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 MethodHere'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!