ARKM's "The Tactical" Build (SaberSD board w/ illuminated AV switch)

[ARKM]

This is my first build log. That said...

I decided I wanted to build a theme based saber. I've always like the look of a tactical assault rifle so I decided to see if I could incorporate that into a saber design. I call this saber "The Tactical".

This saber will utilize a SaberSD sound board (with an assault rifle font that I still need to create), two 3.7 Li-ion AA size batteries, a Lux III Amber or a P4 White (with filters) and both driver boards from TCSS, if I can make them fit. If I can't make the two driver boards fit, I will go with a direct drive buckpuck. The on/off switch will be a DPDT lighted anti-vandal (ring style) that will mounted near the top of the bottom half part of the hilt. I intend to have a full chassis in this hilt (if possible) with the LED and heatsink mounted on the top end.

While designing the saber, I decided I wanted to do more than just go for the "look" of a tactical assault rifle. I wanted the saber to resemble a tactical assault rifle in other ways, ways that most would consider to be gimmicks. I know many frown on gimmicks, I'm just not one of them. I think some gimmicks can be quite cool, even if in a impractical fashion. That said, after I came up with what gimmicks I wanted, I now sometimes affectionately refer to this saber as "The Impractical Tactical".

I decided on two main things for making it function in ways that are similar to a tactical assault rifle. The first is that the top half of the saber will have mini Weaver/Picatinny rails (I call them ARKM rails) for mounting a laser sight and flashlight to (maybe a fake dot-scope as well). The second is that the rear half of the handle will be able to telescope and latch in different positions, much like a collapsible rifle stock does. I realized that this would be a challenge and maybe not doable at all but that's what makes it fun to build. :D

Right now the only blueprint I have of the entire saber is a half scale rough draft which is missing a lot of the detail work. I will be making a full scale, detailed blueprint soon. Here's a pic...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-RoughDraft.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-RoughDraft.jpg)

The blade holder is designed to resemble a flash suppressor mounted to a gun barrel. It will utilize 3/4" OD blades. The six slots on the blade holder will be made using a 20 degree tapered end mill to help it further resemble a real flash supressor.

The front half of the hilt will be roughly 1-1/32" ID and 1-5/16" OD and have four "ARKM" rails that can allow accessories to be mounted to them. These rails will countersink into the hilt by about 1/32" and will be removable. Here's a rough draft of the front/back of the front half of the hilt with two of the four rails attached...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-FrontViewofFrontHalf-Ro.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-FrontViewofFrontHalf-Ro.jpg)

On to the rear half of the hilt... the telescoping part will basically be a tube that slides over another tube. The inner metal tube of the rear half of the hilt is attached to the front half of the hilt via JB-Weld. The front half of the hilt will counter sink into the bottom half's inner tube by at least 3/4". For the rear part of the hilt, the inner tube will have an ID of 1-1/4" and an OD of 1-3/8". The outer tube will have an ID of 1-3/8" and an OD of 1-9/16. There will be three grooves, 1/32" deep on the inner tube and three screws on the outer tube that ride in those grooves. This will prevent the outer piece from twisting/rotating on the inner piece. There will also be screws that can be tightened to help secure the outer tube in it's various positions. However, those screws are really only meant to be tightened for spinning/dueling, not for normal presentation.

Anywho, after I figured that part out, I needed to come up with a way to have the outer tube latch into different positions when extending/retracting it. I designed a pivoting lever based system for doing this but was not happy with the size of it nor that fact that tension pins would need to be removed if it ever needed to be disassembled. Here is a rough draft drawing of that "release box"...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBoxPrototype.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBoxPrototype.jpg)

I decided I wanted to go smaller if possible but also realized that it would involve a more complicated build. I drew up some plans for a smaller release box. The dimensions of the new release box are 2" long with tabs, 1.5" long without tabs, 3/8" wide by 11/32" tall.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBox-01.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBox-01.jpg)

I wanted to start by making the hardest part of the hilt first so I started with the release box. I did not know if I could machine something like this, especially as small as it is, nor did I know if it would work when finished but it looked good on paper so I gave it a go. It was a pain to make at times but fortunately for me, the finished device works. It has two moving parts, each using it's own spring. The main sliding lever's spring is a bit too weak to fully extend over the other moving part as it has to fight that part's spring to push it all the way down but it still works adequately. I may redesign the lever part to utilize a smaller OD spring that is more powerful than the one being used now. I drilled a hole on one end of the top cover part of the release box and JB-welded a small, short, round machined rod for one end of the spring to mount to, to make installation easier. Pics and a video of the release box in action are below. The video will demonstrate how it actually works.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBox-02.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBox-02.jpg)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBox-03.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBox-03.jpg)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBox-04.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBox-04.jpg)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheTactical-ReleaseBox-05.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-ReleaseBox-05.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvzLl7KDVQ

