Interest DaveP's V2 and V3 run - 2024

[DaveP]

Apologies for the radio silence everyone...

There was no weekend update this week due to various family commitments, and having not quite reached the milestone I had in mind for another in depth progress report.

LOTS of progress behind the scenes however, and will be dropping a proper update on Saturday.

Just a VERY brief update and to expand on what Justin said:

• Batch 6 V3 commissions are in progress and nearing completion!
• Good news on V2 parts, which are almost all finished and delivered.
• I've contacted everyone for V2 preferences and updated all notes.
• Next Yuma / ISYHCANL / V1 Hero run is still very much set to go ahead on August 1st.

A fully comprehensive interest thread will be posted for this once I have the artwork complete. Whilst there will be the usual option of prop-accurate/static versions, There is also an installable version with optional crystal chamber. This has been a long design process going back several years at this stage, but I'm finally happy to reveal more details once I've generated the artwork (and text!) for the thread. I'm excited to share more details between now and August 1st, but my main priority at the moment has to be fulfilling existing commissions. Chipping away at the R&D for the next run has been a very slow process as a result, and often on the back-burner. The crystal chamber has been a particularly tricky devil! All design work is pretty much finished though and I just need to work on the announcement. All will be revealed very soon!

I wanted to keep this one brief before starting the day if that's ok. Time to crack on with commission work, and I will drop a proper update this weekend going in to more detail. (with pictures!)

Hope you're all having a great week.

All the best, and MTFBWY!

Dave

 

[jorgealberni]

Dave:

I recieved my V2 and V3 from your latest run and they are amazing!!! Thanks so much!!! Will your V1 Hero, ISYHCANL and Yuma sabers be available for pre-order August 1st on your site? Just want to make sure I don’t miss the pre-order window or anything.

Anyways, thanks again for the sabers from your last run - they are truly works of art!!

Cheers,

Jorge from Crossroads Guitars

 

[PadawanLoLo]

Apologies for the radio silence everyone...

There was no weekend update this week due to various family commitments, and having not quite reached the milestone I had in mind for another in depth progress report.

LOTS of progress behind the scenes however, and will be dropping a proper update on Saturday.

Just a VERY brief update and to expand on what Justin said:

• Batch 6 V3 commissions are in progress and nearing completion!
• Good news on V2 parts, which are almost all finished and delivered.
• I've contacted everyone for V2 preferences and updated all notes.
• Next Yuma / ISYHCANL / V1 Hero run is still very much set to go ahead on August 1st.

A fully comprehensive interest thread will be posted for this once I have the artwork complete. Whilst there will be the usual option of prop-accurate/static versions, There is also an installable version with optional crystal chamber. This has been a long design process going back several years at this stage, but I'm finally happy to reveal more details once I've generated the artwork (and text!) for the thread. I'm excited to share more details between now and August 1st, but my main priority at the moment has to be fulfilling existing commissions. Chipping away at the R&D for the next run has been a very slow process as a result, and often on the back-burner. The crystal chamber has been a particularly tricky devil! All design work is pretty much finished though and I just need to work on the announcement. All will be revealed very soon!

I wanted to keep this one brief before starting the day if that's ok. Time to crack on with commission work, and I will drop a proper update this weekend going in to more detail. (with pictures!)

Hope you're all having a great week.

All the best, and MTFBWY!

Dave

Guessing here, but since I didn't receive any communication for mine, my details were already noted from our previous chats. Is that fair to assume?

 

[DaveP]

Dave:

I recieved my V2 and V3 from your latest run and they are amazing!!! Thanks so much!!! Will your V1 Hero, ISYHCANL and Yuma sabers be available for pre-order August 1st on your site? Just want to make sure I don’t miss the pre-order window or anything.

Anyways, thanks again for the sabers from your last run - they are truly works of art!!

Cheers,

Jorge from Crossroads Guitars

Hi Jorge!

Thank you so much! So glad that they arrived safely and that you're pleased with how they turned out! Always great to hear.

As for the Yuma/ISYHCANL/Hero run, that's correct, August 1st for Pre-Orders, which will cover part production. Then Commission/Shipping invoices will be sent out on completion.

I'm hoping to get the actual interest thread posted with full details and renders before July

Thanks again for your support!

Guessing here, but since I didn't receive any communication for mine, my details were already noted from our previous chats. Is that fair to assume?

Hey Justin, that's correct. I only reached out to anyone whose preferences were missing from my order sheet.

Yours are easy to remember! You've ordered all three! Thank you again! I'm looking forward to working on them and to getting your V3s out to you very soon!

I'll be sharing progress on everything in tomorrow's update

Thanks again and all the best,

Dave

 

[jorgealberni]

Awesome!! Thanks Dave!!!

 

[PadawanLoLo]

Hi Jorge!

Thank you so much! So glad that they arrived safely and that you're pleased with how they turned out! Always great to hear.

As for the Yuma/ISYHCANL/Hero run, that's correct, August 1st for Pre-Orders, which will cover part production. Then Commission/Shipping invoices will be sent out on completion.

I'm hoping to get the actual interest thread posted with full details and renders before July

Thanks again for your support!



Hey Justin, that's correct. I only reached out to anyone whose preferences were missing from my order sheet.

Yours are easy to remember! You've ordered all three! Thank you again! I'm looking forward to working on them and to getting your V3s out to you very soon!

I'll be sharing progress on everything in tomorrow's update

Thanks again and all the best,

Dave

Very excited! Never wanna assume too much lol. Can’t wait, can’t wait! Very excited.

 

[Gytheran]

In for a v1

 

[SnotWars]

In for a Hero V1 too.

