Welcome to SABER-INSTRUCTIONAL-VIDEOS: Tutorial

Turn Grinder Into Sander

GRINDER MUST BE UNPLUGGED during this procedure!

Make sure grinder is unplugged. Remove retaining rings and safety guard. Place grinder into vise up to neck and tighten to a firm grip. The grinder should barely move from this point. With one hook, wrap bungee cord around power switch and use the other hook to attach to swivel lock. Vise should be locked into position so it won’t swivel.

Screw 5/8” threaded rod coupling all the way onto grinder shaft, do not tighten. Take two 5/8” nuts and place on one end of threaded rod. Butt together and tighten. Take remaining nut and thread onto other end of rod. Then thread rod into coupling. Take nut and tighten up against coupler. Cut 12” off 1” PVC pipe and “sleeve” over nuts on threaded rod assembly. If this is difficult, use a hammer to bang PVC pipe onto treaded rod assembly. Use a piece of wood to cushion impact blows onto PVC pipe, this will help prevent damage on your pipe.

Bang pipe down to 5/8” nut against coupler. Do not go farther than that. Cut off up to 1.5” of your PVC pipe where you banged it onto your threaded rod assembly. This will ensure that there is no frayed or cracked edges. Replace this assembly back onto grinder and tighten. Pretest your 1.25” PVC pipe over your new assembly, there will be a gap that will have to filled. Wrap scotch tape around your 1” PVC pipe to fill this gap at the ends and the middle. Place your 1.25” PVC pipe over where your taping to ensure a snug fit, do not make it too tight or it won’t come off.

Sanding

THE EASY WAY! Your 1.25” PVC pipe will have to fit inside your 1.5” EMT pipe and sanding is required. I WOULD REQUIRE to cut ten 12” lengths of 1.25” PVC pipe and have them machined down, at your local machinist, to the inside diameter of your 1.5” EMT pipe. Your machined PVC pipe should slide fairly easy in and out of your EMT pipe. This will save you from a headache later, trust me.

THE HARD WAY, THIS PROCESS CAN TAKE SEVERAL HOURS OR A FEW DAYS TO DO. If you do decide to sand your 1.25” PVC pipe, use coarse sandpaper from a floor sander. I WOULD REQUIRE to do this outside since it will be VERY MESSY and FRESH AIR would be good too. Follow the video on how to sand / polish your EMT pipe. Use the course sandpaper, while you adjust the speed on your grinder, go back and forth on you PVC pipe to sand it down.

The friction between the PVC pipe and sandpaper will cause the PVC pipe to warp if sanded too long. Take breaks every so often so the pipe can cool down, I would allow 30 minutes or so for cooling depending on weather.

Sanding / Polishing EMT pipe

1. Cut 12” off your 1.5” EMT pipe, make sure one edge is even and bur free.

2. Place EMT pipe over 1.25” PVC pipe. It should stay in place without taping.

3. Use a dimmer switch to control the speed of your grinder. Electrical knowledge will be required to wire up a dimmer switch for voltage regulation to your grinder.

4. MAKE SURE YOUR DIMMER SWITCH IS IN THE “OFF” POSITION BEFORE PROCEEDING! Take the plug end of your dimmer switch assembly and plug it into an electrical outlet. To make sure your dimmer switch is off, plug a lamp (with an incandescent bulb) in the “outlet” part of your dimmer switch assembly to see if power is present. Slide dimmer switch on to see operation of light.

TURN DIMMER SWITCH OFF. SEE SECOND VIDEO FOR GRINDER OPERATION WITH DIMMER SWITCH.

5. Take your 100 grit sand paper, cut it in half and fold over EMT pipe. Grasp both edges of the sandpaper with your thumb and index finger, gently pull sandpaper downward. With your dimmer switch by your side, SLOWLY turn on your dimmer switch, WITH YOUR THUMB, and increase speed. Once optimal speed (not rapid speed) has been achieved, keep ONLY your index finger on your dimmer switch to turn it off. Move sandpaper back and forth on EMT pipe to “polish” it.

(CAUTION: THE SANDPAPER MAY SLIP FROM YOUR FINGERS. IF IT GOES, DO NOT TRY TO SAVE IT. TURN OFF YOUR GRINDER AND TRY AGAIN.)

6. I sanded my EMT pipe for 15 – 20 seconds. Stop grinder after this time to see the polishing effect. There will be some natural imperfections in your EMT pipe that will not come out.

