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The S.A.B.E.R. GUILD: Saber Manufacturers => FX-SABERS Graflex Armory & GraflexShop "GRAFLEX FX-SABERS" => Graflex Kits (Projects) for Members => Topic started by: Jedi-Diah on February 18, 2009, 10:16:24 PM
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Finally...
I've had the vintage Graflex for about 6 months. It was a bit of a challenge to gut it and get it ready for conversion. Then I got Erv's CF in November. All I needed was a chassis. I was contemplating making one but then Yoda busted out the ones he had for sale and here I am.
I must say that putting it together was not that bad. I never got really frustrated (like with the USB 2.0) and I just did a little bit here and there in the evenings. I'd say the worst part (which really wasn't that bad) was discovering the CF is setup for a latching switch and Yoda's chassis are made for momentary. Since I have a Mac, I had to find someone with a PC so I could format the SD card and make some adjustments. Luckily, my sister lives nearby and she has a PC laptop. I was able to load some different sound fonts and make the swing more sensitive (and change to momentary power on switch). Even that went will with no glitches. I was actually surprised. The only thing I need now is a kill switch because the batteries drain pretty fast when not in use and it's a hassle taking them out.
I'm running a blue 5W LedEngin led at 1300ma which is pretty bright. The Ultrablade fits the best and looks pretty good too. I have a TCSS Corbin+cellophane that looks good too but is a tight fit. I love the flicker. No pics but the camera isn't accurate anyway. It's bright and blue.
I shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape so now it fits tight and solid. No more rattling.
Here are some current pics of the hilt. I still need to put the screws on the grips. I'm not planning to put chrome tape around the clamp. I like the way it looks with the GRAFLEX stamped on it. I don't need to be "movie accurate".
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8371.jpg&hash=0515a512cd371fd69425b72df68af18c56080f42)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8375.jpg&hash=11595da155469a2ebb5cfc7338c619d466b06762)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8386.jpg&hash=58dbb67271bbad055b7ea6f55b8c8398ee1e7ad5)
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The little red ribbons sticking out of the batteries are what I use to pull them out to cut the power. I'm going to have to put a little kill switch in there somewhere so I don't have to do that anymore.
I'm super happy with it and just blown away by it. It feels so good in your hand. Heavy and solid - like you'd expect a "real" lightsaber to feel like.
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Hi Jedi-Diah!
Congratulations, good work!
It is pretty to see the work finished after having waited so much time.
That you enjoy it very much.
I forgot to ask...what is Graflex vintage?
I bought a reply graflex in TCSS. is it Vintage?
Greetings.
Gaby!
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These were originally made as camera flashes in the 1920's (maybe 30's). So, a vintage one is almost 80 years old. There are also replica ones that are brand new. They are very good too but are copies of the original.
Hi!!
I forgot to ask...what is Graflex vintage?
I bought a reply graflex in TCSS. is it Vintage?
Thanks
Gaby!
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Hi!!
I forgot to ask...what is Graflex vintage?
I bought a reply graflex in TCSS. is it Vintage?
Thanks
Gaby!
This might help explain the "real graflex" a little better:
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=5996.0 (http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=5996.0)
The post was made by our very own Red Five... and I must say, it's been more than an inspiration ;)
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Congrats on the new beauty, Jedi-Diah! Welcome to the tribe if this is your first Graflex 8)
Yes, I do love the fact that a Graflex feels heavy and "solid", compared to MR or Hasbros ;D
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Great review Jedi Diah. I have been waiting in anticpation. Your pics came out perfect. Glad to see you finally got it up and running. You now have the best saber in the galaxy. Plus if your short on cash you can sell it for about 3 months rent. :D But don't you dare sell it. ;)
Keep me posted on what you do on the kill switch. I don't have the time now as I am wrapped up in my house stuff. Hopefully I will put one in next fall after the renovations are done.
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Beautiful, Jedi-Diah. Maybe I could swing by this weekend to check it out in person if you're around? ;D
Did the UltraEdge not fit? I can mill one down for you to fit the GFS adapter and bring it down.
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Yep, my first Graflex. What an amazing piece of machinery. No wonder they chose these to be the lightsaber prop. I did pick up an 2-cell a few months ago for $50 on Ebay so I got another conversion to do. This time I might try making my own chassis without a crystal chamber but with a bigger battery pack. Also will go for the ANH look this time. Maybe USB 2.1?
The UltraEdge doesn't fit very well. It would need to be sanded or turned down. The following weekend would be better.
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Looking really great. It's nice to see it all coming together!
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Very nice work indeed, JD! I love how the lines on the clamps of the vintage models are so much more distinct than the replicas. It's just that look of aging that you get from those. By the way, I seem to recall reading that the new UltraEdge FX blades will fit in the Graflex.
