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.