cracked LED?

[JamoUp]

anyone seen this happen before?
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i268/jamothegr8/bf71b437.jpg

I built a saber for the charity auction at my school, one of the students won it. He had it in his possession saturday night, sunday afternoon he gives it back to me saying the soldering was bad/ the switch wire came loose. So, I open it up, and you won't believe the mess! He managed to twist all the wires causing them to get ripped off the switch in his attempt to "fix" it. Also when I opened it, the broken tip of a pencil fell out of the hilt! What was this guy doing?

Anyway, the initial problem was the cracked LED dome in the picture above, I have several dueling sabers and never experienced this. Anyone seen it happen?

[Jin Ke]

I know a buddy of mine had a few K2 leds break on the dome... He did have a habit of swinging way to hard when dueling... With what you described, I wouldn't put anything past this guy....

[Skottsaber]

PLEASE tell me that was a stunt!

How did he manage to mess it up so bad? I've never had an LED dome break on me, but I would bet that he pushed some kind of projectile down the blade holder to smash that. It couldn't just smash on its own.

[acerocket]

The only time I have ever broken a lense like that is by being in a hurry to tighten the blade holder and not making sure the optic holder was seated on the star properly. I suspect he took the saber apart and botched it up pretty good putting it back together.

One note of criticism though. Your wires are stipped way to much. You should not have the bare wires extend past the edge of the star. If they happen to both touch the side of the star at the same time they will short since the star base is conductive. You may want to bear that in mind for the next time. I know because I have seen it happen before.:rolleyes:

[Jedi-Loreen]

Why do people insist on trying to take their sabers apart to try and "fix" them?

Are they just stupidly curious? They probably don't realize how much wiring goes into some of these sabers, how tight it sometimes is, and how many times you have to turn the MHS parts to unscrew them.

Then some of them try to hide the damage they've cause and blame it on the builder, as if the builder couldn't tell that the saber was opened up. :roll:

[mihunai]

I say put a firecracker in there.

As soon as they open it up *POOF!*

MWUAHAHAHAHAAA! :twisted:

with a "dont open" note on the side, of course..

mTm

[cannibal869]

Yes, so I suppose saber building is a bit of a double edged saber (so to speak) - on one hand, yes it takes a LOT of work and effort to get things the way you want it to be and yes, you want to make them durable enough to give / sell to people. You would like to see them get some usage time, but at the same time, you'd like to see them not get abused or destroyed. <sigh>.. Sort of like usable toy art??

In the hands of overzealous kids, though, anything and everything is possible. The Law of Murphy surely is paramount in this realm. One of the padawan sabers I made just got presented back to be to be fixed cause the kid somehow managed to knock the tiny dark circular button and cover off of a momentary tactile switch. How the heck you do that on such a low profile thing is beyond me. I mean the switch is only partially there now. I can see the contacts inside and the switch still works if you connect the contacts. <shakes head>..

I feel for you JamoUp... I think if you fix it, you return it to them saying the following - please do not try to take it apart. If it breaks again, I can still fix it, but I will have to charge you for it and it will be expensive. Better yet, tell the parents this.

[Skottsaber]

I say firecrakers. :twisted:

[Rhyen Skytracker]

We need to come up with some kind of saber lock where only the builders DNA can allow the saber to unscrew.

[Lord Maul]

The only time I have ever broken a lense like that is by being in a hurry to tighten the blade holder and not making sure the optic holder was seated on the star properly. I suspect he took the saber apart and botched it up pretty good putting it back together.

One note of criticism though. Your wires are stipped way to much. You should not have the bare wires extend past the edge of the star. If they happen to both touch the side of the star at the same time they will short since the star base is conductive. You may want to bear that in mind for the next time. I know because I have seen it happen before.:rolleyes:

QFT
I've only broken 1 LED dome before, and it was not seating the optics right.

[jjshumpert]

ive got one on the work bench that looks almost as bad as that one, but it was the result of the ex wife gettin mad and stomping on it repeatedly while the lux was waiting to go into a saber

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Same here. The only time I have broken a dome is when the optic/holder was not lined up right and I screwed the blade holder on too tight. That had to be what happened. I have had sabers sent back to me because of people taking them apart and messing them up trying to put them back together.

[JamoUp]

I'm glad to hear that i'm not alone in thinking this guy was messing around with the saber. I even included instructions and directions on how to change batteries and such... and what not to do with it (hit people, shine in eyes). Yeah, So I changed the LED for the kid, took one from my stock, charged him for the replacement at yesterday's prices... ordering a replacement at today's sale. Still, it was hard for me to give the saber back to the kid, the mistreatment it might be receiving right now...

This is the saber:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i268/jamothegr8/724eb9c4.jpg

No sound, Red LED originally, Green now. Blue ring AV Switch. Resistor set-up.

[cardcollector]

I know what you mean about the abuse, I've had to repair SS4 about five times because of how it was abused...

[Sunrider]

Don't fell bad. Take pride in the fact the kid liked it so much he totally went postal when it stopped working. In an impulsive hormonal craze he attempted to find out what was wrong. Poorly I don't need to add.

Maybe it needs the inscription (control control you must learn control).:rolleyes:

[sithlordfaust]

We need to come up with some kind of saber lock where only the builders DNA can allow the saber to unscrew.

there is a company that makes uniquely keyed security screws and wrenches

[Shadar Al'Niende]

there is a company that makes uniquely keyed security screws and wrenches

*ears perk up*

Eh? where? who? You have me interested now....

[mihunai]

How about really tiny torque screws, or find some European bolts and wrenches...
That oughta do it.

mTm

[Crystal Chambers]

Tamperproof....usually on utility boxes and such. The screw heads have weird patterns as apposed to phillips or robinsons.

I've felt the optics not seated right before and had the forsight in this case not to use the force. It wouldn't surprise me if this was the case.

[Causa]

When I was in university, I worked for the maintenance department, repairing screens and door handles, towel holders and light switches...whatever.

Anyways for the public doors, like in the halls and the common areas in the dorms, we had really weird hex type bolt heads for everything, and a specific set of ratchet heads for them. My manager told me that they were uniquely made for each door type, and the total set cost 5,000 dollars for the custom machining run. subtext: don't lose this tool box.

[Sunrider]

Tamper proof may sound good. But can it stand up to an enraged teenager with a pipe wrench & a 10 pound sledge?

Maybe it wasn't so damaged after all?;)

[Crystal Chambers]

When I was in university, I worked for the maintenance department, repairing screens and door handles, towel holders and light switches...whatever.

Anyways for the public doors, like in the halls and the common areas in the dorms, we had really weird hex type bolt heads for everything, and a specific set of ratchet heads for them. My manager told me that they were uniquely made for each door type, and the total set cost 5,000 dollars for the custom machining run. subtext: don't lose this tool box.

That's where I came across the tamper proof ones. The head of maintenance in the university residence there told me about these, only they were special tamperproof ones that were indeed more way more expensive. For example if a bolt resembled a hex it would have a small robinson center. Some of them even have weird three point tips.


Tamper proof may sound good. But can it stand up to an enraged teenager with a pipe wrench & a 10 pound sledge?

They might stand a better chance then me..lol

[Skottsaber]

If you look at the older (Episode 1 and 2) cheapy hasbro lightsabers, they have screws with triangles on them. You could use those... if you find a triangle screwdriver.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I actually have a special screwdriver with all kinds of special bits like that. It has come in handy on several occasions.

[cardcollector]

I had to buy one when we repaired a nintendo DS. They are really handy...