 

[DaveP]

Hello everyone.

As promised, here is a more in depth update for the current, final batch of V3s, as well as the upcoming batch of V2s.

I wasn't able to post one last week due to various family commitments. I also wanted to get just a little further along in the process.

LOTS of progress has been made though, as well as some important developments on the V2s which I’ll outline bellow.

V3 progress:

Since the Pommels have been prepped for some time, I went ahead and darkened them so that they could be finished and ready to install.

Very happy with how these have turned out and it's great to have them completed and awaiting final assembly:

Work on the emitters is also largely completed. There is very little work required on these prior to darkening, so I went ahead and darkened these along with the pommels.

I apply the imitation casting flash after darkening. For this I use a combination of Quick Steel and JB Weld. I then paint the underside with a base coat. The base coat depends on the intended version. I base coat the production variant with an aluminum base to match flash colour to the underlying metal. I skip this step with the NASA variant and apply a black base. This is then dusted with bronze gold or copper, going heavier towards the neck join.

Clamps have been finished and ready to go for some time now as these were done alongside Batch 5:

With work on the emitters and pommels pretty much completed, along with the clamps, all that remains is the body sections!

The body sections arrive with me as a V2 profile (minus the fixing point). Each one has to be adjusted to match the V3 profile. This involves alterations to the base of the booster section, the thickness of some of the grip rings and, of course, the neck profile. Fixing points then have to be added and tapped, before finally adding the seamline by hand on each side.

This is quite a lot of work as you can imagine, but it has to be completed before any chemical darkening or painting can take place.

I’m happy to say that this work is now complete, and I plan to have them all darkened on Monday. “Chemical days” involve me taking over the bathroom in the house, as my workshop doesn’t benefit from running water unfortunately. This involves emptying the bathroom entirely. A deep clean is then required once I’m finished. For this reason, I have to limit these days to days when the children are at school. So, no darkening of parts can happen over the weekend unfortunately. They are now ready however, and first thing Monday morning I’ll be donning my PPE and getting these darkened! I am looking forward to masking and painting the bodies the very next day. Masking V3s is obviously a walk in the park compared with the V2s (no stencils!) so I don’t foresee this taking very long at all.

So very close to the finish line now!!! Once the bodies have been darkened and painted, final assembly should take no time at all and I’ll begin the process of booking these in with UPS.

Thank you all so much for your incredible patience. This is the final batch from the original run, so you’ve obviously had to endure a looong wait to get to this stage. The fact that I haven’t received a single complaint or negative comment is truly amazing! It isn’t lost on me or taken for granted. As always, your support and patience is truly appreciated and I can’t thank you enough!

I’m looking forward to getting these out to their new homes very soon!

Now for some V2 news!

The additional batch of V2s has not been without it’s ups and downs this past week. Or should I say downs and then ups!?

All parts were completed and the last of them delivered to me this past week. Almost every part is perfect!

Almost…

With the previous set of V2 parts, there was a lot of additional “clean up” required by me. This time around, there is very little work to do between unwrapping the parts and darkening/painting them. This is fantastic news obviously, as I expect to be able to complete them is a fraction of the time that it took to complete Batch 5.

ONE part did arrived with quite a glaring mistake however… Just to reassure you, this has already been dealt with and the replacements are already in production!

Spot the difference!

This is obviously not even close to acceptable, so please DONT PANIC! They have been rejected and are being replaced.

I do bear some responsibility for this though. I was informed by my supplier that these would be produced by the same machinist, and that it was essentially a repeat order. So I **ASSUMED** they would be identical to the previous order.

Assume nothing!

Unfortunately, a “sharp internal corners” checkbox was NOT ticked this time around!

So, I do bear some responsibility for having missed this.

My supplier has VERY graciously offered to cover the cost of having these replaced however, which is incredibly generous of them, and obviously a huge relief!

So, panic over! These are now back in production and will be delivered well before I am done working on the bodies and emitters.

As for the other parts, I could not be happier!

Emitters are looking great once again, with accurate dents pre-machined. Just some minor tool marks to polish out, which is to be expected due to the nature of how they’ve been milled:

Bodies are pretty much ready to go, with almost zero work required. The only detail which was left off the drawings/models, is the “booster ding”. I’ll continue to add this by hand. Although the shared body sections from the previous order were based on the V2 profile, there was still a considerable amount of prep work involved. Expanding the internal bore to take the 8mm rod (from 6mm) is more work than you might think! Also, the fixing points for the pommel and the cone knob required drilling and tapping in the correct location. I can’t tell you how happy I am that they now arrive with all of this work already done!

I’m always a little nervous about the knurling on the Cone Knobs. Whilst my drawings haven't changed, the one that was made for my first ever V2 run was less than perfect! I think the machinist simply saw it as being a knurled thumb screw, and that any knurl would do!

I have since explained that “close enough” is not “close enough”. I added very specific requirements for the pattern to the CAD drawings, and since then I couldn’t be happier with them.

As I said though, I’m always a little nervous when unwrapping these!

I’m happy to say that they have nailed it once again!

I’m looking forward to working on the clamps for these. As I mentioned previously, I was having to trim down the ends of the main clamp prior to forming them! This is one of the many things that have been slowing me down and has led to the run taking longer than anticipated. All of these things add up obviously.

I’m happy to say that this adjustment has been made in advance for this next batch (and all future ones) and they can be formed straight out of the box.

I had some serious trouble with the levers for my previous order. The manufacturer just couldn’t understand why I insisted on certain aspects of the design. I think the rounded tip and curved surface were proving tricky to machine on such a small piece, and whilst they did their best to accommodate me, the end result required some reshaping by me, as well as a lot of polishing to get them looking how I wanted.

