Kids new sabers

[Darth Nater]

I had been planning on upgrading the original sink tube sabers I had first built for my kids a couple years ago. The flimsy shrouds just don't stand up to them beating on them near the base of the blade. Bought a pair of Novasound 3.0 boards last spring (ignorant of their origin) because they were a cheap alternative to the econo boards. Had I known the NB would come out a short while later, I would have waited. I let the kids somewhat design their own hilts in a limited fashion with the idea that I had for them. Except for Pommel 3 v2 which was going to be a replacement for my own since I needed the newer one with the larger inside diameter. I went with the 7" fluted extentions because I wanted to be able to drill my own holes. Wish those other main bodies were available without any holes pre-drilled though. Here's how it all ended up. Pictures aren't the clearest, but there's nothing new and exciting going on here. Pretty basic MHS sabers. The blades are just trans white takeoffs from other sabers right now until the weld-on comes in the mail to finish making the actual blades.

Novasound 3.0 mounted on PC2.0/18650 chassis discs (took a little sanding but worked for the fatso board)
3.7 li-Ion 18500 w/recharge port
2w bass speakers
Speaker mount V3 (deep enough to hold the bass speaker and still has the lip for the double male or pommel to hold in place)
P4 Greens with spare P4 red to swap out with JST connectors
Short illuminated ring anti vandal switches
Activation box 9
Optional vented double male coupler
Will have clear thick wall blades w/giftwrap after tomorrow


Pretty simple all things considered, but I would have crapped my pants to have something like this when I was five.

http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/Bassham29/012_zps676adcdf.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/Bassham29/013_zps934b5c46.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/Bassham29/003-2_zpsd2533add.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/Bassham29/2013-02-25_19-00-32_680_zpsf32173d2.jpg

[DarthMarr]

Sweet

[Ty_Bomber]

Heck, I woulda crapped my pants to have something that cool 10 years ago. Very nice.

[Starwinder]

crapping pants = total agreement!

[Evilpancreas]

I REALLY like the way you made the top saber. I want to do one similar to that, but with shroud work and a red LED. Very nice job.

[Darth Nater]

That design would really look good with shroud work. I have a swap out red P4 for it as well. Both kids said they wanted green and I didn't want them both to have green AV switches so I went red to set them apart. My son picked out that pointy pommel and has jabbed himself in the ribs with it twice so far. I really like that Qui Gon style emitter. It looks good painted up, would really look good powder coated, but I'm too tight for that. Probably the biggest PITA for these was the prep work for the paint. I got a $3 roll of some 1/8" auto pinstriping from Autozone to use masking the fine lines. (would never use that stuff on a car though, very cheap for its intended purpose). It covers very well for the small ribbed parts of the emitter. Masking the flutes however was tedious and boring. I just used gloss black spray paint and one coat of gloss clear, then pulled the masking off and scratched away all of the overspray with a toothpick while it was still kind of rubbery (more tedious and boring). Finally threw it all in the toaster oven on 250 degrees for an hour. I was amazed at how it turned out. Still need to do some paint work on the pommels and probably the bottom edge of the other emitter and this one will be in the books. At least until they break something or the boards crash.

[Silver Serpent]

Nater, painting the flutes is really easy. You don't even need to mask off that much. The trick is to mask above and below the flutes, and then paint the whole section with the flutes in it. After all the painting and baking, take a sanding block and remove the excess paint. With a sanding block, you won't get anything that's down in the flutes.

You may need to adjust the grit of your sandpaper if you want high polish on the exposed aluminum.

[Evilpancreas]

I have both a P4 red and a Luxeon Deep Red. The luxeon looks much better in my opinion. Does the paint chip at all if you bake it on like that?

[Darth Nater]

The only one I've painted before was the Obi style of my own. I don't do much with it really so its not like it gets used much, but the whole MHS gear section is painted black and hasn't worn off any so far. Everything else I've painted has been in a recessed area and of course has held up well. You would think that if it was used a lot, that it would wear down over time under heavy handling.

Serpent - good point on the sanding. I thought about that a little, but then didn't want to have to sand/polish the whole section to keep it even. That and I figured I'd have to sand all of the other parts to match the finish that would have changed on the main hilt piece. I figured it would take more time that way, but honestly it probably would not have in the end. And of course, it never even crossed my mind to mask of on each side of the flutes to where you just were sanding those raised lines in between. These are likely the last ones I'll ever build unless a friend asks me to make them one. This makes 4 MHS sabers, one for me and each kid with 2 sink tubes in reserve unless cousins show up. From here on out, its likely repair or upgrade of sound down the line if something fails.

[Silver Serpent]

Does the paint chip at all if you bake it on like that?

If you're using the saber, paint is gonna chip. Baking it will slow it down, but it's gonna chip eventually. Clear coating helps as well. But again, paint is gonna chip.

[TrypWyr]

If you're using the saber, paint is gonna chip. Baking it will slow it down, but it's gonna chip eventually. Clear coating helps as well. But again, paint is gonna chip.

Not to hijack the thread, but maybe this could help the OP as well.

SS, do you know anything about clear coating with powder coat over regular spray paint? I've thought about using my new "Clear Vision" powder over my existing paint job to stop the chipping from going any further, but I don't wan't to risk the part...

And DN, I LOVE those sabers! Really cool idea to have the kids sabers be able to join together. I might have to "borrow" that idea for my two boys... :D

[Silver Serpent]

My only experience with powder coating is the parts I've ordered from TCSS. I'm sure someone else here may know for certain, but I don't know of any issues with PCing over paint. I'm not terribly familiar with the PCing process, just a little theory is all.

[Evilpancreas]

Since nobody is willing to duel with me, I don't think the paint will chip too much. Does it wear down just from handling?

[TrypWyr]

Since nobody is willing to duel with me, I don't think the paint will chip too much. Does it wear down just from handling?

Personally, I used Krylon and other lower-name spray paints. I sanded, primed, baked, painted, baked, the whole nine, still got chips even from simple handling and swinging. I think that's just something to be accepted with standard paint.

[Darth Nater]

I forgot to add that on the youngest boy's saber I did some half-a$$ed shrouding with sink tube polished down to the copper. I polished it up like a new penny and used clear spray paint on it. Its on the main hilt where your hand is always on it, and it didn't hold up very well at all. I didn't lay a bunch of coats on it, but I dont think it would have helped. The copper (or brass if thats what it is) has tarnished in all of those areas where the paint has worn, but its just going to have to have a weathered look because I'm not messing with it again. I always wondered how those sabers that Jay Gon built held up over time. They were immaculate in his pictures right after they were finished, but I always wondered how well the finish would hold.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

clear coating doesn't hold up well unless you put three or four coats on it before baking. Paint is paint, and as such it will eventually wear off with handling. I have had to sand off and re-paint BS-2's clear coat once since it was coated the first time back in 2009, and I did that in early 2012.

[Darth Nater]

The stuff you make needs to just sit on a shelf and be admired anyway.