The "Hobbler's" First Saber Design (In-Process)

[Jeb Ardunis]

Alrighty, I figure before I do some reading on exactly "how" to build the saber I'm looking at creating, what better way to start than to post a sketch and get some feedback. While I don't expect to walk away with something exactly as-is, I'd like to get some ideas on what I would need to get started on it.

http://www.meierdesign.us/images/max/hiltdesign1trans.gif

Okay, so there it is... Now since I threw this together in Photoshop as a rough sketch, the pommel would be hollow with a screen/holes in it to allow for a speaker to be added whenever I can do that. The rubber grips near the pommel might be altered to a custom grip, but we'll once again figure that out. Activator button, if we can move it somewhere to make it look prettier, go for it. Now, the cyan slits you see, I'm hoping to have light come from there, as the blade will be cyan. The cut-ins up top are merely for show, so I haven't decided whether or not they'll house o-rings. The guard, well, if it can be done, I'd love it. My thought on a belt clip though is at a loss. No clue which style I should go with.

Some of you might've read in my misplaced intro thread that I have cerebral palsy, so, I might have made the difficulty way over my limit. Hopefully I can make this saber without too many hitches, although I can't be sure. *lol*

Any help, advice, or whatnot would be appreciated. :D

[ArkaiHalon]

my suggestions would be to make use of the MHS

use the MPS pommel 4 with insert,
double female with slots, gender changer, a 4 inch double female with switch hole, and a #3 blade holder. As for the shroud, I'm pretty sure you could get some assistance in cutting sinktube to shape. as for the slots to show light, I'm sure Tim could come up with something.

http://www.k-squared.com/Lightsabers/jebsaber.jpg

[Jedi-Loreen]

I don't think having so many slots to let light through is very practical, it's going to weaken the hilt too.

Plus the fact that you'd have to have your LED sitting very low inside the hilt for that to even work.

That design won't work with MHS parts.

Your heatsink for the LED is going to end up being below where you have the switch placed. And how deep will you seat the blade? The farther away from the LED and optics it is, the less light will be going up the blade, assuming that you will leave open space between the LED and blade. And what will stop the blade from going in too far, if you did it this way?

I think you might have been better off reading about how LED sabers are constructed first, then come up with a design that would be more practical.

[ArkaiHalon]

the slots could be lit by a secondary blue and green 5mm leds, won't be cyan, but the effect would be the pretty. I do agree that there might be a few to many slots though. And it may be my ignorance, but since Jeb's affected with CP, I wouldn't think this would be a dueling saber, but a sweet belt hanger. I could be wrong.

[Angelus Lupus]

http://www.k-squared.com/Lightsabers/jebsaber.jpg
I think you interpreted that design well there. I like it.
As for the slots for light.. would EL wire be a possible solution?

[Jeb Ardunis]

Halon's got the latter point down correct. This is merely a costume saber/mantlepiece. While I'm semi-mobile and could duel rather awkwardly, as I've already figured the physics of the light slits would weaken the frame. (I won't be making a dueling saber for quite some time.) I did try to mention that this design is also a rough draft.

Quite a good mock up, I'd say you have there as well, Halon. Aside the obvious missing slots (which I do understand the wiring/lighting scheme would be tricky...) you've got my idea smack-dab down.

I'd write more, but right now I've got a lot of bad things on my mind, so I'll leave it at that and come back later when I've sorted "life" out. ;)

[ArkaiHalon]

Don't knock it, it's a great design. With fewer slits, I think it could be a reasonable dueler as well. Maybe 6 equally spaced. about an 1/8th inch wide or so. I really look forward to seeing it in reality.

[gundamaniac]

Halon, is that an upside-down Covertec knob you put near the emitter in your render??...Cuz it's a little bit low to be a thumb-screw. And while I'm on topic of Covertecs- Jeb, try a covertec knob for mounting the saber. It's great because it securely holds the saber to your belt. When you swing the handle, it doesn't flop around making clanking noises as opposed to a D-ring. Also, D-rings traditionally mount on flat pommel pieces...the way your saber is currently, a D-ring would both not fit in aesthetically nor would it be practical.

Jeb, you might know this already, but you could contact Tim to see what can be done about the light-emitting slots in your saber in regards to machining them/cutting them into the MHS piece. I'm also inclined to favor Halon's idea for the slots- fewer and wider slits seem more aesthetically pleasing (imo) than a multitude of thin slits, and they would also be easier to machine/cut.

As for lighting up those slots, having them lit up by the same LED that lights up the blade is pretty much out of the question, because then you have to deal with all the issues Jedi Loreen brought up.