That's all I have for now. Again the blueprint of the hilt is very much unfinished. Much of the detail work is missing. I will post more pics and info as I progress on the build. Thanks for reading.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

This sounds cool, i say hey...if you want a gimmick on your saber well... You are the Smith and its YOUR saber.. so go for it ;) I am excited to see how this progresses!

[cardcollector]

Woah, I'll be watching this thread's future with great intrest...

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I will be watching this thread too. Awesome work so far. Something like that would be perfect for a sonic screwdriver, but you would have to make it a lot smaller. lol

[DJMoonbass]

dude this thing is SICK!!!! wow you are quite the engineer man!!! this is absolutely amazing. i cant wait to see what else you do. this is going to be a top level saber when done i can tell.

[ARKM]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. :)


I will be watching this thread too. Awesome work so far. Something like that would be perfect for a sonic screwdriver, but you would have to make it a lot smaller. lol

Smaller? You want me to make it smaller? *smacks Wade across the back of the head ala Gibbs from NCIS* ;)

[Sidd]

If its going to be a tactical saber you have to have the rediculously bright tactical light, a awesome green laser sight, and toss on one of those eurgonomic vertical grips with some rail covers lol.

actually what you need to do is make a mount so you can mount it on some regular weaver rails and use it as a bayonet :).

cool build idea.

just dont let it turn into one of these

http://www.brassfetcher.com/images/tacticoolAR15.jpg

[ARKM]

Lol, awesome pic. I was thinking about doing the vertical grip thing (in addition to the accessories I have already mentioned).

[Borax]

that is very impressive building skills my man!

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Very cool project ARKM!

[DJMoonbass]

just dont let it turn into one of these

http://www.brassfetcher.com/images/tacticoolAR15.jpg


OMG THATS SO FAIL!!!!! HAHAHAHAH total ROFLMAO!!!! hahahha. wow that made my day! who would carry something like that? what does he have like 3 scopes on scopes? the point of this being? and did i spy about 187 different flashlights?

......... have you seen waldo?

[Skottsaber]

OMG THATS SO FAIL!!!!! HAHAHAHAH total ROFLMAO!!!! hahahha. wow that made my day! who would carry something like that? what does he have like 3 scopes on scopes? the point of this being? and did i spy about 187 different flashlights?

......... have you seen waldo?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1237687/TCSS%20Posts/waldo.jpg
Can you really not see him? I'll give you a clue, he's near up and left from the middle. :lol:

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Why are y'all making fun of my gun like that? lol

You beat me to the punch Tom. I was gonna make another redneck saber with a rifle scope on it in a couple of months. I can't wait to see how this project ends.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Hey any good survivalist needs to be prepared for every conceivable contingency and most inconceivable ones as well so its entirely appropriate his rifle absolutely MUST have:

a low/no magnification long eye relief red dot sight for speed shooting
a high magnification rangefinding scope for sniping/countersniping
a light amplification NOD sight for low light observation/targeting
a passive thermal sight for through cover target acquisition
a pulsed lasersight for CQB point shooting
a red fresnel filtered light for low light vision maintenance target identication
a high intensity white light for 'jacking' err emergency survival night hunting ;-)
a high intensity blue/UV light for blood tracking of wounded prey [yep definitely watching too much CSI lol]

ummm...yeah...thats the ticket...

lololololololol

Now as for tactical saber accessories I think a liquid cable spinneret might be useful both for climbing distances too great to Force Jump [unless you are Mace playing Mean Joe Greene in that ridiculous Tatakovsky CW episode] and for securing prisoners, a stunner for taking prisoners, an emergency tracking module in case separated from one's Jedi partner tuned so that only each other can detect it, a compact recording electromonocular for evidence gathering, maybe a spare emergency Jedi commlink for uploading that too...I'm sure there's more I havent thought of yet...hmmmm...

[DJMoonbass]

lolwut?

maybe this lightsaber should have an machine gun as a bayonet lol

[Jedi-Loreen]

Speaking of "lolwut?" :rolleyes:

Your sentence makes no sense.