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The UltraEdge doesn't really fit. I have some stock tube. It will need to be sanded down in order to fit. But the Ultrablade looks great!
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I'll turn down an UltraEdge and bring it down to you next weekend, then :)
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That would be cool. I'll trade you back some stock tube.
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Jedi Diah! Looks really good! I love the way those hilts look. I had to stick "wedges of tape" in my bunny ears to to keep them from rattling. Works really well. I can insert/remove the blade without removing them. Anyways. Great job!!!
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Thanks Maximus,
I'm not quite sure what you mean about the bunny ears and the tape. My bunny ears don't rattle because I replaced the pin with a screw. To insert the blade, I just squeeze the bunny ears and they open up wider so the blade will fit.
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I shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape so now it fits tight and solid. No more rattling.
Oh this is where I got that info. So you replaced the tape with a screw? Ive been meaning to do the same thing ;)
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I recently added a mini slide switch to cut the power to the CF (Kill Switch). Now I don't have to remove a battery every time I put it away.
I soldered one of the switch "legs" right in the positive input on the board and epoxied the switch in place. Then I connected the positive battery wire to the switch. It's really small and I can access it just by opening up the Graflex a little bit (the same amount you need to open it to access the crystal chamber led).
I got it from a Radio Shack store. They only had one but they are like these:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062490
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It is a very good modification in the circuit. ;)
When I obtain a board, perhaps take given your idea, is very good!! :D
Gaby!!
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Depending on what board you get. If you can get a Crystal Focus, you'll need it. If it's an Ultrasound or even MR, they don't really need it since they don't really drain when off (although the Ultrasound 2.0 needs to have this kind of switch to "reset" the board when it crashes - hopefully the 2.1 upgrade will fix it).
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Hi Jedi-Diah
Board?? :-\
that is difficult!! :(
I would like a FC, I will hope production of Erv, therefore surely design crystal's chamber with his innovation.
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Definitely be patient and wait for a Crystal Focus board from Erv. You will be able to do cool things to light up your crystal chamber with it.
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Definitely be patient and wait for a Crystal Focus board from Erv. You will be able to do cool things to light up your crystal chamber with it.
Understatement of the year. If you want a rocking crystal chamber the CF is the only way to go IMO.
Jedi-diah. Nice work on the switch. I have one leftover from my original Yoda graflex but have not had the time to get to it. I'm glad it worked out for you. That was a great idea.
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Yeah, the kill switch is a MUST with the CF. And I hated taking the batteries out every day. I couldn't even pry them out with my fingernails so I had to use a tool. Sooo much easier now with the little switch. :D
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Yeah, the kill switch is a MUST with the CF. And I hated taking the batteries out every day. I couldn't even pry them out with my fingernails so I had to use a tool. Sooo much easier now with the little switch. :D
I used some of my wife's ribbon. The wider the better. I used 1/4" and it worked fine. Cut out a 6" length then place it under the batteries when inserting them. Do one side then wrap it around the battery holder to get the other side. You should have just enough hanging out on each side to grip on. When putting the hilt back together you may need to twist the pommel section around a bit to get the ribbon to tuck under nicely. When you want to take the batteries out you just anchor one side of the ribbon down then tug on the other end and out pops your battery. Repeat for the opposite side.
IMO we all should be doing this. I have used tools to pry out batteries. Not really the best thing to be doing especially if you are running Lith-ions with the CP on the top. You could damage it.
If you are really picky you can color match your ribbon to your blade. Red for sith. ;D
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I just got tired of pulling the batteries out and having to remove the entire bottom section every day. Now I can just open it up abut an inch or so and flip the switch and it boots up.
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I totally agree with you there and feel your pain. I would still use the ribbon trick though when you do take them out. Not worth risking damage to the battery CP. I just bought the newer 14500s. At $10 per battery I can't afford to damage them.
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The ribbon trick is a good idea.
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"newer 14500s", Luke Skywalker? $10 each? Please expound!
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Here you go. http://www.lighthound.com/Batteries-carriers-testers_c_20.html
Recommended by Yoda. I had CP issues with my Ultrafires not taking a charge since the CP kept shutting them down. The newer ones are a bit better quality according to Yoda. I have had 2 sets for about a month now and they are great. A bit low on the mAh but as long as you get an extra set or two you should be fine.
A bit pricey but I just threw out 4 ultrafires at about $4 a piece. :P It these last twice as long as they did I am in better shape.
