Luke ESB Lightsaber – Can you build a 2004 MR Force FX Hilt into a quality display piece?
- Thread starter Neon Nautilus
- Start date
I love this kind of thread - Nice job!
Thanks jalob2121, I'm well old school, love this way of building. Just checked out the shoulder puller, awesome work. You're going to love it when you see me use an old shelf bracket in the emitter of the saber later!
Dude, that's an unfortunate autocorrect/typo, bit harsh mate
This kind of thread is what brought me to the RPF in the first place, it's a shame that some modern tools take a little bit of the ingenuity out of the process. Great to have you along for the ride!
Thanks Reel Fakes, there's still more to come! Thanks for taking the time to check it out and comment.
Cbstudios
Sr Member
Hahahahha Crap. Thats what I get for posting from my phone. *SO* Impressive.Thanks jalob2121, I'm well old school, love this way of building. Just checked out the shoulder puller, awesome work. You're going to love it when you see me use an old shelf bracket in the emitter of the saber later!
Dude, that's an unfortunate autocorrect/typo, bit harsh mate
This kind of thread is what brought me to the RPF in the first place, it's a shame that some modern tools take a little bit of the ingenuity out of the process. Great to have you along for the ride!
Thanks Reel Fakes, there's still more to come! Thanks for taking the time to check it out and comment.
Killer thread my dude, Its bringing me loads of joy so see it take shape
Tan Djarka
Sr Member
Impressive fabrication skills. Especially that lever!
Now onto the business end of a lightsaber, the emitter.
The FX saber has a black plastic plug with a hole the blade passes through. The blade is then screwed to an internal plastic assembly that contains the electronics. This all slides into the end of the sabers metal tube body.
In the below pics you can see the stock FX saber. The black plastic plug is visible through the holes and by its overhanging lip.
(Photos courtesy of saberproject.de)
I'd disposed of all the electronics and the blade as my intention is to make a display hilt. The pairs of brass pins either side of the saber ere mounted to the discarded parts, so I needed to figure out a way to attach everything now they were gone.
I started with the existing plug. it was in 2 parts, so I glued them together first. Next I corrected the shape by rounding off the sharp edge of the hole where the blade had been. I also sanded smooth the plastic to take away the shiny cast look of the original plastic.
Then I corrected the shape of the overhanging lip. The two notches either side came straight out rather than at an angle as I'd observed on a real Graflex. Finally I polished the plastic with Tamiya polishing compound to give it a more refined finish.
In my stash of random junk I found part of an old glass shelf mounting bracket. It has a really nice solid brass rod which screwed into an aluminium base. I thought this would make a perfect centre piece to the emitter. A real Graflex has a similar brass plug where the flash bulb attaches.
The diameter of the brass part is a bit wider than the plug in the end of a real Graflex but was close enough for me. Plus, it added a lot of heft to the piece which was a nice bonus. I knew that part would come in handy some day!
To add a bit of detail, I drew up a circular pattern which I laser etched and cut into a clear acrylic disk. This had a hole in the centre that fitted around the threaded part of the brass rod. This still left enough thread exposed to screw into the aluminium base. The idea behind this disk was some kind of emitter that would focus energy into the blade of the saber. When you peer into the end of my replica it would be visible suggesting internal workings.
Here’s a shot of the parts after I’d polished the brass and cut the ‘emitter’ disk.
And here are the pieces together.
The next job was to come up with a way to mount these parts together that would fit into the outer metal sleeve of the saber.
I had some 40mm black PVC plumbing pipe lying around, so I decided to use this as the base to mount the existing and new parts onto. It’s wider than the saber so in order to get the correct OD on the pipe I put a piece of masking tape around the inside of the saber body, cut it where the two ends met and then wrapped it around the pipe. I figured if I cut a strip out of the pipe the same width as the gap in the tape, the pipe would then be the correct size to slide into the saber body.
