Konnichi wa! New guy in Tokyo

[TuxedoCartman]

Hi everyone! Finally stopped lurking, and decided to actually post an introduction.

Been wanting a custom saber for a few years now, since seeing some guys carrying them at conventions back in America. But after coming across this site, I decided i'd much rather build my own, than have something done for me. So, did some reading, did some research, and about a month ago put in an order for my first saber (notice that word, "first"? That thrice-cursed Saber Builder app is going to cost me SOOOO much money.) Yesterday it arrived, and I can't wait to get it all assembled (once the parts I forgot the first time around get here from America, that is). Here's a pic of what I'm working with...

6509

Rebel Star green LED, green AV switches, will have the new 14500 battery pack. Went all out, decided to try the Petit Crouton soundboard in this one as well. I've had some soldering and wiring experience before, but I would very much like for more experienced sabersmiths in this community to do a once over of my schematics before I really start work on it.

Good to be here, and look forward to getting to know everyone!

[Garrek]

Welcome to your new obsession, how are you liking your "first" saber? :)

[TuxedoCartman]

It sucks! The electronics and guts haven't magically manifested themselves in it fast enough! LOL...

Nah, seriously? Been carrying it around my tiny apartment playing with it like I'm five years old again. I can't believe how great the quality of Tim's stuff is; I mean, I was expecting it to be good, but wow... this is some good craftsmanship. The part of me that was eager to delve into a new hands-on project is now intimidated by how pretty it all is, and is having blasphemous thoughts of finding someone to send it all to for professional installation.

[Zzan]

Don't give in to the darkside :)

It's not as bad as it looks/seems. The soldering and wiring is all relatively easy, I hadn't done that kind of thing in years, so I went to Radio Shack bought a ~$3.00 board, a handful of assorted LED's and a 1000 pack of resistors and just practiced soldering and wiring the LED's in different combinations to my 11.1v and 14.7v RC Li-Po battery packs - I only blew 2 < $1.00 LED's in the process :). This was great practice in brushing up on my soldering skills and speed.

The part that was hard for me was that I over-thought the process and tried to wire everything to the PC board with a quick disconnect so that I could quickly remove/swap out anything. I found out that there was no way that I could fit all those connectors in the hilt after the fact :P So I ended up just quick connecting the Speaker, Main LED, and Battery Pack. The rest was direct soldered.

Cram-Fu is the hard part, not the actual wiring/soldering in my opinion.

[TuxedoCartman]

That's a good idea, and something to pass the time while I'm waiting for the last of my parts to get here from America.

Tokyo has an area that's famous for amateur electronics hobbyists called Akihabara. I'm going to head over there after class tomorrow and see if I can find some cheap boards to practice on, as well as any unique or different switches I can use on either this saber or the eventual next one. Figure that place should be a gold-mine for stuff to stick on or cram in a saber hilt.

[Garrek]

How lucky, there isn't anywhere around me like that.
Make sure you pick up a nice Soldering Iron while your there if you don't have one already.
Also a dremel if you intend on working with sleeve material or sink tubes on your future sabers.