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Cralii
12-21-2015, 01:35 PM
Hello All!

I completed my first saber build on 12/17 mere hours prior to the opening of Ep. VII (I loved it! Can't wait to take my little boy to see it next week after the holiday). Anyway, I'm completely new to building electronics, Ohm's Law, and saber building as a whole -- and it was a trial by fire learning experience. I happened upon this hobby by pure chance, my love for Star Wars and my passion for a challenge. And I can honestly say - I'm hooked! There will be more down the line.

As my wife said to me: "Holy sh*t it works! ...you know you're going to have to build another one for the boy..." - I hope this is her blessing to keep making them. lol

This board is a wealth of knowledge! Without it I surely would have failed many times prior to getting it correct, but - as it is echoed time and again by many here - I read until my eyes burned, and then read some more, and was able to build my saber successfully.

The sound board is an old 2010 Hasbro Ani Board, it has a Tri-Cree RbRW LED w/ 18-degree lens, a 16mm Short AV Illuminated Purple Ring Switch, a 2.1mm Switchcraft Recharge port w/kill key, a Panasonic Protected 18650 3.7V 3400mAh, a 2W Bass Speaker, and a 1.45"dia Sinktube Blade holder. I was going for purple and it's close, but a little too pink for me. I will have to go back and resist the red some more. I'm still considering using a pot to "dial" it in.

It was built out of a 12" sink pipe, an econo-showerhead, pvc, and washers - BYB style 8 was the basis for my saber. ...something to get the juices flowing.

I was limited in tools - I had a soldering iron, dremel, hand drill, and a pvc cutter. (My drill press was picked up after the completion of my saber... I'll likely re-tap some of my retention screws)

At one point I had thought I had torched my board as the traces started to peel away, but they had solid solder connections - so I broke out the glue gun and hot glued the connections and traces back to the board. It was some time around 1am when I finally attempted to power it on. And I nearly burst with excitement and relief when it powered on with sound and all. ...I was so excited that I woke my pregnant wife to show her (to her credit - she humored me. I love that woman.)

Well without further ado; my first saber:

http://s3.postimg.org/ghw8olkcv/photo_1.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/ghw8olkcv/)

http://s3.postimg.org/i8f9q31vz/photo_3.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/i8f9q31vz/)

http://s3.postimg.org/89ub3lsgf/photo_4.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/89ub3lsgf/)


Thank you all again for answering all the questions that come your way!

Regards,

Cralii
[krə-laɪ]

AckAck
12-21-2015, 01:47 PM
I love this saber! It is great! Very nice aesthetic indeed.

Cralii
12-21-2015, 01:51 PM
Thank you, AckAck! I'm proud of it, and can't wait to start the next one.

Silver Serpent
12-21-2015, 01:54 PM
Welcome to the club!

The first time you ignite a saber that you built with your own hands is nothing short of MAGICAL. That feeling doesn't go away on the 2nd, or 3rd, etc. saber either. It might diminish by the 50th or so, but few of us ever reach that point. :)

Greenie
12-21-2015, 02:10 PM
Yeah, love that feeling when it works, that's a fine looking saber dude. I'm also making number two for my kid, cos that way you keep the wife on side lol :D

Cralii
12-21-2015, 02:12 PM
You couldn't be more right, SS - Magical - is probably the best word for it. I felt like a child on Christmas morning filled with the magic of Santa! Thank you again, SS, for the help confirming/identifying my resistors. It really was the last thing before I plunged into making this; your confirmation added confidence to my build.

@Greenie: lol... isn't that the truth! So long as the kids want more, bigger, better - THIS KID will continue to make them. I heard my wife tell a friend of ours she's going to hang it on the wall in the living room. HA! Score. Thank you for the complement.

Generic Jedi
12-21-2015, 03:23 PM
Looks pretty good. Nice work!

dc2kid
12-21-2015, 03:58 PM
that purple looks snazzy!

Cralii
12-21-2015, 06:32 PM
Thank you Generic Jedi.

@dc2kid: Thank you. I still think it has too much red in it, but it is a purple I can live with. =P

setelf3of5
12-21-2015, 06:35 PM
Nice build!

Jonitus
12-21-2015, 06:53 PM
Before I quit building sabers, I had assembled in excess of 350 of them for people, and every single time I got them buttoned up for the last time, bladed up, and would hit the power switch...that "snap, hiss, humm" sound would bring a smile to my face. It honestly never got old for me.

You have taken your first step into a wonderful hobby, and you will learn much more than you realize if you stick with it. Yes, you'll have to learn how to perfect your soldering and you'll learn basic electronics theory, but if you build more sabers, you'll have to refresh your geometry and trigonometry mathematics knowledge. You'll learn about machining, even if YOU aren't the one to do it. You're going to gain a broad skill-set if you stick with this hobby.

Now, get thee to thy workbench and build thy padawan his saber. For lo, I say to thee, his heart shall rejoice in taking up his saber to fight the scourge of the Sith/Jedi (depending on the little dude's alignment) ;-)

Darth Nater
12-21-2015, 08:31 PM
Welcome to the club!

The first time you ignite a saber that you built with your own hands is nothing short of MAGICAL. That feeling doesn't go away on the 2nd, or 3rd, etc. saber either. It might diminish by the 50th or so, but few of us ever reach that point. :)

That couldn't be better said. The first time you get one to the point of what you think is "finished" and you hit the button and it ignites.. "Wow... it works... and it is AWESOME!"

I have a Luke MR that my sister got me for Xmas in 2007 or 2008. Its in a box in my closet, never gets taken out. My first sink tube that I finished, I had to go compare and yeah, that ramping effect was cool, but the brightness and the ability to actually play with it without fear of breaking it just put the old MR to shame. I need to ebay that sucker and use the proceeds to build something cool.