The Force is strong with you young Skywalker, but you are not a model yet.
- Thread starter Cybergrinder
- Start date
- Apr 5, 2013
- 13,499
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I get the wire from old telephone wire that either I find at the transfer station, or from phones cables that people throw out. To be honest, I re-purpose so much, I rarely see the need to buy anything that is considered "stock". It's all there for the grabbing. Ripping apart old computers will get you excellent quality wire. If it's electronic, there's probably wire, and connectors, that you can reuse. 
LOL, I do that, much to my wife's frustration I particularly wanted to run off a USB cable for Vader and had one handy from a burnt out desk fan.
I particularly wanted to run off a USB cable for Vader and had one handy from a burnt out desk fan.
- Apr 5, 2013
- 13,499
- 9,551
- 228
That is not only the way to make things for nothing, but by taking the wire, using USB and the Header pins, and making everything plug in, you end up with a retail looking finished product, and for all intents and purposes, it is.
When I had my TV repair shop, and this was when Sony Trinitron XBR were $2000 dollars, I was the best person in the area for fixing them. Sony wanted to make me their authorized repair Center, as did RCA. I told them both the same thing, "I fix your ill manufactured TV's for a price that is triple what you would pay me. I am the only person in a 5 town radius who even fixes TV's and get your business anyways. Sell me part's at wholesale, and I will continue, if not, then I will raise the price and post these letters in my store". They both authorized me to get parts, service books, and other items only dealers could have, but I would not fix TV's under warranty under their ridiculous price. I got $185 per T.V, a flat rate, parts extra.
I would charge a $25 dollar diagnostic fee that went towards the repair price. If they person decided they did not want the T.V., I would dispose of it for them. I ended up with piles per perfectly fine components. All my customers knew, because I told them, I can save you hundreds by you letting me use the used parts I have reconditioned. I never had a person turn me down. On average, it took me 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to fix a T.V. I already knew what was wrong from the bulletins.
RCA had one TV where they took a hole drill, drilled a 2" diameter hole in the circuit board, and jumped the hole with wires, and sent this out as a finished product. To be honest, it worked. Sony used a crappy solder, so their T.V.'s involved removing the tuner, re-soldering it, the V.I.R., and the I.R. if the person waited too long, they had to purchase a new Tuner. I would tell them, I will give you a used Tuner that I salvaged and warranty it for 30 days, only money back, if I have another, I put it in but it still is only 30 days. Everyone gobbled it up. I never had a Sony TV returned to me. My business got to big , my son was born, so I closed shop, and worked out of my home with my preferred client list of around 500 people.
I had a guy that had a 13 bedroom mansion, and asked if I could repair the electronics in each bedroom, he wanted me to come to his house. I told him house calls were $95 dollars an hour, because I had to close shop. He said "No problem". A lightning bolt had hit the transformer off of his house and blow his breaker board off the wall, everything, and I mean everything was fried beyond repair. When I told him this, I said your house insurance will pay for it. He asked if I could fix one thing. It was a Sony TV I had never seen before, and never have seen since. It had a 10 inch screen, and was around 20" inches long. The picture tube had pixels so fine, it looked like a moving photograph. When I contacted Sony, they were immediate in their response, and I had new circuit boards sent express. That little T.V. cost over $3000 dollars, even by today's standard, that TV is awesome. It was an international model, had Scart, RF, and VGA, Video and stereo audio out plugs in it. That means if he still has it he could hook it up to a computer. He became one of my best customers and I fixed some of his Bang and Olufsen stereo's just just needed some TLC. He referred so many people to me.
