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Author Topic: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion *finished*  (Read 17926 times)

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Offline Wildcard

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #30 on: April 13, 2014, 10:04:08 AM »
Looks great so far; nice progress on your project!

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #31 on: April 13, 2014, 10:09:15 AM »
Thanks!













So, as you can see, I took my 2 hours today to bore out emitter #2 and pommel #2.  By changing my method of boring for the pommel, I get to keep the "signature edition" label across the bottom on the pommel not shown, and I can have totally hidden sound holes.  The depth of the bore should allow me to have some really nice resonance, so this saber should be actually quite loud.  I will make and polish an insert that makes the pommel look totally stock, which actually won't take much since it already is very difficult to see the bore in the pommel.  The silicone tape wrapped around the pommel when it was in the lathe chuck is to protect it from the jaws (which it did perfectly). 

Also, given that my mill has a digital readout now, I can tell you exactly how far off center the blade is.  The number is .0120" above center.  We'll see how that translates when I make my blade plugs.  I may have to compensate or I may not.   If I would have gone exactly on center, the emitter would lose any chance of structural rigidity as it would no longer have been a complete piece. 

looking good Alex but should the blade be so far away from the tip of the hook?
great 1st attempt however

I already explained that above.  I'm not going to just make a bunch of claws until I hit on the exact shape.  20 hours of work isn't worth 3/16" closer to the blade.  It's 100% inaccurate no matter what just by holding a blade, so I'm not really going to worry that much about how close the tip of the claw is to the blade. 

If someone did a run of dookus, they could base the exact distance of the claw on their existing 3d models, but there wasn't a good way to manually draw up the claw in relation to the blade, so it would have taken at least 2 more attempts (bringing the number of total claws to 5) to get it barely off of the blade.  It isn't just the distance from the blade that would have had to be changed, but the angle at which the old claw shape (that fits the body) and new claw meet. 

The shape of the tip is accurate though.  It just come off of the hilt at a slightly different angle than the stock one. 
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 10:11:15 AM by ANAKIN SKYWALKER »


Offline Dark Navel

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #32 on: April 13, 2014, 10:43:31 AM »
I'm really impressed to see what you have done with the MR version of the Dooku.  Your design and implementation are impressive.  I look forward to seeing the finished product.  Nice job!

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #33 on: April 13, 2014, 12:19:47 PM »
I'm really impressed to see what you have done with the MR version of the Dooku.  Your design and implementation are impressive.  I look forward to seeing the finished product.  Nice job!

Thanks!

This is already my favorite build ever, and I haven't even finished it.  The hilt is just soooo nice.  I measured the main grip section (which is wider than the curved and elbow pieces) and it's just over 1.2", which makes this one of the slimmest sabers I've ever handled.  With the switches in the trigger, it is also one of the most natural to operate. 

Making a note to myself here, I need to make some covertec clips out of aluminum for this.  I can buy some, but I really like the flat black powder that I have for covertecs, and to powdercoat one, I need to machine it differently than the ones from tcss.   

EDIT:  I was just going to take apart the second pommel, but wound up right next to the lathe, so I spent 15 minutes boring it out.  Here's the pair together.  One hilt is an SE, but I have no Signature plaque for it unfortunately. 





as you can see, the bottoms of the pommels are untouched, which is really nice for the SE hilt.  It looks like this is progressing quickly, but the cake is a lie.  I wrote up a list of what really still needs done, and it's huge.  I'm 25% done if you include making the claws. 

« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 03:17:54 PM by ANAKIN SKYWALKER »


Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #34 on: April 16, 2014, 01:07:15 PM »
had a rough day on these yesterday.  Everything is turning out great, but they just fought me in the shop yesterday.  literally, a fistfight.  Moral of the story, if one of you really does wish to do probably the hardest conversion ever (I've never seen a harder one, but there may be one or two that are tied), and you manage to get all of the screws out, do not put them back in under any circumstances.  The screws are epoxied in, and they have heads that are harder than all of my screwdrivers, so they just chew right through the driver heads.  But, each time they eat one up, the corners in the screw get slightly rounded.  It is usually possible to get it out once, but I simply could not get the screw back out the second time on one of the hilts.  So, a snapped drillbit, snapped endmill, and many hours of cussing later, I did manage to get everything sorted out.  However, in the process, the very weak paint (the elbow section isn't media blasted like it should be, it is painted that color) peeled, so now I have to either media blast it or powdercoat it (in blasted steel or aluminum color) depending on if the media blast will tarnish over time.  All easy stuff for me really, just adding time to the build, and in the end, durability. 

So, once I got that sorted out, I came up with a new method for holding the elbow section to the main body.  I won't show it yet since I didn't create it at this point, but it is much better than the stock way IMO. 

