ROTJ Royal Guard Build AKA Here Goes Nothing!

[Ootini]

Ok well figured since I had the ski poles on hand, lets just how a couple force pikes turn out for the wife and I. Yeah, how hard can it be?!

So a couple of my old ski poles from 20 years back should be a good start...


Off to a good start with the dog supervising no less...


Now for the fun shopping between Lowes, Home Depot, and Home Hardware...


Even lucked out and came up with a means of making the top little bit with the teeth... 20 of these little suckers glued together should do it I think... maybe... I hope




So tomorrow the destruction...err... construction begins on these. Yeah I know I tackled the easy thing first! Hopefully the end of it all will work well

[Ootini]

So the work begins today.... First step prepping the poles! Triple sanding each pole. Later today some gluing and screwing and getting the pommel ready to go and the upper rasp all glued into a single piece. For now...

It begins...



One down one to go...



My suPYRvisor doing quality control...

[Keyla]

Good to see that you've hired such a focused quality assurer!

Really cool approach to the rasp, looking forward to seeing that painted

[V-cell]

Looking good brother! Keep the pics coming!

[Helloprilly]

Sooooo excited!! I have wanted to be a royal guard for YEARS!!

[Ootini]

So after a few days which inlcuded putting together the new bbq... back to work here!

Drilled the holes for the screws in the top of the pommel!



Screwed the two pieces together and set to get pieces put together... minus the fingerprint on it of course!


Female Adapter post inserted and locked in place on the shaft!


Put the pieces together and toss the glued rasp on the top (still not painted or glued in place yet!)


Pommel all pieced together...


Pic of the glued together rasp


And for now the o rings are in place waiting for the heat shrink tubing to go over for the grips...

[Darth Dog]

Maybe you know but I didn't, when you apply the heat to the heat shrink, start at on end and work your way to the other slowly, heating around each O ring before moving to the next. This will allow the tubing to form around each O ring and the ski pole. Otherwise the tubing will not touch the pole between the O rings. Also leave a little extra tubing because it will shrink and come up short if you cut it to the exact length. I trimmed mine after the final O ring. Nice build.

[Ootini]

Had a hunch about that being the case but good to know. Thanks for that Dog! Yeah it's still got some work to do. Need to get some epoxy and fill where the female adapter isn't quite flush where it is sitting and to help lock it firmly in place and add to the screws holding it. Painting and such as well. Also have to work on the cap of it still. It's getting there though and the second one will be a lot better too since I am learning from doing the first one so I will just have the kinks worked out a bit more.

[Ootini]

Ok I've run into a snag and problem here.... need some ideas/input here from people who have done it...

Got the 0 rings on and spaced and good... got the tubing measured and cut. 3/4 inch heat shrink tubing biggest I can get ahold of. Problem I am having is when sliding it on it moves all the o rings and messes them all up. It's just that it's too damn snug going on.

How the heck do I get around this? Slice the tubing lengthwise and hope it seals back together right?!?!

Any ideas/advice gang??

[Darth Dog]

It won't reattach if you split it. I bought some 1" heat shrink off Amazon.