Shadar's "Mr. Green" (US 2.5 Custom)

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Figured that title would get your attention... :cool: :p

My last hilt was also my first (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=9179), haha. No, seriously. Being my first it was also quite cut and dry... Solder up the electronics (made easy by a US 2.5) slide it in the hilt, and screw everything together...BAM done. After completing it, i hungered for more! :D I wanted to do a build log with this next one since there is quite a bit more work going into this one.

Without further ado, on to the pics!


First a shot of everything layed out:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2061.jpg

I tried dremeling/sanding a 1.25 OD (1" ID reg plumbing PVC) Pipe to serve as my chassis, but using a couple pill bottles to hold my components became MUCH more what this design needed. First I used my tap after cutting a small hole, to ensure that my "chassis retention" screw would fit snugly.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2064.jpg

Then i used a knife and my dremel's sanding wheel to get a hole in the second pill bottle large enough to permit my AV, this will also hold the Speaker in reverse orientation

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2070.jpg

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2071.jpg

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2073.jpg

Here is a shot of the Chassis "down the throat" so to speak, you can see my crystal chamber in the rear if you look closely....don't worry, more on the chamber later!

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2065.jpg

And a couple pics from the outside, flash catching the crystal...

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2068.jpg

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2069.jpg

I was limited on time, so I only soldered up my LED, Lux V Green. First i soldered and heatshrunk (is that a word?!) my leads from the QD:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2074.jpg

Then soldered to the star/heatsink assembly (yes i know the thermal tape is somewhat crooked...sue me :D ):

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2075.jpg

Finally the BH/Choke/LED section is all mounted:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2076.jpg

I soldered the other end of the QD to the board, but no pic as of yet...i am hoping to finish up tonight or at least make significant progress as at least the internal custom pieces are in place. I will post more pics and an update when i can!

*UPDATE*

Here is a photo with the switch wires and accent Led's soldered on to the board:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2080.jpg

And here is one of the switch wired up:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2078.jpg

Here is a pic of the wiring all connected and ready for a bench test....

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/100_2175.jpg

And finally a short video of the initial bench test. Forgive the initial croak of "bench test" as i tend to get working and forget to drink anything :rolleyes: I have officially found out (as you may notice in the vid) that L1 on the US 2.5 is the standby blink LED, so i am going to have to re-wire the accent pads for the crystal chamber and the switch...

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/th_100_2176.jpg (http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/Saber%20Hilts/Lamnia/?action=view&current=100_2176.flv)

[cardcollector]

What's the toothbrush for???:confused::p

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Thread cleaning and oiling ;)

[cardcollector]

Ah, the insides look almost as good as the hilt so far. Good job.;)

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Good job so far. Now hurry up and finish so we can see more pics. :D

[$tarkiller]

What's the toothbrush for???:confused::p

I mean, I like to brush my teeth with them, while buildng sabers! :D:p
Good looking so far Shadar!

[cannibal869]

interesting build - looking forward to more pics :-D

At first I was also like "what's the toothbrush for?" and then I had a momentary flash of a jedi whipping out his saber before bedtime and flipping out the swiss-army knife like toothbrush attachment. lol....

[Vos Malek]

I said it on fx and I'll say it again here! Lookin good Mr. Shad! Hope you get those batteries soon so we can see that sucker light up! Oh, and I'm really diggin that crystal in the pommel!

[Jedi-Loreen]

Your build is coming along nicely. Enjoy your last US 2.5.

What is in that squeeze tube? I'm assuming it's not tooth paste. ;) :p

Those big holes for your "reverse sound" aren't terribly attractive, IMO.

And why did you extend the wires on the QD on the LED end?

I also think it's a little strange that you put the male end on the LED. I always put the female end there, it's easier to push on the locking tab when it's oriented that way.

I'm having trouble visualizing how the heck you're going to get the nut screwed onto that AV switch when the body of the switch is going into that pill bottle.

[Lan-Ja Hamil]

Great looking saber. Can't wait to see the pictures as you finish it up.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

I'm having trouble visualizing how the heck you're going to get the nut screwed onto that AV switch when the body of the switch is going into that pill bottle.


Yeah...had to do some redesigning tonight, apparently the insides were not well planned out.... :oops::oops::oops::oops::oops:

Still no batteries so more pics to come later, i took a couple but most likely will post tomorrow....

[Matt Thorn]

Yeah...had to do some redesigning tonight, apparently the insides were not well planned out.... :oops::oops::oops::oops::oops:
I think we've all been there, Shadar. :rolleyes: I learned the hard way to be cautious about where I place a switch that requires a nut on the inside. And most of my clever and beautiful chassis end up being hacked apart or discarded because of some miscalculation.

Looks great, though. It would be nice if you could get an accent light in that vented choke, so that the holes don't just look like holes. (And like J-Lo says, it'll probably be your last UltraSound for a while, so you might as well take advantage of the accent LED pins.)

