TOPIC: JChen's Korbanth Graflex 2.0

Jaden Korr wrote:
Haha hopefully you're in the Texas batch! Haha and i saw that update. At first I thought he was joking...but I think he literally did go to Texas over the weekend! I saw a couple of people posting today on the FB pages that they received their hilt today!

jc0522 wrote:
Right. Thank you. I've seen Video Reviews on YT where many of them are activated by the Red Button (below the bunny ears) and the opposing red button was either used as an Aux button or faux (other than for Blade retention.) Wasn't sure if this was standard or not. Agreed & Noted. I haven't seen any (compared to your one you've seen) that use switch box as activation.

If you'd accommodate me a little further, (embarrassingly) for screen accuracy is activation via button or via switch box? Also when purchasing the Graflex Kit 2.0 from Parks (or other stockists) it's obviously an empty hilt with no electronics. Whilst it includes parts for ANH, ESB and Grenade Barrel for ROTJ, if it's assembled for say ESB (like you have done) the other parts (ANH/ROTJ) are just spares. To swap out for ANH (glass eye, graflex grips, switch card) or ROTJ (Grenade Barrel) does complete re-wiring need to occur to accept the change?

Thank you for your time.

OvrcAHst wrote:
I MAY have seen it on the FX Forum or somewhere else. The guy was still in the process of building it, so it's possible it's not on video yet. I believe some people use the front red button as the Aux button because their sound card supports the Aux option. I believe the NBv2 does not.

Screen accuracy...I'm not entirely sure. I believe in the newest one (TFA) Finn was seen using the button below the bunny years. However, I THINK, the ESB was activated via switch box. SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG!

The grenade barrel IS NOT part of a ROTJ build. The grenade actually sits inside the top portion of your hilt. Your heatsink/LED unit goes in there. Your only options are ANH, ESB, TFA. Hope that made sense. If you're looking for an ROTJ hilt...you may want to get SaberForge's Prodigal Son.

And it's my pleasure!

I don't think we specifically see Anakin in ROTS or Luke in ANH and ESB actually press anything to turn the saber on, but supplemental materials (like DK's Visual Dictionaries) confirm the saber is turned on at the activation box, just like all other canon sabers that have one (AOTC Anakin, ROTS and ANH Obi-Wan, ROTJ Luke, and all the Vader variants). The first time I saw the red button used for activation was in TFA, but I was watching a season 4 episode of the Clone Wars recently and it had Anakin use it as well.

Over at another forum I saw a guy who made the switch at the activation box using two of those little test switches that come with the momentary to latching converter board from TCSS. I'm going to see if I can do something similar with my build, though it will probably be a while before I get to that since TCSS is out of most of the stuff I want and I'd prefer to get everything at once. Initially I was thinking of using a SF Artic Blue LED after seeing Shameem's video, but lately I've been playing around with the idea of doing a red one. It'd be like if Anakin had defeated Obi-Wan on Mustafar and replaced the crystal, or if Luke had joined Vader on Bespin, or if .

jc0522 wrote:
Maybe my lack of hands-on crafting skills results with my failure to comprehend but with reference to following taken from Parks website:

EDIT:




EDIT:




I interpret that as an external feature rather a piece that sits inside? Seems like unnecessary machining to anodise black and have silver accents for a piece that isn't revealed. Based on appearance only, apart from the threads on the end, the OD looks identical to the bunny-eared cover preventing a slide-over?

Let's say I am entirely wrong and the Graflex 2.0 Kit is for ANH, ESB & TFA only what does the reference to ROTJ mean and purpose of this part as it's not a visible piece in Eps 4/5 & 7?

Thank you for your patience with having to dumb-it down for me.

Jaden Korr wrote: I suspected as such but without any validation. Makes sense it's via the switch box otherwise it serves no purpose other than aesthetics and relevance to plot Sabers are crafted for function and practicality rather than prettiness with bells & whistles.
I'm not familiar with these switches but I do recall seeing a video (have been tirelessly searching for it again for identity and origins but to no avail) where two small buttons were set on either side of the switch box for activation & aux but not actually from the switch box plate.

Perhaps button activation is the norm with the ESB Graflex..?

Thank you both for sharing and with assisting a bag-o-nuts to understand.

@OvrcAHst, I actually never seen Park's ad, so that's pretty interesting. I guess what he said was true..it IS designed to look like a grenade grip... but yes, it sits internally, and holds the pins, and buttons together. I'll try to get a picture tonight...maybe it'll clear things up.

