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View Full Version : So, I've got the design, now what?



enigma1337
11-22-2009, 07:24 PM
So it's been about a year since i've discovered tcss and i've finally settled on a design and color of the blade and more or less what i want to tweak about it.

but i need some help, ive searched the forums numerous times and i'd just like to see the info all together so i have a good reference area.

I can post the design that i settled on if you want (what img host site should i use?) and the color would be a Royal Blue LED, but (as im sure you all want) i want it very bright and a solid core. I assume with the amount of experience collected under this roof, you lot would be the best to give me suggestions--i mean once i get a good working saber i'll experiment with the different blades/filters/tips/diffusers/double/quad etc, but for now its getting there :P

such as power requirements/batteries/recharge port/ accent LEDs even ideas will be considered haha and i'll bounce some of you too

annnyywayyy that was a long post but i would be very grateful for the help :D and to be a nice new saber engineering buddy

Shadar Al'Niende
11-22-2009, 07:44 PM
You will have to give us a bit more to go off of, what type of LED are you planning on using? Direct drive? Sound? What is the approximate length, what do you plan on using it for? dueling? show? etc etc etc... post up a pic, explain what you plan on doing and then ask our opinion on it...otherwise, we don't know what to give you our opinion on ;)

*edit* there are lots of image hosting sites, i use photobucket, but anything will do.

enigma1337
11-22-2009, 09:47 PM
Ohh haha of course, i forgot to mention those, I was thinking K2, at least if K2 is the best royal blue led here, and really i dont know i guess i have some more homework to do and read up on butteredtoast, crystalfocus, US2.5 haha
yes sound

and maybe a little dueling but not much, and is there a height to length ratio or is it just personal preference?

here it is, and the sink tube is for an overlay i had in mind
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff216/enigma_1337/SaberBuilder_new.png

Jedi-Loreen
11-22-2009, 11:59 PM
Ok, first, you've got screws going into threads and so is that switch. You'd need to have that switch hole put in the center of that extension piece.

What are those 2 button head screws for? Your blade retention screw needs to be moved up away from the threads. Is that a read acetate screw on the side? What's that for? It's also in the threads of the blade holder and the choke.

Your Covertec button it upside down, but you'll figure that out when you actually have yours. ;)

You can't just order a CF any time you want, they only come up for sale a couple times a year and they are gone in minutes, and the US 2.5s are out of stock. You'll need another solution if you want sound.

Try the new sleeve material that's in the Store, it's aluminum tubing that's thicker than sink tube for making shrouds.

Length is kind of a personal preference. My sabers are around 11".


Oh, and "buttered toast" and Crystal Focus (Saber Core) are the same things. You do need to do some homework. :rolleyes:

Shadar Al'Niende
11-23-2009, 07:21 AM
I would also add that depending on your internals, you will need a longer saber if you plan on keeping the v-grooved ribbed section. The ribbed section is only 1" ID and so you will have a hard time fitting batteries, soundboards, or anything really except maybe wires.

Crystal Chambers
11-23-2009, 08:16 AM
Looks like a potentially nice looking saber. Not sure about the switch placement, acetate screw, switch, or holes next to it as J-Lo pointed out.

Also seems to me that you intend to use a sinktube/mhs adapter to mount an overlay. If I'm correct you may be missing a thread to connect your MHS. The adapters are only threaded on one side.
Sinktube adapters are usually used to mount blade holders to sinktubes and not meant to be used with sabers made from MHS end to end. Most overlays can be held in place with your blade retention screw, switches, or covertec. 1.5" sinktube will fit nice but the chrome will show brass on cut edges because it's chrome plated. The aluminum sleeve here is thicker.


I'm sure you meant blade length....From what I recall hilt sizes seem to range from 8" - 14". Shadar Al'Niende makes a good point that making sure you have space inside your hilt is key. You may find yourself needing to make compromises in your design to allow for the upgrades you want.

For the blade, I would suggest using a wooden dowel and seeing how long you're comfortable with keeping in mind that almost 2" will be inside the blade holder and if you like to twirl it, you don't want it to hit the ground.

Doing your research here really pays off. Sometimes the info your looking for is hard to find but you'll learn a lot while your searching.

Jedi-Loreen
11-23-2009, 11:54 AM
Oh, that's a sink tube adapter, that explains the button head screws, I've never used one, or played with it in the MHS Builder. Then it really makes no sense putting that in the middle of a hilt. There are only threads on one end, anyway. I think he needs to learn how the parts go together and how do use them.

I didn't think about the smaller ID in the ribbed and V-grooved sections, because I've never used either of those in a build.

He could have meant hilt length, not blade length. But he'll have to tell us which he really meant.