This time around, they have really knocked them out of the park, and it looks as though I can send them straight to the chrome platers!

So, aside from the minor setback with the pommel, everything is looking really good and as soon as I’m finished with the V3s I’ll be shifting gear straight back in to V2 mode!

I have requested weathering preferences from everyone who didn’t already let me know at the time of ordering and have been plugging replies in to my order sheet as I receive them. There is no rush of course and I can contact anyone who is yet to decide when a final confirmation is needed in order to progress.

I would obviously like things to be a little further along, but this is literally always the case! Hopefully you can see that progress is being made every day, and that the finish line is in sight!

I hope everyone is happy with how things are looking too. I have loved working on these from start to finish and really can’t wait for you to see them in person!

Time for me to sign off now until the next time. I don’t want to jinx anything by giving a concrete time/date for completion, but I do expect Batch 6 to be pretty much finished by this time next week! That's what I'm aiming for in any case!

Also, now that I have a good idea of weathering preferences for the next batch of V2s, I will be firing up the vinyl cutter this week and will have it cutting V2 stencils in the background.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

All the best and MTFBWY!

Dave

 

[Foe Hammer]

Will there be extra cone knobs available for those who may want to replace their knobs from the previous run?

 

[PadawanLoLo]

Hello everyone.

As promised, here is a more in depth update for the current, final batch of V3s, as well as the upcoming batch of V2s.

I wasn't able to post one last week due to various family commitments. I also wanted to get just a little further along in the process.

LOTS of progress has been made though, as well as some important developments on the V2s which I’ll outline bellow.

V3 progress:

Since the Pommels have been prepped for some time, I went ahead and darkened them so that they could be finished and ready to install.

Very happy with how these have turned out and it's great to have them completed and awaiting final assembly:

View attachment 1941210

Work on the emitters is also largely completed. There is very little work required on these prior to darkening, so I went ahead and darkened these along with the pommels.

I apply the imitation casting flash after darkening. For this I use a combination of Quick Steel and JB Weld. I then paint the underside with a base coat. The base coat depends on the intended version. I base coat the production variant with an aluminum base to match flash colour to the underlying metal. I skip this step with the NASA variant and apply a black base. This is then dusted with bronze gold or copper, going heavier towards the neck join.

View attachment 1941211

Clamps have been finished and ready to go for some time now as these were done alongside Batch 5:

View attachment 1941212

With work on the emitters and pommels pretty much completed, along with the clamps, all that remains is the body sections!

The body sections arrive with me as a V2 profile (minus the fixing point). Each one has to be adjusted to match the V3 profile. This involves alterations to the base of the booster section, the thickness of some of the grip rings and, of course, the neck profile. Fixing points then have to be added and tapped, before finally adding the seamline by hand on each side.

This is quite a lot of work as you can imagine, but it has to be completed before any chemical darkening or painting can take place.

I’m happy to say that this work is now complete, and I plan to have them all darkened on Monday. “Chemical days” involve me taking over the bathroom in the house, as my workshop doesn’t benefit from running water unfortunately. This involves emptying the bathroom entirely. A deep clean is then required once I’m finished. For this reason, I have to limit these days to days when the children are at school. So, no darkening of parts can happen over the weekend unfortunately. They are now ready however, and first thing Monday morning I’ll be donning my PPE and getting these darkened! I am looking forward to masking and painting the bodies the very next day. Masking V3s is obviously a walk in the park compared with the V2s (no stencils!) so I don’t foresee this taking very long at all.

View attachment 1941213

So very close to the finish line now!!! Once the bodies have been darkened and painted, final assembly should take no time at all and I’ll begin the process of booking these in with UPS.

Thank you all so much for your incredible patience. This is the final batch from the original run, so you’ve obviously had to endure a looong wait to get to this stage. The fact that I haven’t received a single complaint or negative comment is truly amazing! It isn’t lost on me or taken for granted. As always, your support and patience is truly appreciated and I can’t thank you enough!

I’m looking forward to getting these out to their new homes very soon!

Now for some V2 news!

The additional batch of V2s has not been without it’s ups and downs this past week. Or should I say downs and then ups!?

All parts were completed and the last of them delivered to me this past week. Almost every part is perfect!

Almost…

View attachment 1941214

With the previous set of V2 parts, there was a lot of additional “clean up” required by me. This time around, there is very little work to do between unwrapping the parts and darkening/painting them. This is fantastic news obviously, as I expect to be able to complete them is a fraction of the time that it took to complete Batch 5.

ONE part did arrived with quite a glaring mistake however… Just to reassure you, this has already been dealt with and the replacements are already in production!

Spot the difference!

View attachment 1941216
View attachment 1941215

This is obviously not even close to acceptable, so please DONT PANIC! They have been rejected and are being replaced.

I do bear some responsibility for this though. I was informed by my supplier that these would be produced by the same machinist, and that it was essentially a repeat order. So I **ASSUMED** they would be identical to the previous order.

Assume nothing!

View attachment 1941217

Unfortunately, a “sharp internal corners” checkbox was NOT ticked this time around!

So, I do bear some responsibility for having missed this.

My supplier has VERY graciously offered to cover the cost of having these replaced however, which is incredibly generous of them, and obviously a huge relief!

So, panic over! These are now back in production and will be delivered well before I am done working on the bodies and emitters.

As for the other parts, I could not be happier!