If you want cyan, the closest you'll get is probably by using EL wire. I've never actually done work with EL because it seems like too much of a pain to strip properly, LED blades outshine EL blades, and I never tried for accent lighting. Nevertheless, it seems to me that a bundle of EL wire + a diffuser would do the job lighting up those slots. It would be too much of a pain to try and use a strand of EL per slot, IE putting a piece of EL in each slot for individual lighting. Now, if you choose the EL route, here's another thing to consider- the EL wire needs an inverter. So you need to figure out placement of the inverter, plus batteries, plus possible room for a sound card and speaker since it sounds like you want to leave open the possibility of a sound upgrade for the future.

In the end, the simplest way to light up the slots is probably going to be the 5mm LEDs that Halon suggested. It won't be true cyan, but you could probably get a neat blue-green-ish look with a blue and a green LED + diffuser.

[Jeb Ardunis]

I'm really liking the feedback I'm getting here. It's good to see how much information I'm gaining on this just by having a few people toss in their ideas and expertise. :D

On the slot lighting issue, just to hash it out, they don't have to necessarily be cyan. I could settle for a blue or green, more than likely blue as it's more cyan-like as opposed to green. I'm really leaning toward LED since the wiring aspect of it would be fairly less complicated as opposed to EL. Sure EL could be bunched, but the wiring versus space issue would probably cause me way too much difficulty to assemble.

My hands suck as it is when it comes to soldering, let alone tight spaces. I'm not sure how I'd go about the LEDs being set up as well as the sink so obviously the thing doesn't overheat. I mean I could assemble the saber piece by piece, (ie: speaker in the pommel first, driver, etc, etc.) basically trying to literally build it from the bottom up. I really don't have anyone to help me assemble it once I get the parts lined up, so for now, I'm on my own.

Before I make the issue more complicated than it really is, I'll silence myself and yield to the floor.

[ArkaiHalon]

yes, that's a covertec near the emitter. Seemed like a good place for it.


as for the lighted section, I've got an idea I'll draw up and post in a bit.
I think it will do the job pretty well.

[Hasid Lafre]

I think it could be done. but again I agree that may slots wouldent be impratical.

[ArkaiHalon]

I apologize in advance, I'm not a schematic artist.

Using an ultra board as the sound board, keep it, the speaker, batteries in the slotted grip section. drill a hole in a heat sink large enough to put ina 5mm holder, and pt it in place. the heat sink will be held between the two MHS sections just like the main one is held by the blade holder. make use of the existing holes (maybe add a couple extra) in the heat sink to run wires through. a diffusser of some time (small section of film or something) behind the cutouts will diffuse the light enough to hide the wires.

http://k-squared.com/Lightsabers/jebsaber%20schematic%20idea.JPG

[Hasid Lafre]

You could put a crystal chassis in there.

[ArkaiHalon]

well, yeah if you wanted to do it the EASY way. :wink:

[gundamaniac]

I see, Halon. I wasn't quite sure because the Covertec looked upside-down and so I thought you may have been using the part to represent something else, say a knob greeblie or something. And btw, Halon, you're a genius. I never would have thought of using the TCSS heatsink to mount the 5mm LED easily and quickly like that.

Just a question though, because your schematic brought up a few questions I'd like answered for my own project- is there really enough room inside TCSS sections to mount an Ultraboard to a battpack like you have shown in your diagram? Space is kinda tight in the TCSS modules. Also, Jeb, something to consider would be wiring up a recharge port into the saber. Sure, it's more hassle to wire up, but it's much much less hassle to plug in the recharger and charge up your saber than pulling out the battery pack, plopping out battereis, etc. And it saves money in the long run because you aren't constantly replacing batteries =D

As for diffusing the 5mm LED's light, I'd stick to diffusing film as opposed to the crystal idea- with the crystal, you'd still be able to see wires running up to the Luxeon LED. I'd think film would look better. But I personally wouldn't use Corbin's blade film for this type of application. IMO, using gelukhan-style film would be very neat if you could accomplish it, because when the 5mm LED is off, the film would look like an inner tube of metal behind the slots...but when the LED gets turned on, then the film would be illuminated. And that stuff diffuses light beautifully. Mounting the film would be pretty simple- just take the film, roll it up, then tape it to the inside walls of your lightsaber. Seems like the easiest way to diffuse the slot light to me.

Man, this just makes me want to build a saber with illuminated slots now...

[ArkaiHalon]

i've never actually used an ultra (hard to get) but i've seen other posts where ( i think it's Erv's board) it's hot glued to the battery pack.

and yes, i just realized teh covertec is upside down. :oops:

as for the slots, I thinkthe crystal would be cool. still get teh light up effect, but also get to see the "power inside". and it's only 2 wires that would be routed thru that area, so i'm sure some forethought could reduce visiblity, or even make use of them for effect (wrapped around the struts in the crystal chassis might look good.).

[Hasid Lafre]

hiding the wires wouldent be a problem.

A KISS version would be 2 washers with 2 holes drilled in them, to connect the 2 washers togeather use some sort of hollow bolt to run the wires thru.