To cut the strip out as straight as possible I used a square rested across the end of the pipe to mark a guideline on the outside of the pipe. I then used it as a guide to score and trim the pipe until I’d cut the strip out.
I made two parts this way. The shorter length has a wider strip cut out so it can be inserted into both the longer piece and the black plastic plug from the FX saber that I’d modified earlier.
Due to cutting quite a wide strip out of the smaller length tube it had a bit of a teardrop shape. I rolled it under pressure against the desk to try and round it out.
It now fitted perfectly into the end cap. This tube forms the inside of the emitter as well as the back wall of the black circles where the brass pins attach. This is visible through the metal outer sleeve of the saber body in the second image below whilst test fitting.
The next image shows the above assembly slotted onto the larger diameter tube.
To allow the brass emitter part I'd made earlier to fit into the sleeve, I bevelled the edge of the inner sleeve. The aluminium base plate of the brass rod had a bevel to it so this would help it seat in place. The aluminium piece will be epoxied into the tube later on. You can also see that I've sanded the outside of the PVC tube here as it had a bit of an uneven surface.
My next job was to fit the brass pins back in place. To make sure the 4 holes were consistently positioned I made a drill template. I drew a vector drawing for this and then laser cut it from mount board.
The lines at top and bottom were to help me line it up with the separation line of the two parts of the end plug. The two lines at the left were to allow me to carve a channel for the brass tabs connected to the top pin. These were not included in the stock Force FX saber so would need to be made from scratch.
In this next image you can see the channel I've carved out for the brass tab. I’ve also sprayed the sides of the assembly with Tamiya X-18 Satin Black. I found the PVC not great to work with, it’s almost fibrous when sanding and cutting. As a result the work I’d carried out left it with a grey colour so this gave it a much cleaner finish.
For the brass tabs I started with a scrap piece of photo etch fret from a 1/24 Harrier upgrade set. I tend to always keep unused PE parts and their frets as it’s often really useful.
The piece on the left is what I started with. On the right is a piece that’s been cut to the correct width (just scored multiple times with a scalpel), cleaned up with some sandpaper and then drilled to take the brass pin (seen in the middle).
Next I used a grinding disk on my rotary tool to round off both ends.
Here’s a shot with the pin inserted to test the fit and check the curve is even.
I then needed to bend the piece in 2 positions to create a step that would drop down into the circular indentation. To do this I lined the brass piece up using a suitably sized drill bit. This was passed through the hole in the brass and into the hole in the PVC tube to get the correct position.
You can see above that I’ve marked the point where the brass needs to step up. The piece was then folded using my PE bending tool.
Once the first bend was in place I could work out the position for the second.
And here is the finished piece installed. You can see in the image that the brass was treated with a blackening chemical to give it a bit patina. The brass pins will be glued in as part of the final assembly.
After this I epoxied the emitter rod into the PVC tubes and this part was completed. The images below show the emitter rod installed. It gives a really nice sense of depth to the end of the saber, although it is difficult to capture that in photos.
The FX saber has a black plastic plug with a hole the blade passes through. The blade is then screwed to an internal plastic assembly that contains the electronics. This all slides into the end of the sabers metal tube body.
In the below pics you can see the stock FX saber. The black plastic plug is visible through the holes and by its overhanging lip.
(Photos courtesy of saberproject.de)
I'd disposed of all the electronics and the blade as my intention is to make a display hilt. The pairs of brass pins either side of the saber ere mounted to the discarded parts, so I needed to figure out a way to attach everything now they were gone.
I started with the existing plug. it was in 2 parts, so I glued them together first. Next I corrected the shape by rounding off the sharp edge of the hole where the blade had been. I also sanded smooth the plastic to take away the shiny cast look of the original plastic.
Then I corrected the shape of the overhanging lip. The two notches either side came straight out rather than at an angle as I'd observed on a real Graflex. Finally I polished the plastic with Tamiya polishing compound to give it a more refined finish.