[mihunai]

Indeed J-Lo.

A machine gun as a bayonet?
Bayonets are spikey, pointy, sharp and are meant for one thing: short distance poking.
Machine guns a long-range killalots with bullets and serve no saberly function whatsoever.

A bayonet you could use when the power-cell is empty, or something like that...

mTm

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

I always thought that was what those spikes on many Sith sabers were for - poking folks when the battery runs out ;-)

And similarly that the AS type cubed pommels were for Jedi to use for K.O.ing foes upside their head when the Jedi wanted to take prisoners instead of kill or dismember them since lightsabers don't have a stun setting or when the battery ran out eh?

[ARKM]

I need some advice... for any willing to give it...

I haven't had much time to work on this saber because of my job and all the other non-saber/non-machining projects I have to take care of. However, I did find out that the Saber SD board does not like to fit in the same places a US/CF board can.

There is a tall electronic component on one of the long sides of the board that unfortunately will not allow that sound board to rest on a 2AA battery pack AND fit inside a 1.25 ID. This really sucks. Even if I were to mill out a slot for that component, I still have the outermost top corners of the plug connector on the board not allowing it to fit, when on said battery pack. As such, the sound board has to reside in it's own space.

Now since the front half of my saber, as originally planned, has an ID of around 1 and 1/32", this would make for a very tight fit. Add in the adjustable LED driver and it's daughter board, a battery pack, a lighted anti-vandal, a speaker and an LED module that cannot go into the blade holder because of the smaller ID of the front half of the saber and... well, let's just say the hilt would have to be much longer than planned. So.... my alternative is to make the entire hilt have a 1.25 ID and have the LED and optics rest inside the blade holder.

Now... the downside of having the front half of the saber be 1.25 ID is that with "ARKM rails" attached, it would be too bulky/awkward to hold. I don't want it to be like that so I basically have two options...

Option 1. Keep the SD card so I can have customizable sound fonts and make my mini tactical rails smaller in profile. The downside to this is that nothing can be mounted to the rails. Basically the lower half of the rails would be gone.

Option 2. Use a US 2.x soundboard mounted to the 2AA battery pack (7.4 volts) so that I can keep the front half of the saber at the smaller ID/OD and have functional mini tactical rails. The downside is that I have no customizable sound fonts and have to use an LED like the Lux V (which is no longer made) or a LEDEngin 10W (using only 2 or 3 of the 4 diodes)... which may cause some heat issues from the LED itself.

Here are two basic drawings of the front of the front half of the saber (sans blade holder) showing what the mini tactical rails look like from that angle.

Option 1, using a Saber SD board:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-FrontViewofFrontHalf-1.jpg

Option 2, using a US 2.X board:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheTactical-FrontViewofFrontHalf-Ro.jpg

So... without taking any moral/ethical viewpoint/stance on either board into account, which option do you any of you suggest? Please feel free to let me know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :)

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Just my opinion but to remain true to the Tactical idea I think you need to keep the real rails which are an authentic 'signature' of that aesthetic...imo that is a more relevant factor than whether or not there are custom soundfonts so if I were building it "without taking any moral/ethical viewpoint/stance on either board into account" then I would "do what I must" to keep real rails and go with US 2.x. It's your build though so YMMV of course.

[DJMoonbass]

whats the saber SD board? i have never heard of that! another option is you could always wait till the CFv5 comes out!

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Tom, Why not use a FX Yoda (very small) on this build (the prototype) and then as you build it you can redesign it for the official version. I have found that compromising a little on the prototype can make for flawless final versions. Just a suggestion. Awesome job so far my friend.

[ARKM]

Make both versions you mean? Hmm... you might have something there.

I hate the fact that I would have to make that frikkin' lever box thingy all over again though. *grumble*. However, I just may do that. Might be cool to have both versions. Thanks. :)

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Plus you may find a way to improve it the second time or find an easier way to make it. That is what I did on one of my latest sabers. I ended up finding a weak spot that I didn't know was there otherwise.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Just my opinion but to remain true to the Tactical idea I think you need to keep the real rails which are an authentic 'signature' of that aesthetic...imo that is a more relevant factor than whether or not there are custom soundfonts so if I were building it "without taking any moral/ethical viewpoint/stance on either board into account" then I would "do what I must" to keep real rails and go with US 2.x. It's your build though so YMMV of course.

QFT

I agree completely...