Lightsaber assembly (Steps 1-7)

1. Cut out Qui Gon pattern leaving only the black handle pattern left to be taped onto your polished EMT pipe.

2. Make sure one end of your EMT pipe is completely flat. Start taping your handle pattern from the flat end up. Tape every corner and edge to pipe.

3. Use your Dremel tool with flex shaft, trust me it helps out great, and re-enforced cut off wheels to cut out your handle pattern. Make sure you have a really firm grip on your flex shaft, you don’t want it to run across your handle.

4. To make the rounded edges in the back, bottom and by the push button area: Make parallel cuts in the rounded portion, up to but not touching the black handle pattern, and use the cutting wheel to round out / sculpt the rounded areas. Do not use Dremel stones to make these rounded edges, it’s a waste of time.

5. If there is any tape residue left on handle, remove it by using alcohol or paint thinner.

6. To get rid of any sharp edges, you can use Dremel stones to remove these edges. Take great care in finishing your edges by not letting your stone run onto your handle.

7. Wipe down your handle so its dirt / oil free and give it a nice coat of paint, I used Rustoleum Metallic color on mine. I would not recommend to use a clear coat on bare EMT pipe cause it will rust in time. I would not use silver paint because it didn’t set right.

VIDEO 2

Lightsaber assembly (Steps 14-29)

14. If you decide to have a lightsaber blade in this saber, make sure that it fits inside your 1” PVC pipe. If PVC pipe is not wide enough for your blade, I would recommend to have it machined out to the proper inside diameter. Make sure it’s a snug fit. If it’s smaller, make up some spacers from PVC pipe, sand if necessary.

15. Cut 10” off your 1” PVC pipe, this will be the upper section of your saber and blade mounting. Make sure one end is flat. Place a 1.25” slip joint washer onto your 1”PVC pipe and measure ½” from the finished flat end to the bottom of your slip joint washer.

16. Initially measure and cut off ¼” from one of your escutcheon’s. Once cut, it should fit over your PVC pipe. You will have to continue cutting / trimming your escutcheon so it will have a snug fit over your slip joint washer.

17. Once a snug fit, measure and cut 3/8” from the cut end of the escutcheon.

18. Reinstall your cut escutcheon, now your emitter ring, onto towards the bottom of your slip joint washer. The 1” PVC pipe should petrude slightly higher than the emitter ring. Once your slip joint washer is even along with your emitter ring, fill the gap in on top with epoxy. Make sure that it does not flow over into the PVC pipe or over the emitter ring. Let the epoxy cure.

19. Install 2 more slip joint washers from the opposite end and bring up to the emitter ring. Place one slip joint washer just underneath, about 1/16” gap, the emitter ring. The other will have a 1/8” gap. Use another slip joint washer as a spacing tool for slip joint washer spacing.

20. Cut off ½” from 1.25” PVC coupler.

21. Cut off 1” from 1” PVC coupler. This piece should not have retaining ring inside it.

22. There is a retaining ring inside 1.25” PVC coupler. Sand this down with your Dremel tool but do not sand all the way. Periodically place your cut 1” PVC coupler, inside 1.25” coupler to ensure a snug fit.

23. Hand sand the inside of your 1.25” PVC coupler and sand the outside of your 1” PVC coupler. Use your plastic friendly glue / epoxy and apply a liberal amount to the inside of 1.25” coupler and outside of 1” coupler. Place 1” coupler inside 1.25” coupler and while inserting, twist couplers for even distribution of glue. Both coupler ends should be flush together. Let dry / cure.

24. Take your disc sanding plane and angel the work surface to 30 degrees. Take the flush end of your couplers and sand down to this angle.

25. From the aft edge of the 30 degree angle, measure ½” down and cut off with hacksaw. Sand down to 7/16”. This is your new coupler assembly.

26. Bring your coupler assembly up to your slip joint washers leaving a 1/8” gap from the bottom of your second slip joint washer to the top of your coupler assembly. Make some marks right on top and bottom of your coupler assembly where they meet the 1” PVC pipe. Pull your coupler assembly down below these marks and apply plastic glue / epoxy in this area (NOT TOO MUCH) and replace to proper markings.

27. Take your second escutcheon and measure 3/16” from the bottom and cut off with your Dremel tool. Try and place it onto your 1” PVC pipe. Won’t fit? Trim your cut edge so there is a fairly snug fit onto your pipe.

