Another HUGE step closer…..

I spent Thursday working with the screws and screw holes for the switch box.  The first set that had been drilled is basically fine.  The screws go down where they are supposed to.  The other 2 holes were more problematic, but I prevailed in my quest.  I had to cut off another pair of screws that were just ONE thread revolution longer than the first two I tried to use.  I wouldn’t have thought such a small bit of a screw could make such a difference.  But with the holes in places where I can just drill further, I made do with what the scenario I have.  The tap of course is still broken.  I may talk to Glenn about that too.  I found a bunch tap related supplies in the Jantz catalog that randomly showed up at my doorstep last week.  I need to buy him one and myself one (or maybe 2).  Glenn helped me do the hole in the emitter piece for the wires.  It isn’t all that pretty, but the switchbox will completely cover the un-pretty up, so I am not worried about that part.

I am delighted to report that I finally had the powdercoating done yesterday (Saturday, for those not near a calendar).  It looks fantastic, in my opinion.  The aluminum parts are now a gorgeous shade of medium green that nicely accentuates the brass scrollwork.  I can’t wait to see how it looks with the stones set.

I also broke down and purchase a new tablet for my laptop.  I had another pen go bad on me and I happened to see where Wacom has just recently released the next version of the Bamboo (which has been my tablet for 3 years or so now).  I found one on Amazon for a good price (and free shipping), so I went ahead and ordered it.  I must say, the new Bamboo Create does NOT disappoint!  The functional area is twice the size of the old one.  It has touch capability too, which is a little odd.  I’ve never liked the glide-point things on laptops, and this essentially is a GIANT glidepoint in that mode.  I love the new pen.  It has replaceable nibs too, which is great.  The tablet came with Photoshop Elements 9, Corel Painter Essentials 4, and Autodesk Sketchbook Express.  3 amazing programs AND they have tutorials for them on the disk as well.  I have spent most of this weekend doing Elements tutorials and Painter tutorials.  I  have a much better grasp of how to make things happen in Elements than I EVER have before.  I am looking forward to doing better quality artwork all the way around!

I am nothing if not persistant……

My switchbox has finally come to fruition, after a week and a half of slogging through 5 attempts at fabricating it.  I was worried to day that I had uncovered a large series of pits but the solder had built up in that area.  Once I filed it down to the brass, it was fine.  There is a noticeable solder joint (I used silver solder).  Also, when looking at the saber, it seems that no less than 4 separate alloys of brass are in the mix.  Bill and Missy think it’s fine.  I DO NOT think it’s fine.  It looks weird to me that the brass parts don’t match amongst themselves.  I am trying to decide whether to try plating them all with 18 K yellow gold or just leaving them be.

I am getting so close to the end now.  I just have to get the powder coating done (FINALLY), drill the wire holes, fabricate the bezel setup for the switches, set the stones, and install the electronics……

 

Why Can’t it EVER be Simple…….?

I told myself this week would be different……so far,  NOT so MUCH.  I spent ALL day long on the 5th incarnation of the switch box.  The only task I seem to have accomplished is getting the top piece solder in place.  That took the entire afternoon.  I don’t know why things seem to be going wrong at such a spectacular pace.  At least I didn’t melt it this time.  I am gonna have to take another pass with the torch (and more solder) tomorrow.  It is mostly in place.  Instead of doing a fit inside the tube like the other times, I put the last piece on like a cap on TOP of the tube.

The Day the Solder Stood Still and other sad stories……

I know it’s been a week since my last update.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  Part of it is that my space upgrade for pictures expired and it didn’t seem very useful to post without pictures.  The pictures are, in my opinion, a very important part of this particular blog experience.  Another reason is basically a LACK of meaningful progress. It seems the closer I get to being done, the more goes wrong.  I spent many days working on this stupid switch box.  I am currently on the 5th attempt at fabricating said box.  It’s very close to being done, but the solder that is SUPPOSED to be a joint connecting the inner curved piece (that will physically house the switches) WILL NOT FLOW no matter what  approach I have tried.  I don’t understand why the techniques that have been successful in the past are not working.