In my stash of random junk I found part of an old glass shelf mounting bracket. It has a really nice solid brass rod which screwed into an aluminium base. I thought this would make a perfect centre piece to the emitter. A real Graflex has a similar brass plug where the flash bulb attaches.
The diameter of the brass part is a bit wider than the plug in the end of a real Graflex but was close enough for me. Plus, it added a lot of heft to the piece which was a nice bonus. I knew that part would come in handy some day!
To add a bit of detail, I drew up a circular pattern which I laser etched and cut into a clear acrylic disk. This had a hole in the centre that fitted around the threaded part of the brass rod. This still left enough thread exposed to screw into the aluminium base. The idea behind this disk was some kind of emitter that would focus energy into the blade of the saber. When you peer into the end of my replica it would be visible suggesting internal workings.
Here’s a shot of the parts after I’d polished the brass and cut the ‘emitter’ disk.
And here are the pieces together.
The next job was to come up with a way to mount these parts together that would fit into the outer metal sleeve of the saber.
I had some 40mm black PVC plumbing pipe lying around, so I decided to use this as the base to mount the existing and new parts onto. It’s wider than the saber so in order to get the correct OD on the pipe I put a piece of masking tape around the inside of the saber body, cut it where the two ends met and then wrapped it around the pipe. I figured if I cut a strip out of the pipe the same width as the gap in the tape, the pipe would then be the correct size to slide into the saber body.
To cut the strip out as straight as possible I used a square rested across the end of the pipe to mark a guideline on the outside of the pipe. I then used it as a guide to score and trim the pipe until I’d cut the strip out.
I made two parts this way. The shorter length has a wider strip cut out so it can be inserted into both the longer piece and the black plastic plug from the FX saber that I’d modified earlier.
Due to cutting quite a wide strip out of the smaller length tube it had a bit of a teardrop shape. I rolled it under pressure against the desk to try and round it out.
It now fitted perfectly into the end cap. This tube forms the inside of the emitter as well as the back wall of the black circles where the brass pins attach. This is visible through the metal outer sleeve of the saber body in the second image below whilst test fitting.
The next image shows the above assembly slotted onto the larger diameter tube.
To allow the brass emitter part I'd made earlier to fit into the sleeve, I bevelled the edge of the inner sleeve. The aluminium base plate of the brass rod had a bevel to it so this would help it seat in place. The aluminium piece will be epoxied into the tube later on. You can also see that I've sanded the outside of the PVC tube here as it had a bit of an uneven surface.
My next job was to fit the brass pins back in place. To make sure the 4 holes were consistently positioned I made a drill template. I drew a vector drawing for this and then laser cut it from mount board.
The lines at top and bottom were to help me line it up with the separation line of the two parts of the end plug. The two lines at the left were to allow me to carve a channel for the brass tabs connected to the top pin. These were not included in the stock Force FX saber so would need to be made from scratch.
In this next image you can see the channel I've carved out for the brass tab. I’ve also sprayed the sides of the assembly with Tamiya X-18 Satin Black. I found the PVC not great to work with, it’s almost fibrous when sanding and cutting. As a result the work I’d carried out left it with a grey colour so this gave it a much cleaner finish.
For the brass tabs I started with a scrap piece of photo etch fret from a 1/24 Harrier upgrade set. I tend to always keep unused PE parts and their frets as it’s often really useful.
The piece on the left is what I started with. On the right is a piece that’s been cut to the correct width (just scored multiple times with a scalpel), cleaned up with some sandpaper and then drilled to take the brass pin (seen in the middle).
Next I used a grinding disk on my rotary tool to round off both ends.
Here’s a shot with the pin inserted to test the fit and check the curve is even.
I then needed to bend the piece in 2 positions to create a step that would drop down into the circular indentation. To do this I lined the brass piece up using a suitably sized drill bit. This was passed through the hole in the brass and into the hole in the PVC tube to get the correct position.