Shadar Al'Niende
11-23-2009, 12:25 PM
You could put a 4" or 5" double female extension between the choke and ribbed section. I personally like my sabers between 11 and 13 inches in length and so have not been able to successfully incorporate a choke and ribbed section in my designs...

enigma1337
11-23-2009, 03:53 PM
Well the thing is, and you're all helping a lot, but. I just got excited because I got my design finished, so I need to read up more on the dimensions, more when I get back home (an MHS builder on iPhone would be a great app :P)

and about BT and CF I knew basically what they are, I just figured I'd get q better description

and I had looked on the site on how to use the sink tube adaptor since I didn't know how that's why it's in there like that

And as far as the screws going through the threads, if the two pieces are permanently affixed would that be fine? Since I'm new this could be a stupid question, but couldn't you also drill and tap a hole while two pieces are threaded together and use those screws, knobs, switches etc as a sort of locking pin

and i was wondering about both blade and hilt, but mainly the blade, and at 12.65 in I guess this is a semi-hefty hilt?

Shadar Al'Niende
11-23-2009, 04:49 PM
And as far as the screws going through the threads, if the two pieces are permanently affixed would that be fine? Since I'm new this could be a stupid question, but couldn't you also drill and tap a hole while two pieces are threaded together and use those screws, knobs, switches etc as a sort of locking pin

This would tend to be more pain than its worth and the pieces will hold together just fine after being screwed together.


and at 12.65 in I guess this is a semi-hefty hilt?

I try to make all of mine between 11 and 13 which you will find is pretty normal, anything over 13 i would classify as on the hefty side :D

Jedi-Loreen
11-23-2009, 07:18 PM
If something happened to your LED, or you decided you wanted to be able to swap it for another color, then getting your blade holder unscrewed would be difficult.

I usually see the word "hefty" is used to describe something heavy, rather than long. :p

enigma1337
11-23-2009, 09:02 PM
ah ok, i knew they wouldnt be needed as locking pins but i just want to stay as close the design as possible and i did a bunch more reading and have been making sheets of notes. hopefully i dont have to change too much of the design to get it to work how i want it to :P

Firedrops
11-24-2009, 05:52 AM
I have another 2 suggestion for sound, one will be SaberForge's Sabersound 1.0, which is basically the same price as a MR board, pretty much the same features, but much better(more sounds, 10v output so it can power LuxVs,rebels and stuff), it's almost always in stock, since he designed it to take over MR boards.
Another one would be Hyperdyne's board, seriously, you guys should give him more credit, CF was basically copied off Hyperdyne's(so i heard, no offence, but stop flaming them everywhere), and now Hyperdyne just got improved with its new version.

Crystal Chambers
11-24-2009, 06:41 AM
The hyperdyne website must be way...way outta date because I don't see any new version and the only way i can take one of their sabers out in a field and get sound is to bring my laptop...silly. And they also cost more then crystal focus....ridiculous

That's not me flaming them. That's them flaming themselves!

Hold on give them a minute......

...while they turn on their PC and speakers......

......singe! There it is. lol

Kal El Rah
11-24-2009, 01:12 PM
CC, Hyper is working on a new cheaper board ATM, his site will be updated when it's ready for release. :rolleyes:

enigma1337
11-24-2009, 08:52 PM
well ive got a very basic saber design to start off with -- cut it down quite a bit to just get my foot in the door--
-36" corbin battle blade 1" OD
-blade holder 12 powder-coated black if possible
-Royal Blue k2 kit
-quick connect
-heatshrink
-black 8-32 thumb screw
-mps clip
-pommel 4 powdercoat black if possible
-mps insert 6
-spst momentary guarded switch with blue button
-fluted main piece with guarded switch hole powdercoat black if possible

everything seem in order?

Crystal Chambers
11-25-2009, 09:02 AM
The choke and covertec?

I'm not sure about fluted sections but you should make sure the measurements will fit your battery holder and allow room for a future soundcard and speaker upgrade if you want one.

Look in the shop part of the site under services/powdercoat and somewhere on the page it will have linksd to the powdercoat ordercodes. It shows how you can select areas of a part or the whole part to be coated...cool stuff.

enigma1337
11-25-2009, 09:30 AM
Oh yeah I forgot the fluted section might have a smaller ID like the ribbed ext, I'll check that

and this is just basically a prototype build just to get it built and see/learn how to do it so I'm going to be using parts from this anyway

the lack of the covertec button was just to really make this first purchase a little cheaper
and yeah I do remember seeing the powdercoating service in there I just remember reading there's a service Tim wasn't doing right now?

Oh yeah and now I've got my sig made!

Shadar Al'Niende
11-25-2009, 01:29 PM
I believe the fluted section is the standard 1.25" ID but could be wrong, Tim is now doing PC'ing again, fixed that about a week ago ;)

enigma1337
11-27-2009, 12:04 PM
well thats good :D

man ive got so many ideas running through my head right now--especially to do with the main led and the blade--since ive never seen any of these leds in person its hard to decide--Royal Blue K2? Rebel? V? P4? then thinwall? thickwall? diffusers? films?

i've read about all of them numerous times, just what makes it difficult is that everyone is circling opinions or preferences. so of the Royal/Dark Blues you've seen, which looks the best? i've been trying to find what each looks like in that color but since a lot of photobuckets have been deleted or for some other reason not displaying i cant see them always. Or maybe we can update the Comparison threads, i'm sure some people have gotten new leds since that last post

anyway, derailed, just mulling over all the choices :p

Shadar Al'Niende
11-27-2009, 12:10 PM
Side note here...my first saber was a royal blue lux III, looking back i would have chosen differently as it is the dimmest color led and i would have liked something a little brighter. That being said, it STILL lights up my bedroom plenty bright :D

enigma1337
11-27-2009, 12:25 PM
yeah i was noticing that, so its royal blue thats the dimmest and green and white that are the brightest right?