I have also had NO END of trouble trying to get the wall portion of the box to fit the curve of the outer plate.  I spent 2 whole days trying to get it to cooperate.  It seems simple enough in theory to find where the high spot in the underside curve is but filing that down time and time and TIME again DID NOT yield a matching set of components.  I think that if I need to do a switch box again in this style, I am going to push the wall up through a hole in the outer place instead of trying to file a curve into it.

To top THAT little anecdote, I was tapping the other two holes for the switchbox plate, and on the LAST HOLE, I broke the tap.  I about lost my mind!!!!  Glenn was able to work some Ho Chunk Gearhead Magic upon the offending piece of tap that refused to come back out of the hole.  He spent all day doing it.  I feel a little guilty about that……

I did finally hear back from the guy about the soundboard.  He said to try soldering a 100 ohm resistor between two specific pads on the back of the board.  That should fix the problem and if it doesn’t, I will send it off for repair.  Apparently, when the kill key is in the recharge port, power is cut to the negative terminal but NOT the positive one.  I figured I would be OK if the kill was installed, but NOOOOOOO.  An internal resistor is blown, according to the best guess guy.  If power is being supplied in that scenario, the soldering iron itself can complete a circuit that blows that particular resistor.  Another lesson learned……..

Head Butting the Desk…..my latest contact sport….

I have spent most of the last week in a futile attempt to wire up the Petit Cruton with 2 momentary switches.  Part of the problem is that the STUPID switches are not labeled so I had to use trial and error to try to find which poles need connecting to.  What actually transpired, apparently, is lots and lots and lots of error.  I tried connecting both ways (poles across from each other AND poles side by side) and neither one worked.  I bought 4 of each switch since they were so cheap, so I tried all of the above with different switches.  Still didn’t work.  I kept getting the boot sound from the board, and NOTHING ELSE.  After having exhausted my tiny reservoir of electrical “knowledge”, I got on the forums and asked around.  People suggested this and that and what-have-you.  I tried them all.  This cycle went on for DAYS!  There aren’t that many different approaches to try with a small board like the PC-L.

Finally it became apparent that the ESD fairy seems to have visited my bench and wrought destruction upon it.  The board, physically speaking, is wired up correctly now.  I still am getting the same bit of NOTHING I have gotten for a week.  Luminara (from the forums) suggested emailing the guy here in the states who is responsible for actually building the Petit Cruton boards.  He, as it turns out, is also on the forums and he sent me an PM and told me he would be happy to help me out.  I was worried that I would have to buy a brand new board, but the people online assured me that my board can be fixed for substantially cheaper than the cost of a new one.  It won’t be free, and I totally understand that.  But it’s not a total loss.

I did finally talk to Mark (the wood worker) about a presentation box.  It’s quite a bit of money, so I’ll have to cross that bridge a little later.  I talked to a guy Bill knows and he knows a guy who actually builds electrical boards from scratch for whatever application he needs them for.  I am gonna talk to him about the possibility (down the road) of producing in-house boards.  Clearly this is NOT something I just sit down and do myself.  But I would like to have some idea of what it would take, so if I get to the point where I have a company and employees and all that jazz, I can possibly have someone on staff to do it for me.  I want to state for the record that I have NO intention of stealing the hard work of others who have made lightsaber sound and light what it is today.  I would like to work WITH those people when and IF the time comes…….

I also spent some time mulling over the mechanical part of the switch assembly that I have to build.  I have scrapped the single oval plate idea completely.   I actually scrapped the plate idea entirely as well.  I am going to fabricate a control box out of brass that sits up enough to where I don’t have to embed the switches in the aluminum at all.  I will just have to drill holes for the wires.  I will solder a base around the bottom of the control box and the base will be what screws on to the aluminum section.  I have decided to use an emerald cut amethyst for the main switch and a smaller, round Chrome Diopside for the aux switch.