Emitters are looking great once again, with accurate dents pre-machined. Just some minor tool marks to polish out, which is to be expected due to the nature of how they’ve been milled:

View attachment 1941219
View attachment 1941218

Bodies are pretty much ready to go, with almost zero work required. The only detail which was left off the drawings/models, is the “booster ding”. I’ll continue to add this by hand. Although the shared body sections from the previous order were based on the V2 profile, there was still a considerable amount of prep work involved. Expanding the internal bore to take the 8mm rod (from 6mm) is more work than you might think! Also, the fixing points for the pommel and the cone knob required drilling and tapping in the correct location. I can’t tell you how happy I am that they now arrive with all of this work already done!

View attachment 1941220

I’m always a little nervous about the knurling on the Cone Knobs. Whilst my drawings haven't changed, the one that was made for my first ever V2 run was less than perfect! I think the machinist simply saw it as being a knurled thumb screw, and that any knurl would do!

I have since explained that “close enough” is not “close enough”. I added very specific requirements for the pattern to the CAD drawings, and since then I couldn’t be happier with them.

As I said though, I’m always a little nervous when unwrapping these!

I’m happy to say that they have nailed it once again!

View attachment 1941221

I’m looking forward to working on the clamps for these. As I mentioned previously, I was having to trim down the ends of the main clamp prior to forming them! This is one of the many things that have been slowing me down and has led to the run taking longer than anticipated. All of these things add up obviously.

I’m happy to say that this adjustment has been made in advance for this next batch (and all future ones) and they can be formed straight out of the box.

View attachment 1941222

I had some serious trouble with the levers for my previous order. The manufacturer just couldn’t understand why I insisted on certain aspects of the design. I think the rounded tip and curved surface were proving tricky to machine on such a small piece, and whilst they did their best to accommodate me, the end result required some reshaping by me, as well as a lot of polishing to get them looking how I wanted.

This time around, they have really knocked them out of the park, and it looks as though I can send them straight to the chrome platers!

View attachment 1941223

So, aside from the minor setback with the pommel, everything is looking really good and as soon as I’m finished with the V3s I’ll be shifting gear straight back in to V2 mode!

I have requested weathering preferences from everyone who didn’t already let me know at the time of ordering and have been plugging replies in to my order sheet as I receive them. There is no rush of course and I can contact anyone who is yet to decide when a final confirmation is needed in order to progress.

I would obviously like things to be a little further along, but this is literally always the case! Hopefully you can see that progress is being made every day, and that the finish line is in sight!

I hope everyone is happy with how things are looking too. I have loved working on these from start to finish and really can’t wait for you to see them in person!

Time for me to sign off now until the next time. I don’t want to jinx anything by giving a concrete time/date for completion, but I do expect Batch 6 to be pretty much finished by this time next week! That's what I'm aiming for in any case!

Also, now that I have a good idea of weathering preferences for the next batch of V2s, I will be firing up the vinyl cutter this week and will have it cutting V2 stencils in the background.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

All the best and MTFBWY!

Dave

Negative comment. Also need to file a complaint, these photos are NSFW and therefore not appropriately marked as "likely to cause some issues".....Sorry Dave the streak is broken.

thanks as always for the update mate. Shared some of your photos over on Discord for the lads and dames to enjoy. Great work and I'm SUPER excited.

 

[DaveP]

Will there be extra cone knobs available for those who may want to replace their knobs from the previous run?

After a quick stock check, I have finally added any spare Cone Knobs that I have to my store!

I'm sorry for the very long wait for those who have been wanting to get one of these. Having been so busy, and so behind schedule, I did want to avoid adding too many additional things to the store which could slow me down.

For this reason, I am holding off from adding the D-Rings at this time, as they are made to order.

The Cone Knobs are ready to ship as they are though, and I have some letterbox size postal boxes arriving today.

Please be aware that they will be sent untracked (RM International Standard) to keep the shipping cost as low as possible. This does include insurance up to £20 however.

I've priced them at £10 each. Black oxide grub screw is also included.

Here is a link to the store page for anyone who might need one: V2 Cone Knob Replica

Just a limited number of these for now, so once they're gone, they are gone.

Just a very brief announcement for this as work continues on the run! Also very brief description on the store page. Please feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions though.

Signing off for now.

All the best, and MTFBWY!

Dave

 

[gobler]

Hello everyone.

As promised, here is a more in depth update for the current, final batch of V3s, as well as the upcoming batch of V2s.

I wasn't able to post one last week due to various family commitments. I also wanted to get just a little further along in the process.

LOTS of progress has been made though, as well as some important developments on the V2s which I’ll outline bellow.

V3 progress:

Since the Pommels have been prepped for some time, I went ahead and darkened them so that they could be finished and ready to install.

Very happy with how these have turned out and it's great to have them completed and awaiting final assembly:

View attachment 1941210

Work on the emitters is also largely completed. There is very little work required on these prior to darkening, so I went ahead and darkened these along with the pommels.

I apply the imitation casting flash after darkening. For this I use a combination of Quick Steel and JB Weld. I then paint the underside with a base coat. The base coat depends on the intended version. I base coat the production variant with an aluminum base to match flash colour to the underlying metal. I skip this step with the NASA variant and apply a black base. This is then dusted with bronze gold or copper, going heavier towards the neck join.

View attachment 1941211

Clamps have been finished and ready to go for some time now as these were done alongside Batch 5:

View attachment 1941212

With work on the emitters and pommels pretty much completed, along with the clamps, all that remains is the body sections!

The body sections arrive with me as a V2 profile (minus the fixing point). Each one has to be adjusted to match the V3 profile. This involves alterations to the base of the booster section, the thickness of some of the grip rings and, of course, the neck profile. Fixing points then have to be added and tapped, before finally adding the seamline by hand on each side.

