Upgraded saber: The Sage V2

[chicago.jedi]

Ladies and gentlemen of the forum, I present...The Sage V2

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/007_zpsc2f57703.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/007_zpsc2f57703.jpg.html)

I had posted pictures of this saber before when it was a stunt saber. I was proud of myself for the shroud I had made but afterward, the rest of the saber felt like I phoned it in. I did little or nothing with the rest of the hilt and it looked plain and undeserving of the shroud I had made. Here is what it originally looked like...

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/003_zps1acb4a15.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/003_zps1acb4a15.jpg.html)
The electronics were a bit of a step forward for me at the time since I was able to make a yellow blade with a tri-rebel and a 700mA buckpuck. A triumph at the time, but I wanted to take it to the next level.

And it is now there.....

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/010_zpsca74832c.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/010_zpsca74832c.jpg.html)

All of the coloring on the hilt is done with spray-paint. I painstakingly taped off all of the grooves. For the emitter, I found that Teflon plumbers tape worked well for masking the oddly shaped areas I did not want to paint. I also did some realistic weathering to the paint by rolling it in gravel to chip the paint.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/014_zpsbab94519.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/014_zpsbab94519.jpg.html)

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/013_zpsf5c4377f.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/013_zpsf5c4377f.jpg.html)


I drilled out some of the holes of the pommel insert to help the sound and eliminate the salt and pepper shaker look to it. It came out with a nice little star pattern.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/015_zpsef96bd53.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/015_zpsef96bd53.jpg.html)

The electronics were a real challenge. I wanted a yellow blade but had not truly made one (the previous one was kind of cheating). To this I own my thanks to Forgetful Jedi Knight who was gracious enough and patient enough to answer questions for me. The blade color is not quite what I was shooting for, but not a problem either. It has more of an Ahsoka Tano shoto blade color than Sentinel yellow, but I still like it. At least I tried something new (to me) and without the guidance of FJK, I am sure I would have fried the LED. It was a learning experience to make this and that color will be a reminder to me of that. It is made with an RGB Tri Rebel by the way.

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/008_zpscd419e98.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/008_zpscd419e98.jpg.html)

(side by side with a green blade)

http://i1358.photobucket.com/albums/q763/tcvcj3106/009_zps5282061e.jpg (http://s1358.photobucket.com/user/tcvcj3106/media/009_zps5282061e.jpg.html)

The saber has a Nano Biscotte sound card and rechargeable battery.

I am pleased with the saber. It was a true labor of love to make this. It will have a nice home in the new Jedi General costume I am working on for Rebel Legion.

Special thanks to FJK for all of your help and patience. I could not have done this without you, I mean that.

Enjoy the pics and tell me what you think.

[Silver Serpent]

Isn't it amazing what a bit of paint can do for the appearance of a saber?

It's rarely the overall design, it's the DETAILS that change an "ok" saber into a "wow!" saber. Well done!

[Starwinder]

It's a very nice upgrade - the new color scheme really looks awesome!

[snilam]

Agreed. Your saber diddnt look bad before but it looks great now :)

[richmbailey]

I agree. Saber looks great with the added touches of color.

[setelf3of5]

Very nice upgrade, I the extra's do take it from a 'nice' saber to 'stand out' saber.

[jedimastergarcia87]

Very nice. Love the blade color. I say keep it. Very unique. =]

[Darth Kato]

That looks awesome. I'm very curious how you got that blade color. I'm new to all of this and I'd love to know how you mixed that color. :)

[chicago.jedi]

That looks awesome. I'm very curious how you got that blade color. I'm new to all of this and I'd love to know how you mixed that color. :)

Sorry for the delayed reply, I have not looked at the forum in a while.

The red and green are in parallel with a 2 ohm resistor on the red and a .47 ohm resistor on the green. Both resistors and the Tri-rebel can be purchased in the store.

Thanks for the kind words and good luck.

[XarovitRost]

so just a quick question. am i correct that to use two of the colors they are just spliced into the board as one? I have ordered a tri rebel(rb/b/w) and want to mix the royal blue and white for a silver blade look, and read on other forums that was the way to go.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

so just a quick question. am i correct that to use two of the colors they are just spliced into the board as one? I have ordered a tri rebel(rb/b/w) and want to mix the royal blue and white for a silver blade look, and read on other forums that was the way to go.'

Parallel wiring is more like wiring that is shaped like a "Y" - bottom goes to board, and the branches go to one LED each (with resistors). One "Y" for the (+) and one "Y" for the (-).

[XarovitRost]

awesome yea thats what i meant. the army has destroyed my vocabulary haha. also am i correct that the PC is the only way to run the white led because the resistor guide says that 3.6/3.7v is not enough voltage but the NB and prizm maxs voltage at 5.5? i have looked at so many posts about getting this together but cant find the right thread to answer my questions.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

You can run the white with a NB, you will just need to use a Power Extender (PEX). The wiring for this is also covered in the manual.