On an entirely different note, I did go to the DMV at long last and get a WI license plate……

A Brief Description of the Last Week:

Major Fabrication is NEARLY complete….

I drilled and bored out the pommel today.  That, surprisingly, went more or less according to plan.  AND, since my package from the Custom Saber Shop arrived today as well, I had the recharge port and the kill key to do a practice install on the pommel after I got the hole to the various widths I need it.  I may still need to widen the outside hole just a bit.  I’m not sure yet.

I also put a call in to the woodworker that’s across the street.  I would like to get a quote on how much a not-too-complicated display box would cost me.  More on that one later…….

Engineering of a Different Sort….

I have spent the last several days working on small scale issues.  Part of that is refining my plan for getting wires to the switch (I am somewhat apprehensive….).  I have also spent some time on the forums gathering EVEN MORE advice and ideas for the challenges that continue to arise.

I did spend some time fashioning a brass oval for the switch assembly.  THAT took THREE tries to get right (or close enough to right for the time being).  I will have to do some final shaping on the oval.  Right now I am trying to wrap my head around the best way to mount the emerald cut amethyst in the brass oval so it moves freely enough to trigger the momentary switch below, but NOT so freely that it goes flying off into the ether, never to be seen again.

I did order a bunch of parts that I needed last week.  The switches and the higher end LED’s came today.  I am pleased to share that one of the professional sabersmiths on the forum offered to walk me through the color mixing process.  She and her husband are know for the purple color they get so that knowledge will be indispensable.

Today I went ahead and cut the bad set of threads off the pommel.  That piece of brass continues to act in a passive aggressive manner.  Glenn brought the radius turner into the shop and I turned a shallow dome on the end of the pommel.  Tomorrow, I expect I will be boring out the inside of the pommel.  In theory, that should be the last bit of major machining that I have to do.

I LOVE it when a plan starts to come together…….

…..apologies to Hannibal Smith.  I have spent 2 days boring out the pieces of the the emitter assembly.  It is finally complete, after having given me fits!  I  was using an inside micrometer (on of Glenn’s MANY tools of unusual and very necessary-ness)  to check the bore diameter.  I was taking light cuts because I was afraid to over do it.  Somehow, a slight inner bulge developed in the outermost brass component.  Luckily, Glenn worked some Gearhead Magic and straightened the bore out.

I drilled and tapped the set screw hole this afternoon and did a fitting on the blade with the LED housing in place.  The blade goes in a full 3 inches inside the hilt, so it should be a very stable platform for moderate dueling, if the future owner (whomever that may be) decides that they want to.  I had Glenn take some pictures of me with the nearly complete hilt.  In a couple of the pictures, the blade looks like it’s glowing but there are NO electronics installed yet.  It is simply reflection of light by the diffusing film that is inside the blade.  The blade I have is 31 inches viewable.  I am thinking I might should get one that is 34 inches viewable.  The one I have just feels too short…….

Bill, Damon, Tammy and I went to the Renne Faire in Bristol this weekend.  We had a good time down there.  Damon bought a rapier and dagger combo.  Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to take my camera OUT OF MY POCKET the whole day, so I have no photos to share of that…….

Third Time is the Charm!

The last piece of brass that needed threads decided to be very, very, VERY uncooperative yesterday.  Luckily we had enough stock to keep at it until we got it done.  We had to cut the set of the threads THREE times!  I was pretty frustrated at that point.  One of the sets of busted threads is still hanging off the back of the pommel-in-progress.

Today I have been boring out the emitter assembly towards it’s final bore of 1 inch.  It is slow going.  I have to take light cuts because of the sheer length that I have to cut on.  I have also been doing more research on the switch issue and the LED that I will be ordering tomorrow.