This is quite a lot of work as you can imagine, but it has to be completed before any chemical darkening or painting can take place.

I’m happy to say that this work is now complete, and I plan to have them all darkened on Monday. “Chemical days” involve me taking over the bathroom in the house, as my workshop doesn’t benefit from running water unfortunately. This involves emptying the bathroom entirely. A deep clean is then required once I’m finished. For this reason, I have to limit these days to days when the children are at school. So, no darkening of parts can happen over the weekend unfortunately. They are now ready however, and first thing Monday morning I’ll be donning my PPE and getting these darkened! I am looking forward to masking and painting the bodies the very next day. Masking V3s is obviously a walk in the park compared with the V2s (no stencils!) so I don’t foresee this taking very long at all.

View attachment 1941213

So very close to the finish line now!!! Once the bodies have been darkened and painted, final assembly should take no time at all and I’ll begin the process of booking these in with UPS.

Thank you all so much for your incredible patience. This is the final batch from the original run, so you’ve obviously had to endure a looong wait to get to this stage. The fact that I haven’t received a single complaint or negative comment is truly amazing! It isn’t lost on me or taken for granted. As always, your support and patience is truly appreciated and I can’t thank you enough!

I’m looking forward to getting these out to their new homes very soon!

Now for some V2 news!

The additional batch of V2s has not been without it’s ups and downs this past week. Or should I say downs and then ups!?

All parts were completed and the last of them delivered to me this past week. Almost every part is perfect!

Almost…

View attachment 1941214

With the previous set of V2 parts, there was a lot of additional “clean up” required by me. This time around, there is very little work to do between unwrapping the parts and darkening/painting them. This is fantastic news obviously, as I expect to be able to complete them is a fraction of the time that it took to complete Batch 5.

ONE part did arrived with quite a glaring mistake however… Just to reassure you, this has already been dealt with and the replacements are already in production!

Spot the difference!

View attachment 1941216
View attachment 1941215

This is obviously not even close to acceptable, so please DONT PANIC! They have been rejected and are being replaced.

I do bear some responsibility for this though. I was informed by my supplier that these would be produced by the same machinist, and that it was essentially a repeat order. So I **ASSUMED** they would be identical to the previous order.

Assume nothing!

View attachment 1941217

Unfortunately, a “sharp internal corners” checkbox was NOT ticked this time around!

So, I do bear some responsibility for having missed this.

My supplier has VERY graciously offered to cover the cost of having these replaced however, which is incredibly generous of them, and obviously a huge relief!

So, panic over! These are now back in production and will be delivered well before I am done working on the bodies and emitters.

As for the other parts, I could not be happier!

Emitters are looking great once again, with accurate dents pre-machined. Just some minor tool marks to polish out, which is to be expected due to the nature of how they’ve been milled:

View attachment 1941219
View attachment 1941218

Bodies are pretty much ready to go, with almost zero work required. The only detail which was left off the drawings/models, is the “booster ding”. I’ll continue to add this by hand. Although the shared body sections from the previous order were based on the V2 profile, there was still a considerable amount of prep work involved. Expanding the internal bore to take the 8mm rod (from 6mm) is more work than you might think! Also, the fixing points for the pommel and the cone knob required drilling and tapping in the correct location. I can’t tell you how happy I am that they now arrive with all of this work already done!

View attachment 1941220

I’m always a little nervous about the knurling on the Cone Knobs. Whilst my drawings haven't changed, the one that was made for my first ever V2 run was less than perfect! I think the machinist simply saw it as being a knurled thumb screw, and that any knurl would do!

I have since explained that “close enough” is not “close enough”. I added very specific requirements for the pattern to the CAD drawings, and since then I couldn’t be happier with them.

As I said though, I’m always a little nervous when unwrapping these!

I’m happy to say that they have nailed it once again!

View attachment 1941221

I’m looking forward to working on the clamps for these. As I mentioned previously, I was having to trim down the ends of the main clamp prior to forming them! This is one of the many things that have been slowing me down and has led to the run taking longer than anticipated. All of these things add up obviously.

I’m happy to say that this adjustment has been made in advance for this next batch (and all future ones) and they can be formed straight out of the box.

View attachment 1941222

I had some serious trouble with the levers for my previous order. The manufacturer just couldn’t understand why I insisted on certain aspects of the design. I think the rounded tip and curved surface were proving tricky to machine on such a small piece, and whilst they did their best to accommodate me, the end result required some reshaping by me, as well as a lot of polishing to get them looking how I wanted.

This time around, they have really knocked them out of the park, and it looks as though I can send them straight to the chrome platers!

View attachment 1941223

So, aside from the minor setback with the pommel, everything is looking really good and as soon as I’m finished with the V3s I’ll be shifting gear straight back in to V2 mode!

I have requested weathering preferences from everyone who didn’t already let me know at the time of ordering and have been plugging replies in to my order sheet as I receive them. There is no rush of course and I can contact anyone who is yet to decide when a final confirmation is needed in order to progress.

I would obviously like things to be a little further along, but this is literally always the case! Hopefully you can see that progress is being made every day, and that the finish line is in sight!

I hope everyone is happy with how things are looking too. I have loved working on these from start to finish and really can’t wait for you to see them in person!

Time for me to sign off now until the next time. I don’t want to jinx anything by giving a concrete time/date for completion, but I do expect Batch 6 to be pretty much finished by this time next week! That's what I'm aiming for in any case!