BTW, I immediately recognized what the toothbrush is for. After getting a couple of MHS irreversibly stuck together, I've become almost paranoid about dirty threads. I was just brushing some threads today. :)

[Shadar Al'Niende]

I considered using an accent Led in the choke but decided not to for two reasons, 1. the Led wire runs through the choke and would look funny. I could deal with that by securing it to the inside of the choke so it didn't hang free, but for #2... i am using L1 for my crystal chamber and L2 for my AV and i really don't want to splice wires for my accent led's :(

Things have been redesigned due to my reverse sound, the speaker will have to go in AFTER the guts slide in and the port and switch are secured. To do this im going to have to have a lot of extra wire, but i have been practicing my Cram-Fu ;)

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Shadar, watch the video series on my youtube channel (specifically , part 30 and up)....you don't need to put the speaker in the center of the saber to get sound out of the front end.....just drill a few holes in the backside of an MHS speaker mount v3 to get the sound to come out of the backside. Just make sure there's nothing inside the saber to close off the middle completely. Trust me, it works. Another option is to use a piece of 1" conduit pvc to make your own speaker mount instead.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Thanks Jay-gon! I was planning on using PVC or just the pill bottle as a speaker mount as the pill bottle allows room for my led wires to pass through without modification...


2 More pics added...

The tip on my soldering iron is starting to show copper so i'm wondering if i will need to get new one soon... Also, still waiting on my 2x 3.7v cells from overseas, for those of you that don't know we are coming up on a month and no word. "I fear something terrible has happened." heh...

Things I still have to do:

Wire up the recharge port
Wire up the Battery pack
Wire up the speaker
Get my batteries in the mail and insert in saber :cool:

Putting the recharge port and switch in are going to be interesting... Didn't fully realize how the placement i chose would affect the construction of the hilt... I still think i can get it, it will just be difficult. My Cram-Fu will need to be at its best methinks....

[Shadar Al'Niende]

***UPDATE***

Batteries came in (YES!)
Wired up the recharge port
Wired up the Battery pack
Wired up the speaker

Added a pic of the guts
Added a short "initial Bench Test" video

Thanks to everyone for the idea of charging my batteries to fix the main LED issue. You just don't think of things like that late at night :oops:

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Another Update

I noticed before rewiring my switch/accent LED that the switch led and the main led did not light up but the accent did. Unfortunately the accent led was the standby blinky and i didn't want that for my crystal chamber....

So i rewired the accent LED and the switch to switch (no pun intended :p ) the wires. now my led in the switch lights up (L2) but not the accent led for the crystal chamber (L1). I resoldered the accent led a couple of times, tried additional led's and tested the led's on the L2 pads to verify that it wasn't the LED. I didnt think the accent led pads mattered as far as polarity but i tried changing neg and pos as well, all to no avail. In a rush to get this completed before i left town on the 23rd i stayed up late. in desperation i soldered my accent LED to L2 and got it to light up!

However, when i went to activate it, pressing once on the switch, it acts as if i am holding it down and boots into the setup menu... it then proceeds to cycle through the options in the setup menu as if i am continually holding down the button...

De-soldering is probably one of THE hardest things for me since i do not have the proper tools and i left my board in a sloppy mess over the holiday, hanging my head in despair.

I am sure most of you know the sick feeling in your stomach when you think of a project gone wrong and just have to give it some time before coming back to it. I believe i am ready to go back to it and attempt to desolder the main and accent leds and try again. (i plan on using on one of these to de-solder since i have an extra one lying around the house.)

http://www.nosesucker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/nose-sucker.bmp

*Quick recap*
Things that need doing...



De-solder and Re-wire the accent pads (L1 and L2)
De-solder and Re-wire the main LED
Assemble in the hilt

As always i will keep you posted... ;)

[Jedi-Loreen]

Um, that's not exactly a solder sucker, which I've always hated using. Isn't that for sucking mucus out of baby's noses and such?

You have to get those right down at the soldering iron tip to suck up the solder when it's liquid. That thing's just gonna melt and make a mess out of your iron tip and possibly your board.

The end of a solder sucker (desolder pump) has a sort heat resistant plastic on the end, not rubber.

I prefer using solder wick, also called desolder braid. Radio Shack has it.

Here's a page about desoldering, using both methods:
http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/desolder.htm

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Yes that is what it is for and was all i could think of... :p

Thanks for the tips! :D

*edit*

Something like this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder_wick) or this? (http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express-DESOLDERING-PUMP/dp/B0002KRAAG/ref=pd_cp_hi_0)

I couldn't find the wick on RS's website.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

It sounds to me like your switch is wired backwards...you have it set to be "Normally closed" when you want it to be "Normally Open." I've done it before myself, on CS-20.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

I will have to check when i get home but i am 99.9% certain that when using this as a guide:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x116/TaiDashan/momentarybillet.jpg

that i specifically left the NC prong un-soldered and isolated via heatshrink...