28. Bring your escutcheon up to your coupler assembly. You have to cut and trim the wide part off so the escutcheon will fit right onto the edges of the coupler assembly.

29. Once everything fits well, sand the inside of your escutcheon and apply a liberal amount of epoxy to the sanded area. Immediately place escutcheon over 1” PVC pipe onto the edges of the coupler assembly. Leave upside down so epoxy can run down onto flat side of coupler assembly.

VIDEO 4

Lightsaber assembly (Steps 30-42)

30. Cut ½” off of your remaining 1” PVC coupler and sand down to 7/16”. Sand the other end with a 45 degree angle.

31. Glue this piece, with 45 degree end facing upward, directly underneath escutcheon coupler assembly. Let glue dry / cure.

32. Take your remaining 6 slip joint washers and place them underneath your 1” PVC coupler. Starting from coupler, they all will have a 1/8” gap in between each other. If you have any other slip joint washers available, use it as a spacer.

33. Take your PVC grip pattern (the one you cut with table saw) and measure 7.25” from the bottom up and cut off with hacksaw, sand and trim edge if needed.

34. We will now start to make a recessed section for your pushbutton. Reinstall your grip pattern into your metal handle. Make sure the bottoms of your EMT and PVC pipes are flush together and your grips are center within your metal handle. Where the metal handle comes together towards the top, make a center mark on your PVC pipe right above your last cut section.

35. Use your 1” belt sander to make this recessed section. Since the belt is 1” wide, it gives us the right sanding section for our button. Place your grip pattern up by your sander with the center mark by the belt. Take the right side edge of the belt and place it closely, not touching, to the first rib of your grip pattern. DOUBLE CHECK! Make sure the belt is by your center mark and turn on sander. GENTLY push grip pattern to the belt to make a 1/8” recessed sanded area. NOTE: CONSTANTLY CHECK YOUR SANDING TO MAKE SURE IT’S CENTER AND EVEN! Reinstall your grip pattern and see how it looks.

36. Take your top end of saber and place it into your grip pattern. Keep a 1/8” gap between your bottom slip joint washer and your grip pattern. Take a measurement from the top of your emitter ring to the bottom of your sanded recessed area for your button, (mine is 5.75”, yours may be different) then deduct ¼”. I know I said mine is electronic, but this will go for any model that you make.

37. Remove the top section of your saber and transfer this measurement onto your PVC pipe. REMEMBER………..START FROM THE EMITTER RING THEN MEASURE DOWN. THIS MEASUREMENT WILL BE ON YOUR 1” PVC PIPE BELOW YOUR SLIP JOINT WASHERS. Once measured properly, cut off this section with a hacksaw and sand the cut end if needed. When you later reinstall the upper section of your saber into your grip pattern, you should still have a 1/8” gap between your last slip joint washer and the top of your grip pattern. And your 1” PVC pipe should be ¼” above the top rib of your grip pattern.

38. When we install the top section of your saber and the grip pattern together, we will need to take up any gaps that are present. You will be using the long pipe in your S-TRAP FOR LAVATORY, everything else is not used. Cut off a 5 5/8” long piece and a 1” piece. Sand the entire upper inside section of your grip pattern. On your 1” piece, cut off a 3/16” - ¼” piece, sand both sides and glue to the inside top of your grip pattern, opposite of the sanded recessed area. Make sure this piece follows the contour of the PVC pipe before gluing. Once glue has dried / cured, trial fit top end of saber to the inside of grip pattern. This should be a snug fit. If it’s too tight, sanding will be required.

39. Once a snug fit has been achieved, glue the top end of your saber together with your grip pattern. If you have any imperfections on the top section of your saber, place them to the back. Let glue dry / cure.

40. Once the glue has cured, we will now work on the internal cover for the grip pattern. Take your 5 5/8” long S-TRAP FOR LAVATORY piece and cut a slit from top to bottom. Take this piece and slip it over the remaining pipe that you cut it from. This will give you the perfect gap to place it inside the handle. Find a heat source so the plastic can expand to size. Rotate the pipe so your internal cover will expand evenly. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN THIS PIECE. Allow to cool for 30 seconds.

