BrettD
12-23-2015, 11:06 PM
Greetings fellow Jedi's and Sith's!
For the longest time I've said to myself "I need a lightsaber in my life" and I kept looking at Force FX and Master Replicas and a few of those
"custom" saber builders. I came to TCSS and said "hey I can do that!". So I studied threads here on the forums and gleamed as much info
as I could and placed a parts order.
Here is the parts List:
1 of: Hilt style 3
2 of: Brass 3/16" OD tube
1 of: Rebel Star LED & MHSV1 Heatsink Module
2 of: 8-32 x .3" Purple thumb screw
1 of: Panasonic Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 3400mAh PCB Protected Rechargeable Battery
1 of: 2.2 ohm 5w resistor
1 of: 20mA DynaOhm? Variable Resistor
4 of: JST connector kit male and female
1 of: NB V2 MWS Header and Wiring Harness
1 of: Switchcraft 2.1mm Power Jack
1 of: Bullet shaped tip for 1" thick walled blades
1 of: 1" Thick walled Polycarbonate 40" long Red
1 of: 3.7V Li-ion smart charger with 2.1mm plug
1 of: Nano Biscotte V2 Sound Module SD card (Spare)
1 of: Nano Biscotte Sound Module V2
1 of: 40" LED blade diffuser for 1" thick walled blades
1 of: 16mm Anti Vandal Short Momentary Purple Ring Switch
1 of: MHSV1 Blade Holder Style 23
1 of: Premium 28mm Speaker
1 of: MHS choke style 3
1 of: MPS Pommel style 4
1 of: MPS Clip
1 of: Brass MPS Insert style 6
1 of: Acrylic Chassis Disc for NB and 18500/18650 pack - S3 (Clear)
1 of: MHS speaker mount V4 - For 28mm Speakers
2 of: Stainless 4-40 all thread
2 of: Stainless Steel 4-40 Hex nut
1 of: Acrylic Chassis Disc for Recharge Port - S8 (Clear)
At first I tried to solder the header onto the NB with my butane soldering iron and I quickly found out that was not the right tool for this job as I soldered
multiple pads together. I stopped what I was doing and stepped away. The next day I made a trip to RadioShack and picked up their most expensive
temperature controlled soldering station and while I was there I got some tip tinner, rosin core 60/40 and a pair of "helping hands". Honestly these are items
I needed anyway so I'm not counting them in the price to build the saber! :) The RadioShack soldering station is a godsend it's adjustable from slightly over
300 degrees all the way up into the 800's and it's ESD Safe. *Edit* And I cleaned the solder off of the pads on the NB with a suction de-soldering tool. I
would have rather used de-solder braid but RadioShack had just sold the last roll!
I posted up a preliminary wiring diagram which had a few errors and thanks to the wonderful forum folks for helping me sort that out. Honestly for me it's
often better to sit down and "look" at the parts themselves rather than try to draw up a diagram. But with that said I've corrected the diagram and am going
to include it for anyone that wants to use it.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/saberwiring.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/saberwiring.jpg.html)
My best advice for anyone that is going to build a saber is to make sure you have the right soldering stick, don't skimp and use heat shrink anywhere that it's
appropriate to do so. Also think about the "flow" of your wiring. When it's all said and done you should be able to have very clean wire runs. Also think about
strain relief. For example you can see the 2.2 Ohm resistor is fairly large, you can see how I used some heat shrink to hold the wires together which in turn
will keep the resistor in place.
I cut the blade to 32" with a tubing cutter thanks again forum!!! I still need to drill and tap a hole for my blade thumb screw and the other thumb screw will
be used to secure the chassis inside of the hilt. I am also going to spray the entire hilt body in 1000f BBQ Black, bake it in the oven and then I am going to
heavily sand it and hopefully I can achieve a look similar to what that one saber company (who's name I dare not speak) does.
Well here's some photos, let me know what you think!
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20009.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20009.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20001_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20001_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20002_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20002_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20003_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20003_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20004_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20004_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20008_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20008_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20014.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20014.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20019.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20019.jpg.html)
And here is a video. This is before I shortened the blade to final length. Please pardon my heavy mouth breathing....
http://youtu.be/pYTm5n6rxgg
For the longest time I've said to myself "I need a lightsaber in my life" and I kept looking at Force FX and Master Replicas and a few of those
"custom" saber builders. I came to TCSS and said "hey I can do that!". So I studied threads here on the forums and gleamed as much info
as I could and placed a parts order.
