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View Full Version : HELP!!! New to saber construction/first mhs



jaiden_teed
01-01-2008, 10:08 AM
hi all, i have decided its time for me to build my first saber, and im completely useless at building anything i thought the best route would to use mhs parts.

now the only problem i have is knowing whether all the electronics i'll need for what i want will fit.

I'm after a smallish hilt. i have chosen to just use 3 sections hilt style 4, blade holder 6 and pummel 3. Now for the electronics i'll want the saber to have a kind of fade in fade out effect to the blade dont know if there is a name for the effect, and sound. i was also thinking of putting a crystal chamber in all that as well, will i be able to add these things into a hilt that is a little under 10 inches and the main part of the hilt will actually only be 7inches?!?

sorry if all this sounds dumb i have never attempted anything like this before

ArkaiHalon
01-01-2008, 10:39 AM
First
Welcome to the Forums.

Second
I do not beleive that will all fit in the saber you are contemplating.

Lord Maul
01-01-2008, 10:49 AM
My MHS hilt has everything you stated, and the hilt is a shade over 14 inches. That is the BARE MINIMUM. You have no idea how tight a fit it is in the hilt.

jaiden_teed
01-01-2008, 11:28 AM
so say if i wanted to keep it that short what would i have to leave out? thanks btw

Tom Starkiller
01-01-2008, 11:41 AM
so say if i wanted to keep it that short what would i have to leave out? thanks btw

The crystal chamber.

TimeRender
01-01-2008, 07:41 PM
I would suggest that you start by familiarizing yourself with the components before making any decisions about your saber. It is clear that you haven't decided on an electronics setup yet, and you won't know how much hilt space you need until you make that decision. Do some more research, make a few decisions, and then come back with more questions. Also, since this is your first saber you would be wise to avoid making it overly complex. Crystal chambers can be difficult to make, and you may want some experience with soldering before you spend a lot of money on expensive electronics kits. Remember that you can always upgrade your electronics later on when you have a better understanding of what you're doing. Cheers!

vortextwist
01-01-2008, 07:58 PM
completely agree with tiemrender;
with that short of hilt you would be hard pressed to just get a 4AAA batt pack and an mr board. My bro tried it and he had to add lots of hilt. lol. An MR board or a corbin driver would work for ya, the fade in out you can get from a corbin board but you will not have sound. good luck

Darth Morbius
01-01-2008, 10:02 PM
I would suggest that you start by familiarizing yourself with the components before making any decisions about your saber. It is clear that you haven't decided on an electronics setup yet, and you won't know how much hilt space you need until you make that decision. Do some more research, make a few decisions, and then come back with more questions. Also, since this is your first saber you would be wise to avoid making it overly complex. Crystal chambers can be difficult to make, and you may want some experience with soldering before you spend a lot of money on expensive electronics kits. Remember that you can always upgrade your electronics later on when you have a better understanding of what you're doing. Cheers!


Very sound advice there. :)

Also, you may want to start simple, then work your way up.

My recommendation would be to begin with a simple resistored setup to get the basics. Or maybe even a buckpuck setup.

This way you can familiarize yourself with how everything goes together. Then you can work up to a soundboard and driver system if you like.

Remeber, you can always add to the MHS as your saber evolves. Start small... then go bigger. ;)

jaiden_teed
01-02-2008, 05:45 AM
thanks guys for all the great advise :D

Ghostbat
01-02-2008, 10:51 AM
You could get the master replicas board from the newer modular radio shack saber in there (I posted a teardown of the saber recently somewhere here, not sure what the new link is though). You could use it pretty much as is and get sound, the fade in/out, and have room for the battery pack. It's pretty compact. The only downside there is that it's designed for a low power 1watt LED so you won't get the brightness of using a separate LED driver. I think you could easily get the buckpuck in there as well but would lose the fade. I haven't used the LED driver board yet so I'm not sure how much room it takes up or how much heat it gives off.

DarthFender
01-02-2008, 11:04 AM
hi all, i have decided its time for me to build my first saber, and im completely useless at building anything i thought the best route would to use mhs parts.

now the only problem i have is knowing whether all the electronics i'll need for what i want will fit.

sorry if all this sounds dumb i have never attempted anything like this before

I think if you can get a good soundboard that drives the Luxeon like the UltraSound or Erv's Crystal Focus, and scrap the idea of the crystal chamber, you should be able to fit all that as long as you are not using a LuxV (too many batteries.) You will need to plan carefully. You might also need to sacrifice a little run-time for battery space by using AAAs instead of AAs. Tee trick will be getting a good board. If you can do without the sound, you could still get the "fade-in/out" effect using the 3w Lux Driver sold at The Store.

All in all, about 3' for battery. 2 in for the board, and about another inch or so for the associated wiring. I think it could be done. http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/images/icons/icon14.gif
Thumbs up

TimeRender
01-02-2008, 12:53 PM
As far as I know, neither of those boards are even available at the moment. It sounds as though this is his first time doing anything like this, so it might be better if he started with something a little less complicated anyway. Try driving the LED directly off the battery with a resistor just to get you used to soldering. Then if you still want sound and blade effects, you can upgrade later. Trust me though, if you've never done any soldering before you will appreciate the practice before you invest in a circuit board that costs at least 80 dollars.

Drichar Deis
12-09-2008, 12:37 PM
As already stated above, start simple.

I ordered MHS parts an age ago to construct a maul style LED saber,

Since then I have played with the parts and decided on a 2-handed saber, and a back-hand saber, ie Ashoka style.

Now I am only just beginning to play with sound.

Patience is a virtue unbenownst to some......

Darth Leximus
12-09-2008, 01:23 PM
Well I hope he has some patience, seeing as this thread is from almost a year ago! :p

Count Malik
12-09-2008, 06:45 PM
*True That*:cool:

Darth Demens
12-09-2008, 08:05 PM
Never mind

mmafighter
12-09-2008, 09:57 PM
You could try an MR conversion... That would give you some experience with soldering and wiring, then move to your initial saber with everything you'd want in it... just a suggestion tho...