41. To glue this cover to the inside of our handle, first trial fit the cover inside your Qui Gon saber. Now when you first glued the upper section of your saber to the handle area, glue was pushed downward toward the grip pattern, this will create a glue bead where your internal cover will have to meet up by your pushbutton area. If you notice any gaps where the internal cover is up by the pushbutton area, you will have to look inside on where the glue bead is, estimate how big it is and transfer that measurement to your cover. Use your Dremel tool to trim this area but lightly trim it as to not mess up your cover. Trial fit the cover every so often to see how it measures up inside the grip pattern.

42. Once the internal cover fits perfectly inside, lightly sand the cover with sandpaper. Mix up some epoxy and use a long stick to place the epoxy mixture up under and around the pushbutton area inside the saber, then insert cover. Then place some epoxy on the aft side of the cover to hold it in place. Allow to cure.

VIDEO 5

Lightsaber assembly (Steps 43-49)

43. To make the hole for our pushbutton, find the center of your pushbutton area and mark with an “X”. Pre-drill a small hole first and work your way up to 7/16” drill bit. TIP: Once you work your way up larger drill bits, they will want to “spiral” into the PVC. Reverse your drill to back the bit out and continue drilling in reverse so you won’t damage your saber. You can see this in the last segment of me drilling into the saber.

44. Since the pushbutton threads is slightly larger than 7/16” you may have to “ream” out your hole so the pushbutton can fit snugly inside of the saber.

45. To make the end cap for your saber: If you come across an end cap that is flat, not round, omit this step and continue to step 48. Take the other half of your coupling, assuming there is no bubbles or imperfections and cut off 5\8” and sand the cut area.

46. Cut a 1” section off of your 1” PVC pipe and sand the inside of pipe.

47. Insert the 1” PVC cut piece inside the coupling piece. Let the 1” pipe stay 3/16” away from the end of the coupling. Lay out some wax paper place it coupling end down. Mix some epoxy and fill the inside of the end cap until the glue covers almost half of the 1” PVC pipe. Let epoxy cure. Once cured sand the edges of the coupling piece to a slightly round edge. Continue to step 49.

48. If you came across a flat end cap, measure 5/8” from the closed end, cut and sand the edge to a flat finish. Measure and cut 1 ¼” from your 1” PVC pipe and glue into coupler.

49. For me, I already installed my LED housing into my saber so I won’t mess up my paint job later. I stuffed tissue paper inside so I won’t mess up the LED. Sand any “shiny” parts of your saber except your emitter ring. Clean up your saber by making sure there is no dust, dirt, oil, PVC shaving etc and tape up your emitter ring. Give your saber a nice coat of gloss black and make sure you get under all of the ribbings of the handle area and upper emitter section. Multiple coats might be good. I also gave two coats of clear for protection.

VIDEO 6

Lightsaber assembly (Steps 50-54)

50. Once paint has dried, in the upper emitter section, paint the epoxy silver. Once that has dried, remove the tape from the emitter ring. If there is any paint on the emitter ring, moisten up a Q-tip with paint thinner to remove any paint that has made its way onto ring.

51. To secure your blade into the saber, on the opposite end of the pushbutton up on the upper emitter section (actually on the 1 ¼” PVC coupling) drill and tap and 8-32 hole. For my application, I found that an 8-32 X ½” long cap screw works well. Paint the screw black so it blends in with the saber.

52. A #6 X ½” long pan head sheet metal screw will be used to secure the metal handle to the hilt. To mount the metal handle to the hilt, first drill a 1/16” hole from the inside of the handle in between the two bottom oblong holes. Then insert the painted hilt section into the metal handle, make sure it’s even when inserted (ex, bottoms are flush, pushbutton is centered). Once the hilt is seated properly, drill a hole through the PVC section via the hole in the metal handle. You can use a larger drill bit if desired but do not go larger than the #6 screw. If you have a Covertec Clip, install it with the #6 screw, if you don’t just screw the handle to the hilt. NOTE: If your paint job does become scratched while inserting it into the metal handle, you can repaint it with the metal handle in place. Just tape up the metal handle, pushbutton and emitter ring and repaint.

53. For your end cap, use electrical tape to friction fit it into the aft end of your saber. You will not use screws as it will look unsightly.

54. Install batteries and test. This saber will only be good for as a display or light dueling only. Take your time building this, think before you cut, use safety precautions and may the force be with you.

VIDEO 7

ESCUTCHEON	LM-317	EPOXY	PATTERN	SCHEMATICS