Ventress FX Saber

[Do-Clo]

I just completed a luxeon conversion on a Ventress FX saber, what a pain it the behind. They use an abnormal amount of epoxy on the screws and other things, if you plan on taking one apart be prepared to drill out some of the screws because of the epoxy on the threads. Plus there is a metal plug in the middle of the hilt that has to be drilled out as it is epoxied in also. I made a blade holder for the saber and had to drill out the emitter piece as it is too small for a standard 1 inch blade. I used a red lux 3 led and made a custom heat sink.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/Do-Clo/3-26-2010002.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/Do-Clo/3-26-2010005.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/Do-Clo/3-26-2010003.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/Do-Clo/3-26-2010006.jpg

[Caine Drathul]

Wow, it sounds like it was a lot of trouble...do you forsee many people wanting this conversion in the future?

I hadn't seen one of these done until now...very cool to see it, Don.

[Jedi-Loreen]

It's nice and bright. Were you able, or did you try, to make the sound any louder?

[Do-Clo]

The way the saber is built not much can be done to improve the sound, I have one more to do in a luxeon conversion and then two with a makoto setup and on those I will rework the pommel to channel the sound out better, maybe even put a bigger speaker in them too.

[sekrogue1985]

finally nice to see one converted. Great job.

[Sidd]

I am interested to see what your custom blade holder looks like.

if its not to much trouble might you be able to snap a few shots of the guns next time?

[jedimastergarcia87]

Nice Ventress conversion. The way the blade turned out in the pics it looks like from the show/games.

[ARKM]

Sounds like it was a pain Don. I do not envy you that task.

[Count Malik]

not a big fan of ventress my self... but this saber looks really nice!8)

[Do-Clo]

Thanks all, the blade holder basically is a tube that fits inside the emitter of the saber, you have to spend a lot time grinding 4 raised ridges off the inside of the emitter to make every thing fit. This is not a task for the faint hearted ;)

[$tarkiller]

Lolness, I bet you're happy to see that thing done! It looks nice and clean too. No scratches or anything. Good work there buddy! One question though. Does the new blade holder interfere with the switch setup at all?

[Do-Clo]

Every thing is in front of the switch area, my cram fu is strong ;)

[mongo]

Very ingenious ,the square tubing gives it a real sithy look,great work.

[Strydur]

I did one of these as well but made a blade holder with cutouts for those raised edges.. I should have just machined out the holder like you did. Mine did not turn out quite as nice as I scratched it up a bit.

[Kal El Rah]

Great work there Do Clo. :p

To bad Tim. :(

[Skottsaber]

Does the soundboard look any different? Seeing as this is a newer saber, I would have thought that it would have been easier to take apart as they start to realise the 'hacker' culture surrounding the Force FX lightsabers.

[Do-Clo]

Even after I had all of the screws drilled out (because of the darn epoxy) the emitter has epoxy holding it on, so you have to break the emitter loose to get it off. I didn't open the plastic holder for the sound board as I was having to use it in it's stock form, I will look at one of the boards out of the pair that is getting the makoto upgrades. The paint finish on these sabers is very easy to scratch. This really could be a cool saber if it was not so hard to convert and the finish was better.

[Darth Xanthus]

Don just finished my pair of them.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/tiga217/Saber%20Projects/th_100_2250.jpg (http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/tiga217/Saber%20Projects/?action=view&current=100_2250.flv)

They look AWESOME!

[Darth_Dadderall]

I think it may have gone just the other way: They may have designed the Ventress with a mind to DISCOURAGE us cutting up their wares. I'm grateful the Dooku isn't this monstrously hard but the funky soundcard font has me bothered.

[Skottsaber]

Yeah... but the easier they are to cut up, the more we buy to cut up... strange.