You can see above that I’ve marked the point where the brass needs to step up. The piece was then folded using my PE bending tool.
Once the first bend was in place I could work out the position for the second.
And here is the finished piece installed. You can see in the image that the brass was treated with a blackening chemical to give it a bit patina. The brass pins will be glued in as part of the final assembly.
After this I epoxied the emitter rod into the PVC tubes and this part was completed. The images below show the emitter rod installed. It gives a really nice sense of depth to the end of the saber, although it is difficult to capture that in photos.
Thanks Tan Djarka!
The next job was to replace the T-Track grips. The stock FX saber grips have a much flatter profile than those on the real prop. The rubbery coating on them had also broken down over time and become tacky. The following pic shows the stock grips.
(Photo courtesy of saberproject.de)
I found a UK supplier on eBay selling T-Track lengths for a very reasonable price (I'd share a link but they don't seem to be on there anymore). When I received them I was keen to start work and marked them up to cut the notch where the rivet sits. Despite taking great care over this I was not totally satisfied with the result. Cutting by hand, I couldn't get them to be consistent across 6 lengths of grip. The position was slightly off on each and the sides of the cuts were not at consistent right angles. You can sort of see that in the following pic.
I purchased another set of grips and came up with a better solution for cutting the notches. I love making jigs, so I made a jig.
The idea here is that the T-Track slides into the underside of the jig through the T-hole at the front (lower part of second pic).
It hits a backstop after another T-hole at the back (upper part of second pic) which is positioned for the correct distance the notch should be from the end of the T-Track.
There is a hole cut in the top of the jig the width of a grinding disk and length of the T-Track notch. Behind this is a thin channel for the mandrel of a rotary tool grinding disk. The channel and hole allow the grinding disk to move back and forth parallel to the T-Track and only the length of the notch. Here's a pic of it in use.
The way the channels are set up mean that I (almost) always get notch sides that are square to the T-Track. The size of the notch and position on the T-Track is also kept consistent. Here's a finished piece before and after some refinement with a scalpel.
The 6 pieces were then measured and cut to the correct length with a razor saw. Holding the blade against the side of a clamp helped to keep the cut square.
I then marked the holes for the rivets with a center punch, drilled a guide hole and then to the finished 4mm diameter.
When I tested the T-Track pieces against the body of the saber there was a gap underneath due to their profile.
To correct this and allow them to fit more snugly to the saber body I wrapped it with a piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I then ran the T-Track pieces back and forth over the paper to match the profile to the sabers.
The work I'd done had left some exposed areas of the plastic looking grey from the cuts. I polished these areas with some compound which smoothed it out, returning it to the darker colour of the rest of the T-Track. This was a little more tricky in the notches as I had to polish with cotton buds.
After a clean is some warm water and dish soap it was time to attach the T-Track pieces. I used epoxy for this but first I scuffed the saber body where the pieces were positioned to give a little more grip for the adhesive.
Just a small amount of 2 part epoxy to avoid it oozing out from underneath.
In addition to the epoxy, and instead of rivets, I used M4 x 8mm button head screws and M4 half nuts to secure the T-Track pieces.
I sanded the heads of the screws so they had a flatter profile and more closely resembled rivets. Using the screws means I can remove these easily should I ever need to.
All done on the grips and really starting to look the part.
(Photo courtesy of saberproject.de)
I found a UK supplier on eBay selling T-Track lengths for a very reasonable price (I'd share a link but they don't seem to be on there anymore). When I received them I was keen to start work and marked them up to cut the notch where the rivet sits. Despite taking great care over this I was not totally satisfied with the result. Cutting by hand, I couldn't get them to be consistent across 6 lengths of grip. The position was slightly off on each and the sides of the cuts were not at consistent right angles. You can sort of see that in the following pic.
I purchased another set of grips and came up with a better solution for cutting the notches. I love making jigs, so I made a jig.
The idea here is that the T-Track slides into the underside of the jig through the T-hole at the front (lower part of second pic).