Also, I was having a chat with my buddy scorpion, and explaining how there isn't a really good way to hide a charge port on this hilt, and he suggested something that I honestly had not thought about.  A covertec charge port.  Now, I had thought about it briefly, but my mind couldn't get out of 1.3mm mode, so I immediately threw that out the window.  But, looking at the hilt again, there is just enough room to hide a 2.1mm charge port in the covertec.  I just made a setup like that 2 weeks ago, and it turned out perfect.  I should definitely be able to do it again here.  This wasn't really feasible originally since I didn't have the capabilities that I do now, but it also wasn't a good idea with a 2 battery setup.  With a single cell, it will work perfectly. 

Next up, I figured out how to remove the triggers, so now I can make it "touchplate activation" rather than having switch plungers.

So, these hilts should have 0 visible holes between the pommel and elbow connector.  In fact, the only visible holes besides the bladeholder are the 4-5 that will be in the claw to hold everything together and for blade retention (also in the claw and included in the 4-5 count).  I "could" limit that to 2 if I really wanted to, but I only would have had 2 options for that. 

#1, I would have had to buy special bottoming taps, and drill partial holes from the hidden side of the claw and tap them.  Then, I would have had to drill matching holes in the grip section (under the knurled rubber) so I could secure the setscrews without them being visible.  If at a later date, replacement claws were made or these ones were sent to be chromed (which I doubt, but I like to leave it open), it would require a total uninstall of the saber to do so.  Given that one is going to mexico, I'd much rather juan be able to remove the claw himself if need be. 

2nd, I could have used a bunch of jb weld.  Not removable at all.  There are places (well, actually just one I can think of) where I will have to use JB weld on this build, but I didn't want that to be one of them.  When something is cnc'd from scratch, sure, you can plan for screws or threaded pieces everywhere.  But, when converting a solid saber like this, sometimes there is no avoiding it. 



Offline Caine

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #35 on: April 16, 2014, 09:29:24 PM »
Very cool! Things are just getting more and more impressive with this.

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #36 on: April 17, 2014, 07:32:08 AM »
Thanks!  I am really loving the way this is turning out, and i'm 100% confident that it will withstand duelling.  Obviously, it is a 3/4" blade, but anything that can take, the saber can take. 

One of my special endmills for this build arrived yesterday and the other should arrove today.  I would like to at least have the upper half of the hilt (forward main grip, trim ring, curved section, and emitter) totally done this weekend.  That will leave me with the new coupler between the grip and elbow section, the finishing of the elbow, and a lot of modifications to the elbow section and the pommel wraparound piece. 

I'm taking it slow and not expecting to finish before exams.  If I didn't have a test on tuesday, i'd spend all weekend cranking these out, but this is one of those final tests before the actual final exams that the professors love throwing at us this time of year. 

Stay tuned everyone!


Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #37 on: April 19, 2014, 02:26:06 PM »
Alright, so my new batteries arrived today, and I'm happy to say everything is going better than expected.  The 16430s I have are 16.5mm in diameter, and the 17500s I have are like 16.9mm, which is really good for my wall thickness of the hollow coupler between the curved section and the main grip. 

Both of my special endmills are here, and I put them both to good use already.  The CFs fit perfectly with just a slight layer of material removed from either side of the inner grip. 

Unfortunately, my predictions about bead blasting the elbow sections turned out to be correct.  The aluminum turns very dark very quickly (I haven't held the parts since I got home with them yesterday, and they are already 300% darker than when I freshly did it) and the media in the machine at the big shop is a bit too coarse.  The color matched very well when it was fresh, so I'm going to just order the media blasted aluminum powder coat color and redo both elbows with that.  It will be much more durable and will probably look better since the paint on these was 12 years old.


left is fresh off of the bead blaster vs the original paint on the right.  The color is correct, just not the texture. 


CF nestled in place.  You can faintly see the spot where I widened it.  It's hard to make out next to the original epoxy, but it is in line with the upper half of the open hole in the side of the hilt. 


I was making this piece before my batteries actually arrived, and they showed up just in time for me to take the last pass.  It has less room than it looks like.  A standard size wire from erv will just fit next to the battery. 




whatever kind of adhesive they used for the grips did a great job of sticking to the chrome, but a terrible job of holding the grips.  Not one grip has even one speck of adhesive on it, which is a good thing I guess, but i literally cannot get any more adhesive off then I did. 


The saber is holding together by itself here, but still needs a new coupler between the main grip and elbow section, plus a buttload of mods to the elbow. 




the setscrew is final, the socket cap screw is temporary. 


Offline Justintmars

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #38 on: April 21, 2014, 12:49:32 PM »
Beautiful work Alex!

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #39 on: July 24, 2014, 11:54:05 AM »
so, I found myself with some extra time while waiting for some parts to arrive for other builds, and I decided to dust these off yet again.  They were interrupted by exams and whatnot, but I finally was able to get moving on them again. 

I already knew from the moment I decided that I wanted the charge port and switches to be hidden that the elbow section of this saber was going to be the part with the most machining hours that I've ever done, and man was I right (I hate it when I'm right, lol). 

First up, the tab that goes into the pommel snapped while I was doing some machining (it was a great vice point while it held together).  I wasn't really surprised because it was pretty thin, and the part is cast, so it is pretty weak at thin areas like that.  So, I had to mill out that whole section so that I can make a new pommel coupler.  That took about 3 hours because I had to grip it very carefully in the vice, and only take layers of about .025" at a time. 



Next up, I re-clamped it, and drilled and tapped for a recharge port to fit through the covertec.  This would require that the whole elbow section be hollow, so I re-gripped it a 3rd time (with some custom wood vice protectors I milled) and got to work on that.  Again, only passes of about .025" in depth to be sure nothing would give way under the mill bit or the vice. 



Then, I flipped the section over, and started milling out the trigger area.  Now, I only had a 3/16" bit that was long enough to mill through the material without destroying the edge of the piece, so the sharp corners had to be done with a hand file at the end.  That wasn't even the interesting part.  Because of the way I had it gripped in the vice, I knew I couldn't cut the full slot or the piece would snap in two.  So, I stopped about .25" short of the full length of the trigger slot, and brought the slot the rest of the way out with hand files.  Even when you really know your machines, you still have to do some things the long way. 


you can see here that the slot stops where there had previously been a step down.  that's where I hand filed from and brought it to full length. 



I also didn't like the way the elbow piece attached to the main body of the saber, so I got to work machining a better coupler.  there will be just enough room to remove an sd card with some sharp tweezers, and it will be much more rigid when assembled than it was from the factory.  I used brass for the piece to help balance out the weight I removed, but the male coupler itself was made from aluminum. 

had to hand drill the wire passthrough after I milled the hole for the male coupler piece. 



came out pretty dang good considering the surface I was drilling on had a 15 degree slant. 

I have figured out my switches from here, and the only thing I will lose on this saber is mute on the go.  The trigger will be hinged in the middle, so you would be unable to press both the aux and main buttons at the same time.  if I made my hinge point spring loaded to allow both to hit if you wanted, it would probably add 20 hours of machining just for the ability to activate mute on the go, so I think I'll pass on that one for this saber. 



Also, the only visible imperfection at this point is the alignment of the screws in the claw.  Every time I would start another hole, I would line it up perfectly, make sure everything was set, center drill it, and then drill and tap it.  Well, I didn't realize it until the 3rd hole, but the claw itself would flex a hair toward or away from the operator when it was being drilled, so 2 of the holes came out slightly misaligned. 

Finally, I milled off the brass greeblies that are in the elbow section since there was not going to be a way to mask them for powdercoating.  Fabricating new ones will take about 10 minutes each on the lathe. 









some nice before and after shots there.  But here's a better before one showing the old coupler. 



My only hiccup so far has been my powdercoating.  The powder didn't seem to set correctly, so I will have to blast it and re-coat it after I try this color on a few test pieces (duh, should have done that first.)

Overall, I spent about 18 hours on just that elbow section this week.  And I still have a very complex piece to make to attach the pommel and I have to make a cap to cover the removed material before the rubber grip goes on. 

oh yeah, you might notice I didn't smooth out the walls of the sections I milled after I got to the proper depth.  Since they will be hidden anyway, I didn't feel the need to risk the part or the tool by putting that kind of pressure on a smoothing pass for the walls.

« Last Edit: July 24, 2014, 12:00:29 PM by ANAKIN SKYWALKER »


Offline Justintmars

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #40 on: July 25, 2014, 02:18:38 PM »
Your skill and dedication is extremely inspiring Alex...

Offline GusManB

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #41 on: July 25, 2014, 02:58:52 PM »
Vary nice jobs thus fare on this, looks shiny ;)

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #42 on: July 28, 2014, 12:37:47 PM »

Started with a piece of bar stock this morning to make the trigger pivot holder and the pommel coupler.  You can see in one of the shots the new vs the stock, and that mine is much smaller in one dimensionn. That was by design, to allow for some sound venting.  So far everything is going very smoothly. 

There are really only a few operations left on the machines before I can begin my install.  Should have more progress to share tonight. 


















Offline Clark Kent

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #43 on: July 28, 2014, 12:48:35 PM »
looking good man, so close, so close to being done.

this makes me wish i had mine finished too.

right now mine is waiting for installs.

Offline Ho-Wai Lowill

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Re: MR LE Count Dooku Conversion WIP
« Reply #44 on: July 29, 2014, 12:44:21 PM »
Wow, this is seriously an amazing built, well worth the effort and with all that heart putting in itz definitely gonna be epic when finished.

 

retrousse