[Jeb Ardunis]

While yeah, I've got motor skill issues, I'd like to think of this saber as being a KISS version, I'd really dig it being a sweet belt hanger. What's a little challenge when canon-wise it's not supposed to be easy? Hehe.

You know... I saw the crystals in the shop and it occurred to me that I could very well make a crystal matrix assembly. While the wires could be wrapped around the matrix assembly, maybe at the same time, the pos/neg leads could be ran parallel to the slots, using the non-cut portions of the tubing to run the wires up to the lux assembly. (I'm just going by rough wiring ideas to work with this.)

Putting a diffuser film or a gel to assist in illumination could work. I used to do lighting in college theatre, so I'm sure I can find some off the wall gel colors to work with it. I'd have to toy around with the blue or green LED's lighting effect against the gel, plus, with the wires running along the non-cut portion of the slots to hide the wires. I'm sure there's a way to make a masking system to hide the wires if people happen to be picky and see them through the illum slots. Plus with that I'm sure the crystal assembly can still be rigged up. (Let me know if I'm getting carried away here...) Either way, I like both ideas as the diffusing gel would illuminate nicely, and the crystal would actually be like "See? I harvested a crystal for my lightsaber!"

Now the batt-pack being built in, maybe dropping a cut to mount the charge plug somewhere in the grip so a flap could cover it, or as I've seen on some designs, a hinged access port of some type? I know far too well of the troubles of popping out packs to recharge. *lol* Amateur radio is one way to learn a lot about that. The only thing that would have to be left for consideration is making ease of having to replace the pack if a cell starts to go out, or in a worse case scenario starts to reverse polarity.

I think we're really going places here. Now why do I think that I'm starting to make people want illuminated slots? *lol*

[Jeb Ardunis]

Okay, so I decided to attempt a really crappy wiring schematic, so pardon any "missing wires" or incorrect looks. This is merely to get the idea across. Plus it's five in the morning, and well, I'm not so technical minded.

http://www.meierdesign.us/images/max/jebroughwiring.jpg

So, on this little schematic, I decided that we'd stick with the sink/LED mount as opposed to a crystal chassis. Also, I added in a recharge port and battery pack.

Now if you notice, once the wires are past the switch, they're ran along between the cut-outs, using the material there to hide their presence. If a gel is used in conjunction with the LED, in theory, I would think the wires would be hidden from view.

As for the recharge port/plug, I just tossed it on the lower end of the hilt, above the speaker. I don't know if/how the plug could be mounted so the pack can be plugged in straight to the charger without removing the pack. Since I'm rather tired, go ahead and start telling me what I'm doing wrong, or thinking wrong here. I just hope this schem gets the idea across.

[gundamaniac]

I'd recommend moving the recharge port up near the secondary 5mm LED, between its heatsink and the battery pack. Then use a common trick for your speaker- hotglue it to the bottom of your battery pack =D. Aside from that, your schematic looks pretty good.

For this specific schematic, where the crystal chassis is not being used, placement of the wires should hardly matter, since some sort of gel or film would be covering up the illuminated slots.

And while I personally like the film-over-the-slot solution more because it's simple and would look pretty neat (using gelukhan/ultra film)...I have to admit that the crystal chassis, if you could pull it off, would look very neat.

[Jeb Ardunis]

I'm about half tempted to see what a chassis/gel/led trio would turn out. *l*

[gundamaniac]

That's an idea...take apart the saber, and you've got your crystal. But with it closed, you'd have the gel/film over the slots...

That'd be really cool!

[Jeb Ardunis]

I posted it somewhere in the LED threads... but anyhow, I know there's a Lux III and Lux V Cyan, but I heard somewhere there's a K2? Correct me if I'm wrong of course. I'm just overly fixated on the whole color. *lol* It's something that fits my character. Of course when people find out what he is, I'll get flamed for going against canon. *lol*

[gundamaniac]

I believe there is a k2 cyan, but upon searching Tim's shop, I couldn't find it. Maybe I just scanned to quickly.

And lemme guess the reason you'll be flamed...are you Sith? Using Cyan?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

There are cyan K2's, but it looks like Tim hasn't got any on the site that are mounted to a star. You'd have to ask Tim about it.

[Strydur]

That is because Cyan's are very bin specific and you can easily get green instead of the aqua color. I can only be guaranteed color if I order many at a time.

[Jeb Ardunis]

Ah, makes perfect sense. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't hallucinating or something. :lol: I've yet to decide which would be better for this application, but I'm sure that when I do, I'll be able to wait for the right part.

[gundamaniac]

Jeb, if you're still thinking about o-ringing any part of your lightsaber, Tim just got colored o-rings in. If you're still going with the cyan blade, I think the blue rings would look pretty neat if you still want to o-ring up any part of your saber- http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/pc-951-7-1-316-id-blue-o-ring.aspx