[Lord Dottore Matto]

I like the original design as well. An US is a fine board and although you won't be able to change fonts, the design will stay as is. I also am NOT a fan of having to completely redo work that has already been done well.:wink:

[DJMoonbass]

AAAARGH!!!! like when you are soldering in an AV switch thats way deep in the middle of the hilt. you get it all soldered and heat shrunk, it works perfectly and then you go to put it and you scream because you forgot the bezel?

*Facedesk*

[ARKM]

Well, after doing some pondering, I think I will go ahead and make the original one, designed to have a sound board on top of a 2AA battery pack (designed for 3/4" OD blades). That way it can have all the gimmicks.

I think I will also make a second one with the SD board in mind but not have the collapsible stock or slide on accessories (designed for 7/8" OD blades).

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Sounds like a good plan. Can't wait to see them finished.

[ARKM]

Hi all, I know it's been awhile but I finally have an update. Basically I will be making two sabers, "The Tactical" and "The Impractical Tactical". First up will be The Impractical Tactical which will be the only one that this thread is dedicated for.

This saber will sport a US 2.5 with a shorter-than-TCSS-versions lighted AV switch (red ring) and either a P4 white LED with a yellow Lee filter or a Lux III bin 6 amber LED. The power source will be two 3.7V 14500 Trustfire lithium batteries. To avoid heat issues, I will be using a few 2 amp diodes to step down the voltage.

Below in an updated blueprint of the saber. It only shows one side of the saber. The only details missing (I think) are the slots in the blade holder and the circle holes (and slot) inbetween each of the 4 mini tactical rails. The blueprint does not actually represent what parts will be light or dark on the finished saber. The shading is just to make the blueprint look better (at least better to me).

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_TheImpracticalTactical-Blueprint-SideView-01.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/TheImpracticalTactical-Blueprint-SideView-01.jpg)



Sometimes there are things with a saber that are better revealed after it is finished so that it surprises people. However this is a build log and to keep true to a build log, I cannot have such a luxury. That said, there will also be a crystal chamber in the back half of the front half of the saber. *thinks for a moment* Yeah that's right. :D It will be hidden until a certain part of the saber (in the middle) is rotated which will reveal said chamber. It will only show through two slots 180 degrees apart, which will be inbetween tactical rails. As such, it will not be easily visable form the lengthwise-top, bottom or sides of the hilt. The hilt has to be rotated along it's lengthwise axis 45 degrees (or 135 degrees depending on which way you turn it) from top, bottom or each side, to see the crystal chamber inside.

I have still not decided whether or not this hilt will have a recharge port/kill switch. It depends on a few things regarding the crystal chamber construction.

I started today on the front half of the saber. The lathe work is done. Now it just needs a lot of mill work. However I'm going to start on and finish the blade holder first. When the lathe work is done on the blade holder, I'll post some pics of both parts.

[ARKM]

I finally got the lathe work done on the front half of the hilt and the blade holder. I would have had the blade holder done earlier but I messed it up twice and had to start over from scratch both times *grumble*.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_ITR-01.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/ITR-01.jpg)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/th_ITR-02.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/ARKM%20Saber%20Hilts/The%20Impractical%20Tactical/ITR-02.jpg)

Now it's off to my mill for both pieces.

[ecko]

Sorry to hear about the errors, but the end result is looking quite nice!
Can't wait to see more.

[Mazaki]

I'd recommend buying a rail system rather than milling one out. It will take a very long time to get this saber done if you make them yourself, and they won't even be the right size. They need to comply with 1913 standard to mount lasers, vert grips, flashlights etc...

Wow, the gun nut in me just exploded, my apologies. :lol: But this saber looks very promising!

Need an AR stock for the butt end, or are you gonna mill it out?

[ARKM]

Mazaki, stock weaver/pickatinny rails and stock AR "butts" are IMHO, way too large for a lightsaber. Plus the exact look of a real AR butt is not quite what I want on a saber. Close but not quite.

Both the stock AR butt and Weaver rails would look and feel too bulky on a saber, at least to me. As such, I want my rails to be smaller. I am not making my rails so that stock assault rifle accessories can be mounted to the hilt. however I do plan to make my own mounts for my own rails so that I can mount a mini-mag flash light and a common laser pointer (just because I can).

I have machined several sabers and have no problem machining all the parts from scratch. I don't think the rails will take that long to make.

Thanks for your interest in this saber. I hope it does not disappoint. :)