's Red-button. Especially if it's one of TGS's updated buttons!
 
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Sorry to dig up an old thread but I came across it looking for something else, so this is for info purposes for anyone else who stumbles across it.
I'm using a red button bought from Romans Empire in my stunt saber build. It's the cheaper one he sells with the more angled top. I gauged it as 16mm with 1mm pitch & that is the tap size I've used & it works fine. Sorry I haven't yet checked how this would relate to the 5/8 x 24tpi mentioned earlier. Certainly 5/8" is only a few tenths of a mm smaller & as there's 25.4mm to the inch that's very close to 1mm pitch - at least on paper. There are only two turns worth of thread on the button which from experience means they could both work in the same hole. As originals are US made I'd expect them to be imperial.
 
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