Also, now that I have a good idea of weathering preferences for the next batch of V2s, I will be firing up the vinyl cutter this week and will have it cutting V2 stencils in the background.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

All the best and MTFBWY!

Dave

Hot darn! These is absolutely gorgeous looking parts.

 

[DaveP]

Hello there!

Batch 6 is finally nearing completion! Thank you so much for your patience everyone! The last of the V3s from the initial run are now undergoing their final assembly/finishing touches, with a good number of them having been finished and awaiting collection.

I’m expecting to have the last of them put together over the course of the next couple of days, after which I’ll be getting them booked in with UPS.

This means that they will be shipped out early next week at the latest, so please keep an eye out for shipping details.

After posting this update, I will be sending out a link via email, so if you could just take a moment to check that you’re receiving emails that would be much appreciated. If the update link has gone into your spam folder you may need to mark it as “not spam” in order to receive your tracking details.

I’m still very much full steam ahead getting them finished, but did take a little time to get some beauty shots for this update.

Here are a few comparison shots of some of the latest “N.A.S.A.” (post-production) and “Throne Room” (mid production) commissions:

For this batch I also completed a special request. I was asked to create an idealised V3 with no seams, clean paintwork, no chemical darkening, as well as some additional features. It has a nipple added to the emitter as well as an inverted clamp. This was primarily to create a clamp with no text (The sheet was rolled with the text facing inwards).

I really love how this turned out. Big thanks to Zachary for the opportunity to work on this and create something a little bit different. I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed working on it for you.

I’m looking forward to having the remainder of this batch finished and sent out by the end of next week.

I’d like to thank you all so much for your support and for your incredible patience. This batch in particular has been a long time coming since the start of the run, and I can’t thank you enough for sticking with it.

Now for some news on the next batch of V2s…

I have heard from my supplier regarding the Pommels! I was told last week that they would be shipped in “about two weeks’ time” and that I would receive notification and tracking details once they’re on their way. This was one week ago, so I’m hoping they’ll be finished and on their way this coming week.

As I mentioned previously, the pommels wouldn’t hold up any of the painting work in any case, but it does look like they’ll be arriving soon anyway.

For the most part I have received people’s preferences and have made a start on cutting stencils for the run. This obviously includes stencils for DIY kits too, which I’m hoping to have ready to ship very soon. I’ve just received notification from Brad (Slothfurnace) that clamp cards are on their way. Thanks, Brad!

So, in short, the additional batch of V2s (as well as a couple of additional V3s) will be full steam ahead very soon!

Stencilling of Sandstorm and Throne Room commissions can begin towards the end of next week (as soon as Batch 6 has shipped.

Thank you to everyone who has placed an order for one of the spare Cone Knobs. I have been sending these out within 24 hours and have some boxed up and ready to go for anyone else who might need one.

I do intend to add D-Rings and Stencils to the store too as soon as batch 6 is completed.

For now though, finishing up the rest of these V3s is my main priority.

The interest thread for my next major project WILL be coming next week too. The text is written and the design is finalised. I’m not able to post the interest thread until I have the artwork rendered unfortunately. This takes time obviously; something that is currently in short supply!

I am looking forward to getting this posted, probably towards the end of next week. It would have been nice to get it posted on July 1st (one month before launch), but the next couple of days are going to be full on!

With that said, it’s time to sign off and get on with the task at hand!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

All the best and M.T.F.B.W.Y – A

Dave

 

[PadawanLoLo]

Hello there!

Batch 6 is finally nearing completion! Thank you so much for your patience everyone! The last of the V3s from the initial run are now undergoing their final assembly/finishing touches, with a good number of them having been finished and awaiting collection.

I’m expecting to have the last of them put together over the course of the next couple of days, after which I’ll be getting them booked in with UPS.

This means that they will be shipped out early next week at the latest, so please keep an eye out for shipping details.

After posting this update, I will be sending out a link via email, so if you could just take a moment to check that you’re receiving emails that would be much appreciated. If the update link has gone into your spam folder you may need to mark it as “not spam” in order to receive your tracking details.

I’m still very much full steam ahead getting them finished, but did take a little time to get some beauty shots for this update.

Here are a few comparison shots of some of the latest “N.A.S.A.” (post-production) and “Throne Room” (mid production) commissions:

View attachment 1944955
View attachment 1944957
View attachment 1944956
View attachment 1944958

View attachment 1944963
View attachment 1944960
View attachment 1944962
View attachment 1944961

For this batch I also completed a special request. I was asked to create an idealised V3 with no seams, clean paintwork, no chemical darkening, as well as some additional features. It has a nipple added to the emitter as well as an inverted clamp. This was primarily to create a clamp with no text (The sheet was rolled with the text facing inwards).

View attachment 1944968
View attachment 1944967
View attachment 1944965
View attachment 1944964
View attachment 1944966

I really love how this turned out. Big thanks to Zachary for the opportunity to work on this and create something a little bit different. I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed working on it for you.

I’m looking forward to having the remainder of this batch finished and sent out by the end of next week.

I’d like to thank you all so much for your support and for your incredible patience. This batch in particular has been a long time coming since the start of the run, and I can’t thank you enough for sticking with it.

Now for some news on the next batch of V2s…

I have heard from my supplier regarding the Pommels! I was told last week that they would be shipped in “about two weeks’ time” and that I would receive notification and tracking details once they’re on their way. This was one week ago, so I’m hoping they’ll be finished and on their way this coming week.

As I mentioned previously, the pommels wouldn’t hold up any of the painting work in any case, but it does look like they’ll be arriving soon anyway.

