MachinedFX Starkiller conversion by Vader's Vault

[FenderBender]

Hey Everybody!

So, like many others we ordered a Starkiller saber from MachinedFX back in December. Well, we just got it about 2 weeks ago and sat while we decided what to do with it. Also, like many others, our saber came with some...."issues" that needed to be addressed if we were going to convert it. We had ordered ours with electronics, so it came with the typical lamp lit plastic glob for a crystal, and a luxeon LED sitting on a ring, no heatsink. It also had this kind of sinktube cap thingy for a pommel and didn't really think that it fit the look of the saber well. So......things we changed in order to get it sound ready:

Heatsink: As stated it didn't come with one, and with a properly (or even halfway) driven LUX III you need one, so we machined one out of aluminum and left a tail on it to come down into the crystal chamber window and to add to the decorative look of the crystal chamber. We wanted the crystal chamber to be both as realistic looking and as fully functional as possible. We made the heatsink with a tapered kind of disc pattern that gives the look of a functional piece of the saber as well as serving as the heatsink. I took some file edges to the heatsink while it was on the lathe to kind of roughen it up to keep with the "well used" look of a weathered saber.

Brass Rod: Like everyone else, we were supposed to get one, and, like many others we got shorted. So I threaded a brass rod into the bottom of the heatsink and then dimpled the end so that the very tip of the crystal goes into it to give it a more cohesive look than just a rod hanging down into the chamber.

Crystal: The original had a plastic hunk that I guessed could have passed for a crystal at a distance. But I wasn't going to go through all this trouble and not put a REAL quartz crystal in there ;D

Crystal holder: I wanted the crystal to be properly housed as well as have a custom chassis for the soundboard. So I machined a custom aluminum crystal holder that also serves as the head of the soundboard/speaker chassis. The holder is also vented to allow sound from the rear of the speaker to come through the crystal window to help enhance the sound quality.

Soundboard Chassis: I wanted something to securely hold the soundboard and still fit in the space constrained interior of the Starkiller. So using the Crystal holder as a base, I mounted the board and speaker assembly to it with standoffs making the whole assembly rigid and streamlined to fit in the 1" interior..

Batteries: As mentioned, the Starkiller is kind of stingy on its interior space due to the peep-show you get with the crystal window ;D So I went with a pair of 14500 Li-Ions wired in parrallel for 3.7V 1800mah.

Pommel: It didn't really have one :P It came with a painted sink tube cap. So I went back out to the shop and made a custom one out of aluminum and it houses the recharge/kill port. This also gives some added weight to the rear of the saber to better balance it.

Switch: I didn't change it. I felt that the switch in the covertec was fine as it maintained the reverse grip activation used by the character in the game and was appropriately placed for this purpose.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the conversion, It will make someone a great costume accessory or display piece. We took a frog and made a prince! I chalk this experience up to the note that we learned what we are and what we aren't going to do with the Vader's Vault Limited Edition Starkiller run that we are working on.

It will be going on eBay in the next few days unless we get an offer we can't refuse first ;) So keep an eye out for it!

The Pics:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6562.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6562.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6581.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6581.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6579.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6579.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6565.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6565.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6571.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6571.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6573.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6573.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6576.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6576.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6583.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6583.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6578.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6578.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6569.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6569.jpg)

The Custom Crystal Holder and soundboard/speaker chassis:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6556.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6556.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6557.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6557.jpg)

The Optics assembly with custom heatsink and brass rod:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6558.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6558.jpg)

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6586.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6586.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6588.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6588.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6589.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6589.jpg)http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/th_100_6590.jpg (http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q169/AJFenderBender/?action=view&current=100_6590.jpg)

The Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YElQYpVHJpg

[Kal El Rah]

Nice redo on that Fender, another winner! :mrgreen:8)

[chaos]

Thats looking good Fender. You've made some great improvements!!

I ordered mine back in late October and I'm STILL waiting for it, at this point I don't think I'll ever get it. Good luck with the sale.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Great job. I like what you have done with the heat sink and crystal chamber.

[sekrogue1985]

man that is so sweet! nicely done. i will so get one of your sabers someday.

[DJMoonbass]

same here. i just want to bask in your awsomeness. man...... i hope to learn some machining tricks from you one day.