It hits a backstop after another T-hole at the back (upper part of second pic) which is positioned for the correct distance the notch should be from the end of the T-Track.
There is a hole cut in the top of the jig the width of a grinding disk and length of the T-Track notch. Behind this is a thin channel for the mandrel of a rotary tool grinding disk. The channel and hole allow the grinding disk to move back and forth parallel to the T-Track and only the length of the notch. Here's a pic of it in use.
The way the channels are set up mean that I (almost) always get notch sides that are square to the T-Track. The size of the notch and position on the T-Track is also kept consistent. Here's a finished piece before and after some refinement with a scalpel.
The 6 pieces were then measured and cut to the correct length with a razor saw. Holding the blade against the side of a clamp helped to keep the cut square.
I then marked the holes for the rivets with a center punch, drilled a guide hole and then to the finished 4mm diameter.
When I tested the T-Track pieces against the body of the saber there was a gap underneath due to their profile.
To correct this and allow them to fit more snugly to the saber body I wrapped it with a piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I then ran the T-Track pieces back and forth over the paper to match the profile to the sabers.
The work I'd done had left some exposed areas of the plastic looking grey from the cuts. I polished these areas with some compound which smoothed it out, returning it to the darker colour of the rest of the T-Track. This was a little more tricky in the notches as I had to polish with cotton buds.
After a clean is some warm water and dish soap it was time to attach the T-Track pieces. I used epoxy for this but first I scuffed the saber body where the pieces were positioned to give a little more grip for the adhesive.
Just a small amount of 2 part epoxy to avoid it oozing out from underneath.
In addition to the epoxy, and instead of rivets, I used M4 x 8mm button head screws and M4 half nuts to secure the T-Track pieces.
I sanded the heads of the screws so they had a flatter profile and more closely resembled rivets. Using the screws means I can remove these easily should I ever need to.
All done on the grips and really starting to look the part.
Cheers teecrooz!
HOLY S***! That is some insanely good work!
My jaw dropped seeing how well you were making pieces with angle grinders/dremels and some simple tools, that is some seriously inspiring work. Also seriously appreciate the very clear organization of your update posts, made it a very enjoyable read.
My jaw dropped seeing how well you were making pieces with angle grinders/dremels and some simple tools, that is some seriously inspiring work. Also seriously appreciate the very clear organization of your update posts, made it a very enjoyable read.
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ataru72ita
Sr Member
Wow! This is totally about The RPF i love!
Great job!
Regards,
Alberto
Great job!
Regards,
Alberto
I like the cut of your jig!
AMAZING
Thanks so much guys, your comments are hugely appreciated! this is the kind of thread I like too so it's been great to share it with all of you. And even greater that folks have been enjoying the work so much.I like the cut of your jig!
Thanks SCREAMINYELLOW! Great to hear you've been enjoying it. I amazed myself with some of the results I got with the basic tools, there's so much that can be done without having to spend loads. It just takes a bit more time.
Next up are the 2 red buttons. The knurled silver part is pretty good already but the red button seems much flatter than it should be. Also, the painted colour seems a bit too brown to my eye. Here are some pics of the original pieces on the FX saber.
(Photos courtesy of saberproject.de)
I started with the knurled parts. My only issue here was the overly shiny chrome plating. It just looked a little too much like chrome plated plastic and didn't match the look of the saber body it was attached to. I scuffed the plating up very lightly and radially with some 1200 grit wet and dry. Then I sprayed them with a light coat of Alclad polished aluminium. After it had dried I wiped it off of the high spots.
In the image below are the two knurled pieces. The one on the left is untouched. The one on the right has undergone the aforementioned treatment.
I was much happier with how this looked. To me it felt heavier, more metallic and used.
To attach the pieces I first drilled holes through the inner PVC pipe. I did this for both red buttons and the slotted screw that sits between the 2 rectangular openings visible in the below image.
