Initiate V5 Claw Flip

[Brinson]

Just ordered an Initiate V5 in Silver with a Guardian Blue Blade! Fedex truck is out for delivery...about to receive it...so close...

Spending my time looking through mod ideas. I'm thinking of painting the claws on both pommel & emitter steel blue, and then painting the recessed areas white, and weathering the whole thing down. But one idea I ran across struck me as particularly nice...

There is a youtube video where someone pries off the claws and flips them around the other way. The result is that the part of the hilt directly below, which is a concave, becomes an additional finger grip area for spinning. In the video...he very simply pries them up and flips them and presses them in the other way.

Has anyone else tried this? Slightly worried I will damage the saber trying so was curious, but the end result looks really cool and seems like it would be more functional.

Good idea? Bad Idea?

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0gGmW9QLEw

[Karmack]

There are a couple of threads in the customization folder where this has been done.

I did this on my Dominix V5.   I ended up putting them back on the normal way, but I did pull them off so I could paint the grenade-grip area below the claws.   They are held on my pressure pins.  The method I used was to tape off the end of a normal flat-head screw driver with masking tape and then use that to carefully pry the ends up.   Lever them up slowly and carefully, working both ends bit-by-bit.  Keep levering them up from below until you can remove the claw blade with your fingers.

There is a possibility that one or more of the pins will stick in the hilt instead of the claw.   If both stay, no problem, just turn it around and press it back in.  If only one stays (and this happened to me) you can pull it out with a pair of pliers.  If this happens, pull it out and then insert it in the hole you want it to be in and carefully press it back in using a small clamp.

To press the claw back on I used a clamp with rubber padding between the clamp faces and the hilt pieces to protect the finish.

Good luck!   Flipping the claws does make that forward choke accessible for grip, and its a popular modification.   Hope it all goes well for you!

[DarthProdigal]

Just ordered an Initiate V5 in Silver with a Guardian Blue Blade! Fedex truck is out for delivery...about to receive it...so close...

Spending my time looking through mod ideas. I'm thinking of painting the claws on both pommel & emitter steel blue, and then painting the recessed areas white, and weathering the whole thing down. But one idea I ran across struck me as particularly nice...

There is a youtube video where someone pries off the claws and flips them around the other way. The result is that the part of the hilt directly below, which is a concave, becomes an additional finger grip area for spinning. In the video...he very simply pries them up and flips them and presses them in the other way.

Has anyone else tried this? Slightly worried I will damage the saber trying so was curious, but the end result looks really cool and seems like it would be more functional.

Good idea? Bad Idea?

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0gGmW9QLEw

I think it's a great idea! I'll definitely do this if I get one of these "style" lightsabers. It makes so much sense from a functional and comfort standpoint. And I'd take Karmack's advice since they very likely know what they're talking about. That video was also pretty good at explaining/showing things. So I directly embedded a copy of it for you here, instead of the hyperlink format. To do this simply remove the S from h t t p s on the youtube videos. So yeah, I'd say try it out just proceed with caution and care to prep your tools properly and avoid saber damage/scarring. Have fun modifying your lightsaber if you choose to try it out.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0gGmW9QLEw" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0gGmW9QLEw</a>