[Sairon]

No offense to machinedfx, but Fender made this saber a thousand times cooler.

[JediMasterDak]

That is amazing Fender!!! SK's saber is soooooooooooooo sweeet and this one looks awesome!!!! :o:o:o:D:D:D

[$tarkiller]

Gosh, I don't know if you've heard this already, but good job on that saber! Out of all the original hilts I have seen in the SW universe, the SK saber is awesome!

[ToNIC]

First of all, I am sorry to abuse this thread of yours, Fender. But I didnt want to open a new thread. I have just one little question:
I also got a MachinedFX saber a while ago, and now I wanted to convert it from a red glowing saber to a blue one. Luckily enough, I found a blue acrylic crystal here in the store. Now I need a blue LED:
Does anybody know what kind of LED I have to buy, that fits easily into the MachinedFX saber?

I thank you in advance for any help I can get here :-P


Greetings,
ToNIC

[Barmic Rin]

No offense to machinedfx, but Fender made this saber a thousand times cooler.

Hurl any offence you want to MachinedFX/Tattoosby5, they're customer service is shoddy!!!

It took over two months for me to get my Zayne hilt, and as you can see, Chaos is still waiting 11 MONTHS later!!!!!!

Fender & Allaera are fantastic at polishing these little poopy logs into something usable.

Personally, i'd avoid MFX the same way I will never touch Starfortress products.

ToNIC, I bought my hilt from them un-luxed, so can't help you there.

[FenderBender]

First of all, I am sorry to abuse this thread of yours, Fender. But I didnt want to open a new thread. I have just one little question:
I also got a MachinedFX saber a while ago, and now I wanted to convert it from a red glowing saber to a blue one. Luckily enough, I found a blue acrylic crystal here in the store. Now I need a blue LED:
Does anybody know what kind of LED I have to buy, that fits easily into the MachinedFX saber?

I thank you in advance for any help I can get here :-P


Greetings,
ToNIC

You can also find the LED here in the store, I would suggest you buy the electronics kit here http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Luxeon-III-Electronics-Kit-P6.aspx or here http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Seoul-P4-Electronics-Kit-P469.aspx at TCSS and choose blue. I would then highly recommend buying this http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Luxeon-star-heatsink--P220.aspx . The MachinedFX sabers are not heatsinked (J-LO?), which is why most folks get them "upgraded", so you really need to find a solution for that. This heatsink that Tim sells can be modded IMO to work. You will
have to do some modding.

[ThreeQuadFive]

FYI just saw this on MachinedFX's site:

"Due to my health I will no longer be taking any new orders.I worked my self into an early grave with these.I am 5'8" and down to 112 pounds.
I am still shipping outstanding orders,if you have not received your saber yet and did not get an email update last month please email me your name,address and what you ordered At starkillerhelp@yahoo.com and i will be sure to get it to you. Do not use the gmail address.Please only email me if you have not received your saber yet.All i want is your order info so i can make sure you get your saber. "

[chaos]

FYI just saw this on MachinedFX's site:

"Due to my health I will no longer be taking any new orders.I worked my self into an early grave with these.I am 5'8" and down to 112 pounds.
I am still shipping outstanding orders,if you have not received your saber yet and did not get an email update last month please email me your name,address and what you ordered At starkillerhelp@yahoo.com and i will be sure to get it to you. Do not use the gmail address.Please only email me if you have not received your saber yet.All i want is your order info so i can make sure you get your saber. "

Thats been up for awhile now, I've sent numerous emails and STILL don't have it. Pretty much given up ever getting it.

Fender gave some good advise, I suggest listening to him.

[ThreeQuadFive]

Just for clarification I'm not defending the MFG, just wondered who had seen that and that it was probably a crock.

At any rate, Fender, that is such a s3xy saber, its rediculous!

I seriously want!!!

[ToNIC]

First of all, thank you for all your replies. I didnt know that the electronics were such a "mess" within the saber itself.
Maybe some should know that I didnt bought the saber directly by MachinedFx. I bought it from someone else who didnt want to keep it anymore.
I think I will try my luck with a "Build Your Own Luxeon III Electronics Kit".

It´s sad that here are members, too, who are still waiting for their ordered (and paid) sabers.