My 1st Lightsaber

[Bear]

As I child I dreamed of building a lightsaber. After finding the jedi council here and studying the new Jedi Holocrons found within for the last four years. The collected wisdom of the TCSS system's masters has led me on my re-found journey. Studying the art of the saber craft under the guiding wisdom of Master Se'arch Func-tion, I have seen the great works and accomplishments of true masters of the craft. I have embarked in the time honored tradition of building a personal lightsaber following the guiding wisdom of the Jedi Tutorials. I am now ready to present my saber... The Ursa Dent, or just Ursa (I haven't really decided.)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs528.snc3/29990_135264349822590_100000170782953_399517_30944 11_n.jpg
Most of the parts came as a gift and other bits were collected and built.
1.25" blade holder kit with 1" "TCSS style" Battle blade
Green LuxIII red switch and bezel nut
2001 Hasbro Toy Soundcard (found at a thrift store!:D) the premium speaker and mount from TCSS
1.25" Sink tube (I ground down the flanges on the nut for it)
wooden pomel insert with one of TCSS D-rings
and a 1.25" drain assymbly
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs132.snc3/17934_107477645934594_100000170782953_209928_71350 51_n.jpg
Vectorworks CAD software became my friend alongside Photoshop
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs298.ash1/22534_107751582573867_100000170782953_217745_79270 00_n.jpg
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs387.snc3/23658_120324891316536_100000170782953_318421_21567 4_n.jpg
While taking a machining class I turned a disk that attached with the off cut of my blade retention thumbscrew to the heat sink. Also I sanded down the speaker mount so it could drop faurther back into the hilt for some resonance.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs387.snc3/23658_120324904649868_100000170782953_318423_41692 44_n.jpg
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs528.snc3/29990_135264336489258_100000170782953_399516_17254 12_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs508.ash1/29990_135264353155923_100000170782953_399518_36909 75_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs528.snc3/29990_135264369822588_100000170782953_399520_60007 66_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs548.snc3/29990_135264376489254_100000170782953_399521_69825 35_n.jpg
And with a little heat and bending magic the belt clip from the store holds a lot tighter to the belt
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs528.snc3/29990_135264359822589_100000170782953_399519_48294 13_n.jpg

Thank all of you very much. All your posts and tutorials made this task a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

[Darth Xusia]

Man, I bet that wrap took some time. Great build. Nice first post.

[kyncaid]

Bear, Real nice, i love it.

I heard some one mention ages ago "why does the sinktube heat sink have fins if there was no air flow in the hilt". Awesome sabers like this thats why.

[Goltar Bias]

Love the combo od the 1.25 sink drain and the 1.25 sink tube with the cut outs nice work. Also love that wrap need to figure out that my, self ant tips?

[Darth Astronimus]

Dang that is nice....Great way to start off on your first saber:D

[Rafalema]

Awesome saber!!

Only drawback is the bad soundboard, but otherwise, magnificent work! :)

Looking forward to see more from you!

The D-ring holder modification you did: AWESOME Im so going to stea... umm... borrow that idea with my D-ring clip.

[Bear]

The rope work is two Crown Knots, then Coach Whipping, and a Four-strand Turk's Head. Actually my count is off and there are times in the Whipping that groups matched and there are six lines running next to one another :confused: I did figure out that using a rubber band to hold all the right twisting sets let me weave the left twisting sets through them without loosing all the work constantly, especially with so many lines.
Well my advice is play with rope ;) An inexpensive knot encyclopedia or the internet helps as well.

Oh and kyncaid, I had read that review on the heat sink and thought the machining was just too pretty NOT to show off :D

[Darth Kehel]

Wow this look really nice! Reminds me of the original lightsabers great work. Ill be looking for your work in the future keep it up

[Skottsaber]

Wow. Loved the no questions asked approach, custom machining, CAD work, wrap, sinktube cutouts, cool intro text. Everything!

Here, have this. You deserve it:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1237687/TCSS%20Posts/awardbear.jpg

:mrgreen:Make some more!

[Crystal Chambers]

cool...Nice overlay, and weathering. The work you put into the grip is very impressive. I really like your heatsink windows. I tried something similar myself but lost interest in the rest of the hilt.

[Corcalina Rendar]

Hi,
forgive me, but I don't speak well English!
Compliments for your lightsaber!
Can you help me? How can I get the effect "scraped paint" as that of your lightsaber?

Thanks for your help!:D
Gilberto

[Bear]

Thanks everyone. I don't know how soon I will have the funds to build another but I have a couple blaster projects I want to do and possibly a thermal detonator. I have some parts prepped for a ROTJ E11. :rolleyes:

Corcalina Rendar, there are tons of how to's online and discussions about weathering here on the forums. I ended up spray painting them and while the paint wasn't quite dry I scraped it with a green kitchen abrasive pad. When it was dry I used some fine grit sand paper to help keep it from chipping. I tried some other things that I didn't like as much and sanded it off and started over. Yay trial and error, it taught me a lot.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Hi,
forgive me, but I don't speak well English!
Compliments for your lightsaber!
Can you help me? How can I get the effect "scraped paint" as that of your lightsaber?

Thanks for your help!:D
Gilberto

Welcome! i think what you are asking about is "weathering" People sometimes use sand paper to scratch the paint off. hope this translates well!

[vargose]

Great job. I have made two rather unsuccessful attempts to use that specific drain as an emitter. I am impressed with your solution. I will probably use it on a future saber.