Jay-gon Jinn
11-27-2009, 09:02 PM
well ive got a very basic saber design to start off with -- cut it down quite a bit to just get my foot in the door--
-36" corbin battle blade 1" OD
-blade holder 12 powder-coated black if possible
-Royal Blue k2 kit
-quick connect
-heatshrink
-black 8-32 thumb screw
-mps clip
-pommel 4 powdercoat black if possible
-mps insert 6
-spst momentary guarded switch with blue button
-fluted main piece with guarded switch hole powdercoat black if possible

everything seem in order?

I'd add a choke to it, like this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/SaberBuilder_render_ENIGMA.png

You'll need to add a guarded switch to your order, the kits do not have them available as an option. I would skip the K2, though. It requires 1500ma to light up, and will drain your batteries faster.

There is nothing really wrong with a Lux III Royal blue....it may be dimmer than the Lux III Blue, or the P4 blue, but I've used the Royal Blue before, and was happy with the deep shade of blue that it provides.

If you don't intend to do any heavy type of dueling with this saber, then I'd go with a standard TCSS thin-walled show blade. If you wanted to, you could also add a roll of cellophane clear gift wrap to that to increase it's brightness a bit.

enigma1337
11-27-2009, 10:58 PM
That was a very helpful post Jay-gon :D

I divided this saber into 3 phases, and thats actually the 2nd phase of the build (w/o choke, w/choke, and i'm going to try the first version i posted). and yeah i realized i had to order the switch separate. I just figured since the K2 was cheaper and brighter even though it was 1500ma (btw, ma=milliamps right?), that i would get it first. regardless, Lux III is probably a better option starting out anyway haha as long as its brighter than my stock mr maul i'm fine :p

and no i really dont plan on any dueling, especially seeing them go through what nova puts them through, i dont think i need a thick-walled blade ha but does the thick-wall add to any sort of diffusion? (i remember reading about it possibly being dimmer, but nothing about the other effects)

Jay-gon Jinn
11-28-2009, 10:34 PM
A thick-walled blade may actually make it dimmer. If you want it to be as bright as possible, I'd stick to a thin-walled type of blade.

enigma1337
11-29-2009, 12:48 AM
yeah i figured as much

recently i undertook the challenge of converting a .45 scale ep V vader saber to hold a blade and led--only thing is, i didnt realize how difficult wiring a simple saber is when not only have i never done so, but my first attempt is .45 in scale. at least i successfully gutted it and have a plan on how i will do it--what really bright led can i power off 2 size N batteries and not have it sear my hand? haha i should only need .45 scale brightness

Jay-gon Jinn
11-29-2009, 11:51 PM
yeah i figured as much

recently i undertook the challenge of converting a .45 scale ep V vader saber to hold a blade and led--only thing is, i didnt realize how difficult wiring a simple saber is when not only have i never done so, but my first attempt is .45 in scale. at least i successfully gutted it and have a plan on how i will do it--what really bright led can i power off 2 size N batteries and not have it sear my hand? haha i should only need .45 scale brightness
If you use a red one, just about any ultrabright or high brightness 3mm or 5mm led should work.

enigma1337
11-30-2009, 12:09 AM
Think there's a way to get a blade
that small that you know of?

Jedi-Loreen
11-30-2009, 11:17 AM
How small? 1/2"? 3/8"? 3/8 is the smallest I know of in polycarbonate tubing, if that's what you want. But you'll have to get that on your own.

enigma1337
11-30-2009, 03:38 PM
I was just basically asking what's the smallest you've seen, but that pretty much answers that :)

enigma1337
12-26-2009, 12:26 PM
so i just received my parts for my first saber, and i dont know who else has used blade holder 12, but whoever has, (and if you got a blade retention screw in the "top" of the holder) does the blade retention screw line up with the switch hole on the main body (if youre using one)? but other than all that, these parts a quality, i mean i thought i knew what to expect, but it takes seeing the pieces in person, and the packaging job was better than almost any company ive ordered from. so i'm very pleased with everything else, just that minor hickup that isnt even really a big deal, i'll take a picture in a bit

edit: nvm fixed the problem with an o-ring

$tarkiller
02-12-2010, 07:06 PM
You'll be suprised at what O-rings can do for you. Just try not to unscrew the parts alot, otherwise you'll end up killing the o-ring and having to put a new one on every 3-4 times you need to unscrew parts.