There is a black plastic insert that goes into the knurled piece of the buttons. This already had a hole for the original screw that held it in place. I replaced that screw with a black cap head which self tapped into the soft PVC of the pipe. You can also see the slotted screw in place here and the 2 pairs of brass pins.
To form the replacement red buttons, I purchased some 5mm thick Perspex Burgundy 4494 acrylic. This was then cut into a suitable sized circle on my laser cutter. The plan was then to cut a smaller 3mm thick disk of acrylic that would attach to the bottom of the button and friction fit into the hex shaped hole visible in the previous image. That way I could remove if needed to unscrew and remove the button.
This took quite a bit of trial and error. In the image below you can see the following, starting from the top:
So my next job was to glue the plugs to the undersides of the buttons.
I sanded the edges and top to round them off. They were then wet sanded smooth with gradually finer grits and finally polished to bring the colour and shine back to the acrylic. A finished button is shown below compared to the original.
Here is the finished button installed into the knurled piece. This is a fairly subtle change but for me the metallic look of the knurled knob matches the rest of the saber much better now. It looks more realistic. The taller button is more accurate to the original prop and I'm much happier with the colour. Using plastic of the correct colour just makes it feel way more real than a painted piece.
I'll be onto the last update in my next post which will focus on the 'bunny ears'.
(Photos courtesy of saberproject.de)
I started with the knurled parts. My only issue here was the overly shiny chrome plating. It just looked a little too much like chrome plated plastic and didn't match the look of the saber body it was attached to. I scuffed the plating up very lightly and radially with some 1200 grit wet and dry. Then I sprayed them with a light coat of Alclad polished aluminium. After it had dried I wiped it off of the high spots.
In the image below are the two knurled pieces. The one on the left is untouched. The one on the right has undergone the aforementioned treatment.
I was much happier with how this looked. To me it felt heavier, more metallic and used.
To attach the pieces I first drilled holes through the inner PVC pipe. I did this for both red buttons and the slotted screw that sits between the 2 rectangular openings visible in the below image.
There is a black plastic insert that goes into the knurled piece of the buttons. This already had a hole for the original screw that held it in place. I replaced that screw with a black cap head which self tapped into the soft PVC of the pipe. You can also see the slotted screw in place here and the 2 pairs of brass pins.
To form the replacement red buttons, I purchased some 5mm thick Perspex Burgundy 4494 acrylic. This was then cut into a suitable sized circle on my laser cutter. The plan was then to cut a smaller 3mm thick disk of acrylic that would attach to the bottom of the button and friction fit into the hex shaped hole visible in the previous image. That way I could remove if needed to unscrew and remove the button.
This took quite a bit of trial and error. In the image below you can see the following, starting from the top:
- Red button disk and many failed attempts for the smaller plug disk. It started off as a hex shape to match the hole but I soon found a circle worked best. Then it was just lots of minor size adjustments and cutting another until I had the best fit.
- Second from top are the original buttons showing the underside and top.
- Second from bottom are the new laser cut buttons. The one on the left shows the underside with an etched ring as a guide for the plug position.
- Bottom are the plugs before being glued in place.
So my next job was to glue the plugs to the undersides of the buttons.
I sanded the edges and top to round them off. They were then wet sanded smooth with gradually finer grits and finally polished to bring the colour and shine back to the acrylic. A finished button is shown below compared to the original.
Here is the finished button installed into the knurled piece. This is a fairly subtle change but for me the metallic look of the knurled knob matches the rest of the saber much better now. It looks more realistic. The taller button is more accurate to the original prop and I'm much happier with the colour. Using plastic of the correct colour just makes it feel way more real than a painted piece.
I'll be onto the last update in my next post which will focus on the 'bunny ears'.
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The final upgrade for my Luke ESB saber was the 'bunny ears' assembly. These are the two plates that protrude from the tube and encircle the blade at the emitter end. Here is how the stock piece looks on the FX saber.