The best customers were the Audiophiles. They wanted their amp fixed, they did not want a new one, they wanted they one they had, some were very expensive Macintosh Tube amps, L.L. Scott , etc and these guys paid through the nose. These were involved repairs as the tubes were fragile and could not be touched with bare fingers as the oil on your hand would create a hot spot and make the tube go bad. I never had one complain about price. They picked up these amps and receivers like they were babies. I have a collection of Tube amps. I was offered $5000 dollars for the LL. Scott LC290 amp, which is the only amp the Scott museum does not have. I have the matching pre-amp and FM tuner, All Gold Anodized, with the original manuals. I used to run the 5" foot by 2.5" feet electrostatic speakers I built off of it because if could handle the capacitive feedback from the speakers, which 99% of today's amps cannot, without extra boxes that deteriorate the transparency of the speakers. I make my own speakers, re-cone vintage speakers, I have a pair of Wharfdale speakers waiting my attention,.. They are extremely valuable, have an 18" woofer, one mid range speaker, to different range tweeters, and a plate that allows you to aim the two midrange speakers and, and tweeters in whatever direction pleases you. I have never seen speakers like this, they weigh around 70 lbs. a piece. All the surround foam and core dust cap centers are still available. These speakers are from 1969. I have had ridiculous offers for them in their present state, but I am a hoarder with certain types of electronics. I paid $15 dollars a piece for them. It was a house moving sale. The price said $50 each, when I exclaimed the price in astonishment, the owner misread me then dropped the price to $15 a piece if I would take them immediately. They were in my station wagon within 10 minutes (they weighed a lot and are huge).
Get what you can get for free, it's all out there for the picking, and if you learn some basic electronics, you can own a $10,000 dollar systems for an investment of $100's of dollars. I thought about making a post on how to make 1/4 wave Tube speakers but do not think anyone would be interested. I intend to pass this stuff onto my son, with all the vintage stuff I have. I grabbed pics off the net as my equipment is in storage, as to not be disturbed. The LC290 amp is called a laboratory amplifier as it's range is 10 Hz. to 26K Hz. If not careful, they will blow any speaker made.
Wharfdale Variflex (these can be placed on their sides, put end to end and used as a console set up:
Whardale Vari-flex:
L.L.Scott LC290 amp:
FM Tuner Tuner:
H.H. Scott Pre-amp::
When I had my TV repair shop, and this was when Sony Trinitron XBR were $2000 dollars, I was the best person in the area for fixing them. Sony wanted to make me their authorized repair Center, as did RCA. I told them both the same thing, "I fix your ill manufactured TV's for a price that is triple what you would pay me. I am the only person in a 5 town radius who even fixes TV's and get your business anyways. Sell me part's at wholesale, and I will continue, if not, then I will raise the price and post these letters in my store". They both authorized me to get parts, service books, and other items only dealers could have, but I would not fix TV's under warranty under their ridiculous price. I got $185 per T.V, a flat rate, parts extra.
I would charge a $25 dollar diagnostic fee that went towards the repair price. If they person decided they did not want the T.V., I would dispose of it for them. I ended up with piles per perfectly fine components. All my customers knew, because I told them, I can save you hundreds by you letting me use the used parts I have reconditioned. I never had a person turn me down. On average, it took me 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to fix a T.V. I already knew what was wrong from the bulletins.
RCA had one TV where they took a hole drill, drilled a 2" diameter hole in the circuit board, and jumped the hole with wires, and sent this out as a finished product. To be honest, it worked. Sony used a crappy solder, so their T.V.'s involved removing the tuner, re-soldering it, the V.I.R., and the I.R. if the person waited too long, they had to purchase a new Tuner. I would tell them, I will give you a used Tuner that I salvaged and warranty it for 30 days, only money back, if I have another, I put it in but it still is only 30 days. Everyone gobbled it up. I never had a Sony TV returned to me. My business got to big , my son was born, so I closed shop, and worked out of my home with my preferred client list of around 500 people.
I had a guy that had a 13 bedroom mansion, and asked if I could repair the electronics in each bedroom, he wanted me to come to his house. I told him house calls were $95 dollars an hour, because I had to close shop. He said "No problem". A lightning bolt had hit the transformer off of his house and blow his breaker board off the wall, everything, and I mean everything was fried beyond repair. When I told him this, I said your house insurance will pay for it. He asked if I could fix one thing. It was a Sony TV I had never seen before, and never have seen since. It had a 10 inch screen, and was around 20" inches long. The picture tube had pixels so fine, it looked like a moving photograph. When I contacted Sony, they were immediate in their response, and I had new circuit boards sent express. That little T.V. cost over $3000 dollars, even by today's standard, that TV is awesome. It was an international model, had Scart, RF, and VGA, Video and stereo audio out plugs in it. That means if he still has it he could hook it up to a computer. He became one of my best customers and I fixed some of his Bang and Olufsen stereo's just just needed some TLC. He referred so many people to me.