Here is the parts List:
1 of: Hilt style 3
2 of: Brass 3/16" OD tube
1 of: Rebel Star LED & MHSV1 Heatsink Module
2 of: 8-32 x .3" Purple thumb screw
1 of: Panasonic Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 3400mAh PCB Protected Rechargeable Battery
1 of: 2.2 ohm 5w resistor
1 of: 20mA DynaOhm? Variable Resistor
4 of: JST connector kit male and female
1 of: NB V2 MWS Header and Wiring Harness
1 of: Switchcraft 2.1mm Power Jack
1 of: Bullet shaped tip for 1" thick walled blades
1 of: 1" Thick walled Polycarbonate 40" long Red
1 of: 3.7V Li-ion smart charger with 2.1mm plug
1 of: Nano Biscotte V2 Sound Module SD card (Spare)
1 of: Nano Biscotte Sound Module V2
1 of: 40" LED blade diffuser for 1" thick walled blades
1 of: 16mm Anti Vandal Short Momentary Purple Ring Switch
1 of: MHSV1 Blade Holder Style 23
1 of: Premium 28mm Speaker
1 of: MHS choke style 3
1 of: MPS Pommel style 4
1 of: MPS Clip
1 of: Brass MPS Insert style 6
1 of: Acrylic Chassis Disc for NB and 18500/18650 pack - S3 (Clear)
1 of: MHS speaker mount V4 - For 28mm Speakers
2 of: Stainless 4-40 all thread
2 of: Stainless Steel 4-40 Hex nut
1 of: Acrylic Chassis Disc for Recharge Port - S8 (Clear)
At first I tried to solder the header onto the NB with my butane soldering iron and I quickly found out that was not the right tool for this job as I soldered
multiple pads together. I stopped what I was doing and stepped away. The next day I made a trip to RadioShack and picked up their most expensive
temperature controlled soldering station and while I was there I got some tip tinner, rosin core 60/40 and a pair of "helping hands". Honestly these are items
I needed anyway so I'm not counting them in the price to build the saber! :) The RadioShack soldering station is a godsend it's adjustable from slightly over
300 degrees all the way up into the 800's and it's ESD Safe. *Edit* And I cleaned the solder off of the pads on the NB with a suction de-soldering tool. I
would have rather used de-solder braid but RadioShack had just sold the last roll!
I posted up a preliminary wiring diagram which had a few errors and thanks to the wonderful forum folks for helping me sort that out. Honestly for me it's
often better to sit down and "look" at the parts themselves rather than try to draw up a diagram. But with that said I've corrected the diagram and am going
to include it for anyone that wants to use it.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/saberwiring.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/saberwiring.jpg.html)
My best advice for anyone that is going to build a saber is to make sure you have the right soldering stick, don't skimp and use heat shrink anywhere that it's
appropriate to do so. Also think about the "flow" of your wiring. When it's all said and done you should be able to have very clean wire runs. Also think about
strain relief. For example you can see the 2.2 Ohm resistor is fairly large, you can see how I used some heat shrink to hold the wires together which in turn
will keep the resistor in place.
I cut the blade to 32" with a tubing cutter thanks again forum!!! I still need to drill and tap a hole for my blade thumb screw and the other thumb screw will
be used to secure the chassis inside of the hilt. I am also going to spray the entire hilt body in 1000f BBQ Black, bake it in the oven and then I am going to
heavily sand it and hopefully I can achieve a look similar to what that one saber company (who's name I dare not speak) does.
Well here's some photos, let me know what you think!
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20009.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20009.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20001_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20001_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20002_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20002_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20003_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20003_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20004_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20004_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20008_1.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20008_1.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20014.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20014.jpg.html)
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii305/brett248vista/lightsaber/lightsaber%20019.jpg (http://s267.photobucket.com/user/brett248vista/media/lightsaber/lightsaber%20019.jpg.html)
And here is a video. This is before I shortened the blade to final length. Please pardon my heavy mouth breathing....
http://youtu.be/pYTm5n6rxgg