For the most part I have received people’s preferences and have made a start on cutting stencils for the run. This obviously includes stencils for DIY kits too, which I’m hoping to have ready to ship very soon. I’ve just received notification from Brad (Slothfurnace) that clamp cards are on their way. Thanks, Brad!

So, in short, the additional batch of V2s (as well as a couple of additional V3s) will be full steam ahead very soon!

Stencilling of Sandstorm and Throne Room commissions can begin towards the end of next week (as soon as Batch 6 has shipped.

Thank you to everyone who has placed an order for one of the spare Cone Knobs. I have been sending these out within 24 hours and have some boxed up and ready to go for anyone else who might need one.

I do intend to add D-Rings and Stencils to the store too as soon as batch 6 is completed.

For now though, finishing up the rest of these V3s is my main priority.

The interest thread for my next major project WILL be coming next week too. The text is written and the design is finalised. I’m not able to post the interest thread until I have the artwork rendered unfortunately. This takes time obviously; something that is currently in short supply!

I am looking forward to getting this posted, probably towards the end of next week. It would have been nice to get it posted on July 1st (one month before launch), but the next couple of days are going to be full on!

With that said, it’s time to sign off and get on with the task at hand!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

All the best and M.T.F.B.W.Y – A

Dave

Dave! Thanks for the update. I try to remain so calm (since I’m batch 456,873,921) but then you keep popping up with messages and awesome pics! Thanks for your hard work and for the updates.

Gonna send you a message privately about the hardware.

Zach that’s a really cool request mate and your saber looks so cool!

 

[carterlmiller]

In for a Hero V1 installable, hope there are spots left

 

[DaveP]

In for a Hero V1 installable, hope there are spots left

Hi Carter. I replied to your private message, but just wanted to reiterate what I said here, for anyone else who might be wondering what the situation is with regards to the next run…

"My next Hero run starts on August 1st, so no sign up yet. I'm hoping to get the thread posted soon, but it won't be a sign up/interest list. I'll just be making them available on my store as a first come first served kind of thing. There will be a set number of pre-orders. Once those are completed though, if there is still interest in doing a further batch, I'll be doing a repeat order. That obviously depends on demand. I should say though, my hilt will be installable for those who are knowledgeable about that side of thing. I won't be making an internal chassis myself though. The purpose of the hollow hilt is to accommodate my crystal chamber. I've designed it in such a way that it will accept internals though, and have designed the emitter to have interchangeable plates (one of which accepts a blade. I'll obviously go in to more detail when I finally post the announcement thread. I'm just part way through making the artwork currently and also very busy with commissions. It should be posted in the next week though. "

I’ve received a lot of messages regarding this next run, but haven’t had a chance to reply to them all. Hopefully the above answers most of them in one go.

Most of the work is done, and it is definitely going ahead as planned.

Part of the hold up is my desire to render the models using V-Ray. My licence is currently expired and I’m really just waiting for an opportune moment to purchase a one month subscription to get everything rendered.

I’ve been under an incredible amount of pressure over the past few months though due to the fact that the final batches from the initial run included pre-orders from last year!

It wouldn’t have been right to sacrifice time spent catching up on commissions to prepare for the next run. Regardless of how close we are to that actually going live!

There are other life/family related issues that are occurring behind the scenes at the moment which I won’t detail here. Suffice to say though, that things have not been easy...

With the completion of Batch Six, the pressure is off slightly. Not completely though!

I am still very much prioritising the additional batch of V2s and feel duty bound to get these completed as soon as possible.

There is definitely a sense that I am turning a corner though, and beginning to get caught up, which is great.

V2s are on track to be completed by the end of this month.

Batch Six did eventually ship by the middle of last week and I have been busy working on V2s ever since.

After a good tidy up of the workshop, I have unpacked all the parts for this final batch.

The replacement pommels arrived last week, and I have now had a chance to check them all over.

I couldn't be happier with how they've turned out. We now have sharp internal corners! The use of the end mill to achieve this does result in more tool marks which obviously require some clean up. This is obviously an acceptable trade off for the improvement in accuracy.

The emitters also require a little bit of clean up due to the way that they are machined. I'm still so happy with how these have turned out though. Adding these details by hand (using a jig) never really gave the desired definition. There is always some recoil/spring-back when cold forming metal. By having the details machined, we're able to replicate the exact details, as captured in my models from the available references.

So, I spent some time this week polishing up the aluminum parts. DIY kits are just waiting on clamps now.

I assembled one of the kits just to check that everything is fitting together as it should, and that the threads are all correct. Everything is looking great! The body sections require zero work and can be used straight out of the box! This is such a welcome change to the previous batches! No drilling or tapping!

My next priority is to get the clamps for this batch formed and send out for plating. I have made a start on these this week and expect to have these out for plating early next week!

It's a lot of work, but I have to say, I'm enjoying forming them straight out of the box now that I've corrected the length. I was previously having g to shave 1mm from each end of the clamp sheets.

I've also expanded the hole in the clamp bar. For the V2, there is just the one bar obviously. Genuine clamps have a rectangular hole in this bar, which I would drill as part of installation. This means that the clamp can be tightened in-situ.

For the previous batches, I had the bars made with the smaller hole and expanded half of them myself. This time around I figured I'd order them with the larger hole to save me yet another job.

I made a good start on the sheet metal work this week and expect to have the rest done early next week (if not by the end of Monday).

These will then be shipped out to my plater ASAP.

Now that this final batch is in full swing, I have sent out invoices ahead of time. I must admit, the admin side of things is not my forte! So, I do like to get this done and out of the way.

