Hales 1

I will not be defeated by Hales 1

I have a hard time accepting defeat by an inanimate object. But Hales 1 as pretty as it is on the outside was a nightmare on the inside. After trying over and over for a month and a half to get the neck off I had to accept that it was not coming off. The bottom plug was the same story, it would not budge. But the bottom plug is not a needed part to build an Obi Wan Kenobi hero lightsaber, and it has to come off to make the Hales actually useable. Ian gave me permission to do whatever it takes to get the bottom plug off. So I tossed it on the drill press and drilled out around the edge, cut connecting remainders with my Dremel tool, and chiseled out the outer edge still attached to the threads. I’m not gonna lie, it was satisfying to do that. We did toss the idea around of doing the same to the neck and finding another neck to replace it, but cooler heads prevailed and we decided against that. All of this time while working through all four Hales restorations it has not sat well with me. I would occasionally pick it up and try to get it free. No luck.

About a Week Ago

We were discussing which combination of frag body, neck and windvane would be the most accurate for building an Obi Wan Lightsaber. It was decided that the frag body of Hales 1 is the best because of the cube profile, but Hales 2 neck and windvane are the best. This got me thinking about how to get that neck off Hales 1 again.

What the problem is

Why this is so hard to get off is because there is not much to get a grip on and apply pressure to remove the neck. I had tried drastic temperature changes, various penetrating lubricants, I broke a few files I was using to get leverage with. None of that worked.

The Solution

I was looking through the box of parts and found the threaded adapter that I use to connect the threaded rod to a bolt that is small enough to fit inside of a real Armitage Shanks Handwheel. It the solution then popped into my head. I could run a bolt through the neck with the head on the inside of the frag body, secure it on the outside with a nut, and a second nut to keep the first from unscrewing. I also decided that a lock washer on the inside would keep the bolt from just spinning. I could then use my impact driver to unscrew it.

It friggin worked!!!!

I did exactly that. It took a couple attempts to get everything tight enough, but it actually worked. BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

frag body
Look at that lack of a neck
Neck 1
No frag body attached
neck 2
Bolt action

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