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This is very beautiful. I would kill to have a saber like this
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Hi Maxamillian,
What I mean by "shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape" is that I put tape on the outside of the blade holder so it fit inside the Graflex body tighter. Otherwise it would rattle a bit inside.
The bunny ears is separate from the blade holder. Those are normally held to the body by a pin. This gets replaced by a machine screw and it becomes more solid. It moves back and forth but doesn't rattle loosely.
Hope this clarifies things.
I shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape so now it fits tight and solid. No more rattling.
Oh this is where I got that info. So you replaced the tape with a screw? Ive been meaning to do the same thing ;)
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Here's the info and link for you to get on the list if you want one. I have the ESB with CF 3.0. All I can say is every other saber seems to fall under the shadow of this great saber. Nothing compares IMO.
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=16524.0
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Here's the info and link for you to get on the list if you want one. I have the ESB with CF 3.0. All I can say is every other saber seems to fall under the shadow of this great saber. Nothing compares IMO.
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=16524.0
Thanks for the info Luke :D
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Finally...
I've had the vintage Graflex for about 6 months. It was a bit of a challenge to gut it and get it ready for conversion. Then I got Erv's CF in November. All I needed was a chassis. I was contemplating making one but then Yoda busted out the ones he had for sale and here I am.
I must say that putting it together was not that bad. I never got really frustrated (like with the USB 2.0) and I just did a little bit here and there in the evenings. I'd say the worst part (which really wasn't that bad) was discovering the CF is setup for a latching switch and Yoda's chassis are made for momentary. Since I have a Mac, I had to find someone with a PC so I could format the SD card and make some adjustments. Luckily, my sister lives nearby and she has a PC laptop. I was able to load some different sound fonts and make the swing more sensitive (and change to momentary power on switch). Even that went will with no glitches. I was actually surprised. The only thing I need now is a kill switch because the batteries drain pretty fast when not in use and it's a hassle taking them out.
I'm running a blue 5W LedEngin led at 1300ma which is pretty bright. The Ultrablade fits the best and looks pretty good too. I have a TCSS Corbin+cellophane that looks good too but is a tight fit. I love the flicker. No pics but the camera isn't accurate anyway. It's bright and blue.
I shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape so now it fits tight and solid. No more rattling.
Here are some current pics of the hilt. I still need to put the screws on the grips. I'm not planning to put chrome tape around the clamp. I like the way it looks with the GRAFLEX stamped on it. I don't need to be "movie accurate".
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8371.jpg&hash=0515a512cd371fd69425b72df68af18c56080f42)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8375.jpg&hash=11595da155469a2ebb5cfc7338c619d466b06762)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8386.jpg&hash=58dbb67271bbad055b7ea6f55b8c8398ee1e7ad5)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8384.jpg&hash=1611b3071ace56cf60a1d45488326996ecac4965)
(https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd135%2Fmijknahs%2FDSCF8377.jpg&hash=935bac520edc87f63e05dd0d1d584cc8f81909b9)
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The little red ribbons sticking out of the batteries are what I use to pull them out to cut the power. I'm going to have to put a little kill switch in there somewhere so I don't have to do that anymore.
I'm super happy with it and just blown away by it. It feels so good in your hand. Heavy and solid - like you'd expect a "real" lightsaber to feel like.
Excellent to see it all came together for you so well Jedi-Diah
I'm glad you like the weigh of it, not to heavy but not to light and it does balance a thin walled blade properly
as I'm sure you've noticed by now 8)
I'm also glad you got the kill switch in there with out to much trouble and you got the upgraded batteries
I've been recommending.
Good work and of course if again you seek Yoda, know where to find me you do :D
MTFBWY
always
YODA
I am also working on coming out with a "battery removal tool" that will make that easier as well as
some upgrade/accessory parts (that I will hopefully be able to come out with by summer time)
that can be attached to any chassis for a little extra visual impact ;)
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Thanks for your help Yoda. I'm looking forward to the visual upgrade parts. That would be very cool.
Now I'm just playing with customizing the sensitivity of the CF.
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Hi Maxamillian,
What I mean by "shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape" is that I put tape on the outside of the blade holder so it fit inside the Graflex body tighter. Otherwise it would rattle a bit inside.
The bunny ears is separate from the blade holder. Those are normally held to the body by a pin. This gets replaced by a machine screw and it becomes more solid. It moves back and forth but doesn't rattle loosely.
Hope this clarifies things.
I shimmed the blade holder with black vinyl tape so now it fits tight and solid. No more rattling.
Oh this is where I got that info. So you replaced the tape with a screw? Ive been meaning to do the same thing ;)
Totally sorry...I misunderstood you all together. I totally know what you are talking about now. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut on this :-X lol
Congrats anyway!! -Max