The best customers were the Audiophiles. They wanted their amp fixed, they did not want a new one, they wanted they one they had, some were very expensive Macintosh Tube amps, L.L. Scott , etc and these guys paid through the nose. These were involved repairs as the tubes were fragile and could not be touched with bare fingers as the oil on your hand would create a hot spot and make the tube go bad. I never had one complain about price. They picked up these amps and receivers like they were babies. I have a collection of Tube amps. I was offered $5000 dollars for the LL. Scott LC290 amp, which is the only amp the Scott museum does not have. I have the matching pre-amp and FM tuner, All Gold Anodized, with the original manuals. I used to run the 5" foot by 2.5" feet electrostatic speakers I built off of it because if could handle the capacitive feedback from the speakers, which 99% of today's amps cannot, without extra boxes that deteriorate the transparency of the speakers. I make my own speakers, re-cone vintage speakers, I have a pair of Wharfdale speakers waiting my attention,.. They are extremely valuable, have an 18" woofer, one mid range speaker, to different range tweeters, and a plate that allows you to aim the two midrange speakers and, and tweeters in whatever direction pleases you. I have never seen speakers like this, they weigh around 70 lbs. a piece. All the surround foam and core dust cap centers are still available. These speakers are from 1969. I have had ridiculous offers for them in their present state, but I am a hoarder with certain types of electronics. I paid $15 dollars a piece for them. It was a house moving sale. The price said $50 each, when I exclaimed the price in astonishment, the owner misread me then dropped the price to $15 a piece if I would take them immediately. They were in my station wagon within 10 minutes (they weighed a lot and are huge).
Get what you can get for free, it's all out there for the picking, and if you learn some basic electronics, you can own a $10,000 dollar systems for an investment of $100's of dollars. I thought about making a post on how to make 1/4 wave Tube speakers but do not think anyone would be interested. I intend to pass this stuff onto my son, with all the vintage stuff I have. I grabbed pics off the net as my equipment is in storage, as to not be disturbed. The LC290 amp is called a laboratory amplifier as it's range is 10 Hz. to 26K Hz. If not careful, they will blow any speaker made.
Wharfdale Variflex (these can be placed on their sides, put end to end and used as a console set up:
Whardale Vari-flex:
L.L.Scott LC290 amp:
FM Tuner Tuner:
H.H. Scott Pre-amp::
Last edited:
I worked on the legs last night, here's the lower leg components before assembly
And then glued together
And completed!
Going to get the stand sorted before I do the cape
And then glued together
And completed!
Going to get the stand sorted before I do the cape
Last edited:
- Apr 5, 2013
- 13,499
- 9,551
- 228
"Rise Lord Vader!"
And long shutter speed shot
And long shutter speed shot
Really clean work - I like it. Perfect with the flashing glowing sword. Congratulations.
- Apr 5, 2013
- 13,499
- 9,551
- 228
I don't know why, but it looks like his should have a Codpiece. You could always stick a Cashew in there! Looks fantastic!! 
Looks fantastic!!
- Apr 5, 2013
- 13,499
- 9,551
- 228
"Rise Lord Vader!"
View attachment 161501 View attachment 161502 View attachment 161503 View attachment 161504
And long shutter speed shot
View attachment 161505
Love the lightsaber effect!
rinks: Nice clean lines for the rest of the model!:Bravo: Great job!thumbsupSky Seeker
:tank:
I finished off the cape, really just "cut & paste", I did have to use superglue to get the cape to stay on his shoulders though
C3PO - "Artoo, We're doomed!"
C3PO - "Artoo, We're doomed!"
Wonderful. Very clean build and great special effect(s). :Bravo:
Also like R2D2 and C3Po which can be seen in the background.
Also like R2D2 and C3Po which can be seen in the background.
Wow!!
:Bravo: Awesome model. :King: Great Sith Lord!:fight:The lightsaber really sets it over the top!
:Bravo::Bravo::Bravo:rinks:rinks:
Thanks for sharing!
Sky Seeker
:tank: