Graflex Replica Build - WIP

[JANGO FETT]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3086618

Work well for me.
Don't get a gun. too clunky

[Luke S.]

My US 2.0 and mid-grade blade came in the mail today!    The final two pieces of the puzzle, not including batteries. Now, to wire this baby up, can anyone offer a suggestion on the best kind of solder iron to use? My father has one, but it's not small enough to make such a tight succession of connections. Thanks! I'm excited and a little bit leary all at once. And yes, there will be much practice before the actual board gets involved. 

There are some great soldering tutorials out there on youtube.  The best ones are from Judge and Erv himself.   Be careful not to use a bad iron.  You should just need to touch the connection for a second to make the solder flow.  If you are holding it tere for too long you run the risk of heat transferring and wrecking the board.  Wouldn't want to have a pad come off.

[Anceem Llevik]

Before getting the soldering, the blade is much too snug to fit in Yoda's chassis. What's the best way to "thin it up" a bit? Should I mark the depth it insets and slowly start sanding by hand around the blade?

I just watched Erv and Judge's soldering tutorials…awesome stuff if you are looking for pointers. I've got a bunch of wire from Erv that came with my CF (which is going in my Do-Clo), and it's much thinner than the stuff in Yoda's chassis. Should I look to match the width of what's in the chassis, or can you intermix the widths? I assume the stuff Erv sent me is good stuff, but if I need to get some new wire I'll look when I go pick up my soldering iron tomorrow. Thanks!

[Luke S.]

You shouldn't need to sand your blade to fit.  My Ultrablade fit perfectly.  What kind of blade do you have?  Yes it is snug but there was no forcing, just like it should be.  Ideally you would want to bore out the blade holder a bit so all blades would fit.  But that shouldn't be necessary.

You can carefully sand  the blade a little.  Make sure to cover the end though to keep out the dust.  That will ruin a good blade. 

As for wiring I would guess that Erv's wire would be perfect.  He probably uses a different guage than Yoda.  I'm sure both would work fine.

[Anceem Llevik]

The blade is an Ultrasabers Mid-grade, and I can get it into the chassis about 1/4", maybe another 1/8" with some hard pushing and twisting, but this doesn't even get it to the blade retention screw (glass eye).  Somehow that doesn't seem right. Any thoughts?

[Darth Thalos]

you might need to sand the blade down some so it slides in.  I had that problem with a mid-grade blade when I tried to fit it into my MHS saber.  Just use a sheet of sand paper and your hand, and take it slow and smooth.  Then smooth out the rought spots.  that's how I did mine.

[Anceem Llevik]

OK. I finally am getting around to working on this thing again…and I already have some questions! In the photos below, you can hopefully see that I only have about 3/16" clearance for the US 2.0 to fit in my chassis. I'm assuming this means that my wires are going to need to make an immediate right turn. My thought is to solder some lead wires on to the board, have them loop around to the back of the board and attach the appropriate wires in the space available. It might not meet DT's standards for clean and tidy wiring, but I'm not sure how else to work in these tight confines. The other advantage I see to this is that the lead wires would allow me to make connections outside the chassis and then work the board in.
As far as securing the board in the chassis, I've tried using a prescription bottle, but the bottom of it takes up the space I need at the top for wiring. I'm thinking of using zip ties criss-crossing the board between the chassis tubing. Has anyone else done this?
Oh, and here's a real noob question for you. Of the four sets of wires, I've got three pairs of red and black, so I'm assuming red is positive and black is negative like on a car battery, but I thought I'd better ask. The switch wires, however, and both light gray and I can't seem to notice a difference. Any thoughts here!
Thanks much, everyone!

[Luke S.]

Lookin good Anceem.  As I recall all the leads were towards the emitter end.  The ones the went to the speaker were routed down through the hole on the base of the soundboard chassis, ie the black disk. 

Yoda had mine shrink wrapped (now not recommended) and then had a thin computer foam around that, then had it secured in place with 2 small tie wraps.  Hope that helps you out.

[darth_call]

The switch wires can be either positive or negative, .....doesn't matter, in most cases, just take your pick.

If u "crease" or fold your wires before you solder them, it'll be a little easier to loop them behind the board, ..I don't see why u would need lead wires or additional wires, unless you are adding QD's.

looks good so far! I rally need to build me one of these! Keep a gooood picture tutorial, ..I may n eed it later on!

[darth_call]

edit, ....meant to modify, ...not quote, ...sorry

[Anceem Llevik]

I don't see why u would need lead wires or additional wires.

Mainly because I need to extend the wires that are on the chassis. They won't all reach to the solder points as is, and I thought soldering on lead wires would make it easier.

EDIT - What's a QD? Sorry!

[darth_call]

Mainly because I need to extend the wires that are on the chassis. They won't all reach to the solder points as is, and I thought soldering on lead wires would make it easier.

EDIT - What's a QD? Sorry!

sorry I added that in after, ..Quick Disconnects, ...but I doubt the are useful on a chassis.

[Luke S.]

No you don't need or want QD's on Yoda's chassis.  The QD's aid in removing the internals easily.  Yoda's chassis is meant to come out all at once.  It would allow you to pull things out of the chassis quicker but not needed.  Plus I doubt you could find the room to put a QD in that chassis.

IMO stick to what Yoda had going.  I left the wires for you Anceem so you could 1. see what it originally looked like and 2. use them if you could.  I cut them as short as I could.  IMO I would jsut pull the led out and resolder some new leads.  You could solder a splice also, but I would jsut start from scratch.

[Mersenne]

Graflex Sabers have always been a thing for me.
Reading this and other threads has REALLY helped, esp the pics.
There's so many on here, I feel like I'd be flooding the banks, if I post my built up(s).

Finally have scored 2x3cell and 1x2cell.
I've started 1st on an ESB and then I'll start my ANH.

But that's not to say I don't want a Kenobi TPM or ROTS/ANH.
These are even more expense and rare than a Genuine Graflex.

Damn my Wallet hurts right now!!!

[Luke S.]

Graflex Sabers have always been a thing for me.
Reading this and other threads has REALLY helped, esp the pics.
There's so many on here, I feel like I'd be flooding the banks, if I post my built up(s).

Finally have scored 2x3cell and 1x2cell.
I've started 1st on an ESB and then I'll start my ANH.

But that's not to say I don't want a Kenobi TPM or ROTS/ANH.
These are even more expense and rare than a Genuine Graflex.

Damn my Wallet hurts right now!!!

King of part on Ebay will have a bottom to that 2 cell flash you have.  He also carries other graflex parts as does TCSS.