Hi jc0522,

If this "Grenade Grip" section also holds the LED module (which it looks like it does) the ribs could be designed to help dissipate heat. The greater the surface area (hence the ridges) the greater the efficiency at getting rid of unwanted heat. If this is the case it is a very clever piece of Saber engineering. If it is just aesthetics, then why not? Some Crystal Chamber designs are fantastically detailed but most of the time never seen, then when you open it up for the reveal and see all that detail...Wham it hits you!

I think either way it's a really nice item and I hope you enjoy it and it serves you well!

For Tyeth
MTFBWY

For Tyeth wrote:
Learned something new today! Never thought about the ribbed design as helping heat dissipate! Thanks for the input For Tyeth!

Hi jc0522,

Yeah sometimes when you open up PC computers (yes I am that old I remember PC tower computers LOL!) you can see components that have a copper metal shroud, usually a multi pointed star shape, to channel heat away. The main components that use these are Graphics Cards which run very high temperatures so if you look on them you will see a lot of these crinkled copper Heat Sinks and radiator fins.

Glad you found the info interesting,

For Tyeth

OvrcAHst wrote:
Here's what they look like inside a Graflex clamp:

Looking back the at the forum post I see that he made these a while back for true Graflex replicas (and is selling them for $13 plus shipping). They should fit in the 2.0 kit clamp but without mine in hand I don't know how I'd get the wires inside without drilling into the body (which I could do, but I'd rather not).

Unfortunately I can't seem to find these switches outside of being packed in with the converter. When it comes time to buy all the stuff I need I'll probably just get a bunch of different little tactile switches and see what I can come up with.

Hi all,

I have been trawling through YT videos and found some that show the Graflex ignition sequence from ANH and the Saber appears to be Ignited with the activation box BUT extinguished with the switch near the Bunny Ears!

The first video is not very good quality and is where Luke and Ben Kenobi are on the Falcon.

At 35 secs Luke extinguishes the Saber and you see Luke's thumb lift off the switch at the Bunny Ears.

At 1min 15secs he re-ignites the Saber with the helmet on and if you look closely you can see the Bunny Ears protruding to the LEFT of frame and Luke's hands at the base of the hilt below the Activation Box. Nowhere near the Bunny Ears.

The link to the ANH video by fgrenade is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69NCLxwLEY

The second video is of ESB Luke vs Vader and is slightly better quality.

At 39secs Luke ignites the Saber again with the Activation box and at 3mins 22secs he r-ignites the Saber from his double handed grip near the base of the Saber, below the Activation Box.

The link to this ESB video by Captain America is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-DeI3ohVbY

Finally TFA, in this trailer video Finn has a double handed grip again but it doesn't appear as though he can press the switch at the Bunny Ears, but can press the Activation Box. This happens at 11-12 secs into the video.

The link to the TFA video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh1E-ccxJIk

There are not many clear shots of the Saber being extinguished due to camera angles or characters just dropping the Saber and it extinguishing as it falls.

Nothing definitive but may be of interest,

For Tyeth

I ended up ordering a Graflex/Legacy ASP through the IndieGogo website, I cannot wait to see the comparison between these two sabers. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the Korbanth.

Also, at the time of filming in the originals, due to the editing of the sabers in the movie I don't think Mark Hamil was paying to much attention to where he activates or deactivates the saber. They were just hilts with wood sticks in them. Probably just overlooked at that point. I could be wrong...

jedi case wrote:
Yea!! I saw Phil post it as an announcement. Can't wait till someone gets their hands on both! Would definitely love to see the comparisons.

Finally got my 7/8th blade! I put up my 12W deep blue Vengeance next to the Graflex.

@jc0522

That's beautiful. In my eyes definitely a must have. The Graflex for one and there's an attractive quality about the vengeance also.

jc0522 wrote:
Looks great! Did you get your blade from TCSS? If so, did you get the clear or white tip? My kit just came in today and now I'm getting my parts list ready for when TCSS gets restocked.

OvrcAHst wrote:
Most definitely. Surprisingly the Vengeance actually has more weight compared to the Graflex. I would say the material is definitely more sturdier.

Jaden Korr wrote:
I got mine from Vader's Vault. I went with Trans White shine through tip. I guess a clear tip for TCSS?

Thanks. TCSS's 7/8" blades are trans-white, but only have clear and full white tips. VV's definitely look nicer.

Just wanted to share a video update with you guys! First part shows off the saber and crystal chamber. Second clips shows my custom boot up clip and a custom saber font from saberfont.com (Bespin II by Madcow).