*edit* Now that i think of it, i believe the switch worked as normal before rewiring the accents... Just the LED didn't light up.

*edit edit* I went home and checked and yes, the only prong not soldered is the Normally Closed, the others are wired up as stated in the image above so that cannot be the issue... i did find this here (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062745#) that i think will do the job nicely... i will see about getting it and fixing up my wiring, makes me wonder if the L1 pad is simply bad....

[Matt Thorn]

The end of a solder sucker (desolder pump) has a sort heat resistant plastic on the end, not rubber.

I prefer using solder wick, also called desolder braid. Radio Shack has it.

Here's a page about desoldering, using both methods:
http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/desolder.htm
This was extremely informative.Thanks, J-Lo. I've been at this for more than two years, and I still learn something new every day. It had never even occurred to me that solder could be sucked away! Until now, when I've discovered that I've mis-soldered a multi-pin device to a PCB, I've either made an ugly mess trying to remove it or just started from scratch with new parts. It's great to be able to draw on the collective experience and knowledge of people like you who've been doing this for a decade or more.

[Rb-wan Organus]

Thanks for all the information guys, it has been very helpful. I am in the process of wiring up a US 2.5 as well. I am forcing myself to be patience and take my time so I don't end up screwing up the board or having to replace anything. I bought the board first ... then the hilt ... now I'm not sure it will all fit ?? if I have trouble i will post pictures.

Then again when the store opens back up I may just buy an MHS hilt from Tim. Which means of course starting my design over ..UGGH !! :o)

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Ok, quick update...

The pads on the us 2.5 were indeed fried (i bought a multi-meter and checked...nada), so i had to change boards until this one can be repaired. I ended up ordering a MR FX Jedi board (Luke ANH 2005) this presented a few problems...

1. US 2.5 can take >6v the Luke cannot (need new batt solution)
2. Lux V green needs >6v to run properly (need new LED)
3. US 2.5 uses a Momentary switch, Luke does not (need new switch)
4. US 2.5 regulates v and mA to accents and main led, Luke does not (resistors)

With all this in mind i had to go back to the drawing board with my battery solution.

Having the hilt pre-drilled the way it was left few options for the change. I had to keep the same basic idea, but change the internals. First thing was first, what led/battery combo to use. There was no way i was going to replace a 2AA holder with much else other than a 4 AAA holder due to length restrictions or make a custom pack. I considered a custom pack which led me to the NiMH solution. I then looked at my options. I could do a pack with 5x NiMH's and get 6v, this would be optimal for the Luke. I set about looking for an LED with similar brightness to my LUX V and of course came across the P4 Green. It is driven quite well off 4v and 1A so a 4xAAA holder and the 1-1.2A that the Luke puts out would work well.

*whew* battery and led solution solved. Now to tackle the switch and the resistors. I calculated the resistors needed thanks to Tim's calculator in the store here. When i initially ordered the green AV's were out of stock so i went elsewhere and paid $24+ for my Momentary switch (ouch...) Lucky for me Tim was in stock with the latching av's i wanted! I went back to my parts to make sure everything would work...

CRAP!

Without the board sitting on top of the battery pack (typical us 2.5/2AA holder setup) that left me needing 2 more inches for the board lengthwise... <insert infernal howl here...> So, i sat, and sat, and sat... Finally i realized that if i modified what i had done with my crystal chamber i could BARELY squeeze it all in (i am still worried that my cram-fu will not be sufficient) The board (opposite side of the header pins for the led neg) will sit under my recharge port by about .25 inches (reaaaaaaly tight sqeeze:???:) and I will have to modify my battery pack a bit to allow the accent led wires to pass through properly for my crystal pommel... All this being said, i MAY have to end up wiring a custom pack ANYWAY...

I will keep you all posted on how it goes!

[cardcollector]

Well, I can't elp with all of those problems...

But I do know you can just throw a 5v regulator in there and that should solve your power issue.

[jedimastergarcia87]

Did you ever get your saber fixed with the US 2.5? Hope you did.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Ok...so quick update.

This saber seriously tested my Cram-Fu. So much so, that the accent led is simply a no go in the pommel until i can figure out a way to alter my battery pack. For now I am just glad to say I have it done! :cool:

I would have taken a picture of the wiring and a video for the bench test, but the wiring is not pretty due to all the Cram-Fu that was needed. having reverse sound, an illuminated AV, and a recharge port all in the forward portion of the hilt made not only fitting, but manuevering the wiring a PITB. Also, i ran out of Heatshrink (i think my son got a hold of it...) and had to use masking tape until i can get more.

I will be getting my gallery pics up shortly, thanks for all the help and support folks!

*EDIT: BAM... Pics are up! (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=10514) :cool: :D