Okay, took today off from work 'cause I felt like having a 4 day weekend before being off for the upcoming Christmas/New Year's holidays, ;) ;D and got some more work done to this one!
I drilled holes and cut slots:
From the top:
And bottom:
I have the sleeve mainly de-burred at this point, after running my cylinder hone through the inside for a few minutes:
I just needed to sand and polish the 5" extension prior to drilling for the main switch hole.
After repairing my MHS sanding adapter, I had this:
Both parts have been re-wet sanded and polished!
The two pieces test fit:
There was still something small inside the sleeve that scratched the extension as I slid it on, so I sanded and polished the extension again, and worked some more on sanding the interior of the sleeve.
When I finished that, I moved on to the switch hole/slot:
I'll start drilling that hole out by using a smaller bit then stepping up to the 5/8" that is required for the AV switches.
I drilled for the main switch, installed the box again, marked off the recharge port's center, then drilled another 5/8" hole for that, and moved to the Dremel with a cutting disc to create a slot:
Everything is a perfect fit!
I did a test assembly next:
So far, it's coming together nicely!
The rear grip slots:
The main switch....this was supposed to have an AV with a green ring, but I've gone through two of them so far and neither of them would thread into this box for some reason....I have a green dot in there at the moment, and it is a perfect fit in the threads...as does the orange ring that is in Cs-21, along with just about every one of my other long style AV switches....it's weird...anyone else having the same issue? I can't help but wonder if there are bad threads on the latest batch of the green ring SPST switches TCSS got in recently. If I can another ring style in green to fit, I'll do that.
The other side's rear grips:
Now we get to the fun part:
I mixed up some epoxy for this brass ring, and it is currently curing as is the brass ring piece I added to the blade holder's choke point:
The black marks are where I marked it so the alignment will put the seam of the brass piece on the "bottom" of the saber while it's on display. The only issue with it is that I cut just smidge too much off one end while squaring it up, so there is a slight gap....If it looks too bad, I'll try to remove the piece and cut another one.
The gap might be more visible here:
Once these parts are finished curing/hardening, the majority of the hilt work will be completed.
Left to do on the hilt itself will be:
- sand and polish brass strip on blade holder
- polish blade holder
- create chrome plated speaker grille for pommel insert
- sand and polish control box
- add aux button to control box
- drill and tap for blade set screw
After all of that, it'll be ready for the electronics installation once the CF v5.1 arrives from France!