TUTORIAL: "Sizing" your screws for the Mara Jade Sleeve

[Master Jedye]

I saw QUI GON JINN's post about sizing screws for the MJ grips
and thought it would be good to get a few perspectives and post a tutorial.

So here's two of them...

MASTER JEDYE'S Method

Here's what I recently did.

Since it was brass screws for a Mara Jade grip, I really didn't feel like cutting 24 screws.
So I took a piece of MHS sleeve material and drilled 12 8-32 holes and tapped them.

I then screwed in my 8-32 X 1/2 inch brass screws.


Then I attach an old sanding flap wheel to my drill press and start sanding down the screws...
all 12 at one time, being careful not to hit the ID of the sleeve material too much.





It took two old flap wheels, but it did the trick... and in under 3 minutes. 
NOTE:  The screw heads get very HOT... so be careful and let them cool down before you tough them.






*NOTE I said "old" flap sanders... as in "used". They won't be much good after this...



Anyway, here's where I thought it got "neat"!   :017:

Since the saber this is going on is HIGHLY polished, I couldn't very well throw on some old, nasty,
tarnished brass screws...now could I?



So, without removing the screws from the sleeve material, I threw some Brasso on a
cloth, making sure to work it into the rag very well, so I wouldn't be filling the screw holes with Brasso.   



Rubbed it, cleaned it and buffed it out...and got me a nice little shine to the screws.



One quick shot of Clear Coat PC....



and into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes...



After 10 minutes of "cool down", I can un-screw them the sleeve material and put
them on there rightful place.  I can't show you the actual saber it's going on ('tis not mine
 to showcase) but here it is on the MJ Grips.




QUI GON JINN'S Method 
(as written by QGJ and posted with his permission)

I needed to cut down the brass 1/4" screws I was planning to use on this one and decided
it might be worth documenting:



To use these screws on this saber,  I'll need to shorten them to about 1/8" or by half.
I'll use the rotary tool and a reinforced cutting wheel for the job.

I'll be using the 8-32 nut to secure the screw in the vise grips,  and also to help with
maintaining the integrity of the threads:



I inserted the screw into the nut.....and then placed the nut and screw assembly into the vise grips:



I used steady pressure on the tool and carefully cut it off:

 



There we go!  All shortened!

DO NOT TOUCH THE SCREW!!!!  IT IS HOT!!!!

I'll use a pair of pliers to get the screw and nut out of the vise grips:

 

Now I'll use the Allen wrench to back the screw out of the nut:



And then install in into the double threaded Jaded extension:



Now the screws don't stick out into the inside diameter of the part,  and you can fit
an MHS speaker mount in there with no problems:



I then repeated this process another 22 times!!

I then sanded and polished the raw brass sleeves already on the hilt and assembled the parts:

 

I had to modify a brass CT wheel form TCSS to clear the screw heads:



I used the sanding drum on the rotary tool to sand it flat ,  then the piece of sand
paper I stapled to the bench a while ago to smooth it off.  It is also raised by adding a
lock washer between the CT wheel and the hilt,  similar to the way a CT wheel is
attached to a Mace Windu FX.

The polished screws:




Both methods work great and the common denominator here is
LET THE SCREWS COOL DOWN!
They get RED-HOT... so please be careful. 

Happy cutting!

[kinoobi]

 It is splendid technology！！ :D

[LUMINARA UNDULI]

Nice MJ!   Excellent solution ;D.

[propuser]

Thanks for showing a step by step process.....that's a lot of work but nice job...:)

[bulldog]

thank you for sharing, I didn't think clear coat could be cooked in to the metal. I learn some thing every day. Did you use a generic clear coat or some thing spacific ?

[Nick Knight]

great job again. always helping people out. thank you for your post.

[tron]

this is a much cleaner  process, and you can tap a flat bar and drill/ tap it 100 times and make tons in the correct size.  Thats just me though.  then you can shoot the clear on and bake more at once, this is just an example video but I know there is a actual cutter out there I have seen it and it's cheap.. 

[GFJedi]

this is a much cleaner  process, and you can tap a flat bar and drill/ tap it 100 times and make tons in the correct size.  Thats just me though.  then you can shoot the clear on and bake more at once, this is just an example video but I know there is a actual cutter out there I have seen it and it's cheap.. 

Having just done a custom build using brass button heads in an MJ style TCSS extension, I can tell you that the wire cutter method does NOT work.  It will not shear off enough of the screw for it to remain recessed on the I.D. of the piece, and nowhere near short enough not to interfere with the threading on the row that is close to the end of the extension.

I used the 8-32 stn.stl. nut and dremel cutoff wheel method, and it worked like a charm.  The nuts were just thick enough that if you made sure at least 12 screws were ground flush with the nut, they would clear the threads when installed, and as long as you got the rest close they would not stick out inside the extension.

One thing I could add to this method, if you need to polish the heads of the brass, or black oxide button heads, is to chuck them into a hand drill, and with a soft cloth loaded with a little polish, just give them a few seconds of spin cycle in the cloth, but be careful to not snag the cloth out of your hand.  This was WAY quicker and easier than trying to polish them by hand.

[tron]

or buy shorter fasteners.  try wwwfastenal.com

[tron]

I doubt anyone sells 2 thread screws though.........  I'm sure your right though   I hate polishing threads...

[GFJedi]

I'm sure your right though   I hate polishing threads...

Hate to break it to ya, but you're doing it wrong if you are polishing the threads...

[tron]

I see you do it all at once the way you do it, no argument here..  I didn't say wire cutter, I said there is actually a tool you can buy to accomplish this cleanly.  I had one once my dad gave to me in a tool box over 16 years ago...  I am like you I make my own tools to accomplish things.  I been machining since I can remember, and I applaud your ingenuity Sir..  You do excellent work..   I wasn't criticizing your method, just offering a alternative...   I have seen people hold the screw with a pair of pliers against a belt sander one at a time, then have to use a thread dye and polish the end of the screws threads.. you accomplish all this in your little jig you made to do it, brilliant..  Please disregard my posts,   Great job dude the saber came out awesome..

[CET]

Since good food for thought here.  :)