Big thanks to all those who have paid ahead of time. There is no obligation to do so, and the run doesn’t depend on it. I would like to thank those who have, none the less. It is very much appreciated.

I can now focus 100% on getting these last few V2s (and a couple of V3s) finished over the next couple of weeks.

As always, I’ll continue to keep you updated as often as I can, and will endeavour to post a thorough update each weekend.

The announcement thread for the August 1st Yuma / I.S.Y.H.C.A.N.L / Hero run remains completely written out and ready to post (pending artwork). I thank you all for your interest and patience. I’ll get this posted VERY soon!

For now though, I bid you all a very fond farewell.

Here’s hoping you have a great weekend!

All the best and MTFBWY-A

Dave

 

[KarlBud420]

Looking good! I appreciate the regular progress updates and seeing such thorough insights into your process.

Bruce

 

[gobler]

Hi Carter. I replied to your private message, but just wanted to reiterate what I said here, for anyone else who might be wondering what the situation is with regards to the next run…

"My next Hero run starts on August 1st, so no sign up yet. I'm hoping to get the thread posted soon, but it won't be a sign up/interest list. I'll just be making them available on my store as a first come first served kind of thing. There will be a set number of pre-orders. Once those are completed though, if there is still interest in doing a further batch, I'll be doing a repeat order. That obviously depends on demand. I should say though, my hilt will be installable for those who are knowledgeable about that side of thing. I won't be making an internal chassis myself though. The purpose of the hollow hilt is to accommodate my crystal chamber. I've designed it in such a way that it will accept internals though, and have designed the emitter to have interchangeable plates (one of which accepts a blade. I'll obviously go in to more detail when I finally post the announcement thread. I'm just part way through making the artwork currently and also very busy with commissions. It should be posted in the next week though. "

I’ve received a lot of messages regarding this next run, but haven’t had a chance to reply to them all. Hopefully the above answers most of them in one go.

Most of the work is done, and it is definitely going ahead as planned.

Part of the hold up is my desire to render the models using V-Ray. My licence is currently expired and I’m really just waiting for an opportune moment to purchase a one month subscription to get everything rendered.

I’ve been under an incredible amount of pressure over the past few months though due to the fact that the final batches from the initial run included pre-orders from last year!

It wouldn’t have been right to sacrifice time spent catching up on commissions to prepare for the next run. Regardless of how close we are to that actually going live!

There are other life/family related issues that are occurring behind the scenes at the moment which I won’t detail here. Suffice to say though, that things have not been easy...

With the completion of Batch Six, the pressure is off slightly. Not completely though!

I am still very much prioritising the additional batch of V2s and feel duty bound to get these completed as soon as possible.

There is definitely a sense that I am turning a corner though, and beginning to get caught up, which is great.

V2s are on track to be completed by the end of this month.

Batch Six did eventually ship by the middle of last week and I have been busy working on V2s ever since.

After a good tidy up of the workshop, I have unpacked all the parts for this final batch.

The replacement pommels arrived last week, and I have now had a chance to check them all over.

I couldn't be happier with how they've turned out. We now have sharp internal corners! The use of the end mill to achieve this does result in more tool marks which obviously require some clean up. This is obviously an acceptable trade off for the improvement in accuracy.

View attachment 1948502

The emitters also require a little bit of clean up due to the way that they are machined. I'm still so happy with how these have turned out though. Adding these details by hand (using a jig) never really gave the desired definition. There is always some recoil/spring-back when cold forming metal. By having the details machined, we're able to replicate the exact details, as captured in my models from the available references.

View attachment 1948501

So, I spent some time this week polishing up the aluminum parts. DIY kits are just waiting on clamps now.

I assembled one of the kits just to check that everything is fitting together as it should, and that the threads are all correct. Everything is looking great! The body sections require zero work and can be used straight out of the box! This is such a welcome change to the previous batches! No drilling or tapping!

View attachment 1948498
View attachment 1948499
View attachment 1948500

My next priority is to get the clamps for this batch formed and send out for plating. I have made a start on these this week and expect to have these out for plating early next week!

It's a lot of work, but I have to say, I'm enjoying forming them straight out of the box now that I've corrected the length. I was previously having g to shave 1mm from each end of the clamp sheets.

View attachment 1948497

I've also expanded the hole in the clamp bar. For the V2, there is just the one bar obviously. Genuine clamps have a rectangular hole in this bar, which I would drill as part of installation. This means that the clamp can be tightened in-situ.

For the previous batches, I had the bars made with the smaller hole and expanded half of them myself. This time around I figured I'd order them with the larger hole to save me yet another job.

I made a good start on the sheet metal work this week and expect to have the rest done early next week (if not by the end of Monday).

These will then be shipped out to my plater ASAP.

View attachment 1948496

Now that this final batch is in full swing, I have sent out invoices ahead of time. I must admit, the admin side of things is not my forte! So, I do like to get this done and out of the way.

Big thanks to all those who have paid ahead of time. There is no obligation to do so, and the run doesn’t depend on it. I would like to thank those who have, none the less. It is very much appreciated.

I can now focus 100% on getting these last few V2s (and a couple of V3s) finished over the next couple of weeks.

As always, I’ll continue to keep you updated as often as I can, and will endeavour to post a thorough update each weekend.

The announcement thread for the August 1st Yuma / I.S.Y.H.C.A.N.L / Hero run remains completely written out and ready to post (pending artwork). I thank you all for your interest and patience. I’ll get this posted VERY soon!

For now though, I bid you all a very fond farewell.

Here’s hoping you have a great weekend!

All the best and MTFBWY-A

Dave

Amazing work..