When I compared to images of real Graflex flashes I could see this piece was much more complicated than the single part in the FX. It looks like some sort of clamp that opens up when the ears are pressed together, presumably for installation of a bulb. Then tightens up when released to firmly hold it in place.
Rather than just one piece there are three. The two bunny ears scissor open on the pivot like a pair tongs. One of them is pinned to a metal band that is pulled with it, sliding over the second one and expanding the hole. I've put together the following illustration to show this visually.
To make my replica more accurate I wanted to recreate this mechanism. I started the process by cutting the two bunny ears apart.
To make the ring that completes the circle around the blade I got out my trusty DVD drive cover again. I marked out a long rectangular strip and cut it out.
The edges were tidied up with a sanding block and some 180 grit sandpaper. I also used this to give the strip a brushed metal look.
The next step was to fold over one end of the strip. On a real Graflex the loose end of this band is rounded over, presumably to reduce friction when sliding over the second bunny ear. I first did this by gripping with pliers and bending the edge back. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea, unsurprisingly it resulted in scratches and an uneven bend. To get a better result I used my photo-etch folding tool on the opposite end which came out much better.
Next job was to curl the metal band into a ring. I placed it on a surface with a bit of give, in this case the cushion of my chair. I then rolled a metal cylinder (a spare Blade Runner Blaster barrel) back and forth repeatedly until the strip curled up into a ring.
Once I had formed a ring of the correct diameter, I held it up against the saber to mark where it needed cutting. Then trimmed off one end using the rotary tool grinding disk.
Bollocks!!! I'd cut off the good folded end instead of the one I messed up with the pliers. Should have been paying proper attention! I wasn't happy with the result so needed to make a replacement part. Luckily I still had just enough of the DVD drive cover, but it was close.
The ring on the left has the twisted, scratched up, rolled edge. On the right is the replacement which came out much better than the first.
Time to see how it was looking so I loosely assembled the three parts into the saber body. It was coming along very nicely!
When I compared to images of real Graflex flashes I could see this piece was much more complicated than the single part in the FX. It looks like some sort of clamp that opens up when the ears are pressed together, presumably for installation of a bulb. Then tightens up when released to firmly hold it in place.
Rather than just one piece there are three. The two bunny ears scissor open on the pivot like a pair tongs. One of them is pinned to a metal band that is pulled with it, sliding over the second one and expanding the hole. I've put together the following illustration to show this visually.
To make my replica more accurate I wanted to recreate this mechanism. I started the process by cutting the two bunny ears apart.
To make the ring that completes the circle around the blade I got out my trusty DVD drive cover again. I marked out a long rectangular strip and cut it out.
The edges were tidied up with a sanding block and some 180 grit sandpaper. I also used this to give the strip a brushed metal look.
The next step was to fold over one end of the strip. On a real Graflex the loose end of this band is rounded over, presumably to reduce friction when sliding over the second bunny ear. I first did this by gripping with pliers and bending the edge back. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea, unsurprisingly it resulted in scratches and an uneven bend. To get a better result I used my photo-etch folding tool on the opposite end which came out much better.
Next job was to curl the metal band into a ring. I placed it on a surface with a bit of give, in this case the cushion of my chair. I then rolled a metal cylinder (a spare Blade Runner Blaster barrel) back and forth repeatedly until the strip curled up into a ring.
Once I had formed a ring of the correct diameter, I held it up against the saber to mark where it needed cutting. Then trimmed off one end using the rotary tool grinding disk.
Bollocks!!! I'd cut off the good folded end instead of the one I messed up with the pliers. Should have been paying proper attention! I wasn't happy with the result so needed to make a replacement part. Luckily I still had just enough of the DVD drive cover, but it was close.
The ring on the left has the twisted, scratched up, rolled edge. On the right is the replacement which came out much better than the first.
Time to see how it was looking so I loosely assembled the three parts into the saber body. It was coming along very nicely!
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