Teensy Neopixel Kylo Ren Sabers with 26650 scratch-built chassis

This is kind of a new twist on the MR conversion, but these sabers are pretty unique, I'd almost dare to say that these are no longer Hasbro Sabers at all. These were 6 months in the works! Here is my previous thread on the idea behind this chassis from several months back, which is the nexus to these sabers: 26650 Chassis Thread

Parts List for each saber:
TCSS
3 neopixel pcb sets
3 1" LED Module Adapter sets
3 1" thin-walled blade PCB sets
2 tactile switches
1 switchcraft recharge port
3 1" LED modules
1 Veco High Bass Speaker
2 full length 1" thin walled blades with LED Strip Diffuser inserts (one for main blade the other for quillions, still working on neopixel icicles for quillions, cramped quarters for diffusion there)
3 bullet tips (mirror removed, drilled out)
3 470 ohm resistors for data lines

Elsewhere:
26 ga. PTFE Stranded Wire for positive/negative feeds to strips.
30 ga. PTFE Stranded Wire everything else
Teensysaber V3 and Teensy 3.2 sandwich board and pins
USB to micro USB cable
MicroSD
1 foot of 1" ID aluminum pipe. I used this to scratch build my chassis/blade holder that fits inside the saber head.
Neodymium magnets (for board hatch)
Lego 4x2 hinge for board access (allows board to rotate upwards for SD/Micro USB access for programming updates/font updates
8-32 set screws
10-24 hex bolts x2, replace the 4-40 screws in the sides to secure hilt into saber head.
8-32 hex bolt to secure saber head onto hilt in plastic housing where the pin used to go. Hole drilled in plastic trim to allow for access to this
Adafruit Skinny Strips with white PCB X 3 (2 for main blade, 1 for building the quillions)
Dish packing foam cases (used for strip diffusion foam)
Clear cellophane gift wrap (used for floral arrangements, comes on a gift wrap-like roll craft stores)
26650 battery holder
26650 battery
4-40 screws to hold battery holder into chassis

18650 batteries would drive this saber just fine, as a matter of fact, I tested saber on bench with 18650s driving all 3 blades, and they work just fine. (the have the same length as 26650, just a different diameter). My logic behind the 26650 batteries was to achieve some greater run times with the higher mah. 26650 batteries are huge. A lot of people complain about the Hasbro Kylo BS being too big. Well, I'm a big guy, and I like its size. The ID of this hilt lent itself well to the 26650 battery solution.

More to come on this build. I have been brainstorming, learning Arduino, and thinking about this saber for months. Once TCSS released the neopixel adapters, it was on like donkey kong! Learning Arduino programming, and soldering the Teensysaber sandwich were the hardest parts of this build, along with proper diffusion of the neopixels. It seems like everyone is struggling with this right now. It is tough to eliminate corncobbing and shadowing; however, I believe I have produced some pretty solid blades with a great deal of experimentation on my bench.

...and so we begin.
https://i.imgur.com/LVdx3G3l.jpg

Tom

Chassis build. I don't have a machine shop. I don't have a lathe. I don't have a mill. I have basic garage tools. Dremels, files, drills. Yeah butcher-style metal work. But, I do the best I can with what I do have.

Trip to the metal scrap yard for 1" ID Aluminum Pips (picked up another pipe that fits outside of TCSS Shroud for future Nihilus project.
https://i.imgur.com/Uxn2DSv.jpg

Chassis cut, mocked up, and prepped for paint:
https://i.imgur.com/mM1Emd0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/P0cyOex.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TTAGUaX.jpg

The Teensysaber V3 requires you to be able to access the micro USB port on the Teensy 3.2 sandwich board to modify programming, and you need access to the micro SD. On my last build, I built a PVC carrier for the NEC Board I used that was sloped, and permitted access to the MicroSD. While that worked, it wasn't ideal, and I thought there had to be a better way. So, I started brainstorming. Again, I work with what I have, and here is what I came up with:

https://i.imgur.com/3SU5IoL.jpg

While I was holding that above, all kind of hinges were going through my brain. When I was a kid, I was a LEGO fanatic! Lego Hinge is perfect, perfect size! 4x2. Here is the test fit. I used a Teensy v3 that I hosed up previously to test the size, so that is why all the tape, and lack of concern. This board was already dead, now I can use it for brainstorming.

https://i.imgur.com/0ZUEF9a.jpg

Speaker in end of chassis tube:
https://i.imgur.com/23cDA3J.jpg

Saber arrives! Now to solder the adapters, and install the modules. Main blade 1" module goes inside the head of the chassis tube. Quillion modules fit inside the modified side hilts. They were dremeled out for 1" ID. I also tapped the old pin slots for 8-32, and use 8-32 set screws to hold on the side emitter shrouds, and those 8-32 set screws also secure the quillion modules in the hilt.

https://i.imgur.com/ZiRCfY0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IVPAKl1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VHJCJdR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2M0zHnf.jpg

mess o' wires!

https://i.imgur.com/RBNkM6F.jpg


Originally, I was going to epoxy the battery holders down, but I wasn't happy with that from my previous 26650 in-hilt build. So, I decided to drill and tap the battery holder onto the chassis using 4-40 screws. While I was doing that, I had an idea to cut a channel underneath the battery holder for the wires. Neopixel, the way I'm wiring them, actually use less wires than in-hilt LEDs. I have cut channels on my previous MPP builds, so I cut a channel down the bottom of the chassis underneath the battery holder to fit the wires into! It worked out great. On my previous chassis, I routed the wires outside of the battery holder.

https://i.imgur.com/FPI3rQI.jpg

Battery Holder secured in with screws, wires are hidden underneath battery holder in the channel.

https://i.imgur.com/mNgKeZs.jpg


Tom

I have to build 2 sets of neopixel blades for these Kylos. That's a lot of neopixel practice! I am using Adafruit Skinny Strips back to back. I first cut off the waterproofing from the strips. Then, I used electrical tape on the back to insulate the PCBs on the backs of the strips, so that they didn't touch. Once that was done, I staggered the neopixels and aligned the strips similar to how Khal does it in his neopixel video.

Khal's Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/va1R3Wn1PcQ

strips on the table already joined, soldered to blade adapter, and ready for foam wrap:
https://i.imgur.com/ybHoN4c.jpg

rolled into 2 layers of packaging foam, which were dish packing sleeves I found at hardware store
https://i.imgur.com/TvzMSTl.jpg

Once the strips were wrapped in foam, I rolled them into about 3' of clear cellophane gift wrap. My diffusion style is:

Strips
2 foam wraps
cellophane
insterted into TCSS 1" thin walled blade with TCSS strip diffuser insert.

I removed the mirrors from the tip, drilled them out, and left a few LEDs on one string to stick out into the hollowed tip.

Assembled Blade:
https://i.imgur.com/MQdSe7C.jpg

quillion blades are same just shorter.

Tom

Yep, you have to build the board too. The Teensysaber V3 requires a Teensy 3.2 to be soldered to it in order for it to function. The Teensysaber is basically the light, sound, motion shield for the Teensy 3.2. The Teensy 3.2 is the Arduino brains behind the operation. The Teensysaber V3 houses the micro SD, while the Teensy 3.2 has the micro USB. These boards are tied together with header pins, so they form a type of sandwich. There are 2 boards on top of one another. They must be joined in a very specific way through the pins, so that they can communicate with each other. Together they form the brains behind the operation. Here is what a Teensy 3.2 with pins looks like:

http://hackers.gallery/wp-content/up...103_224651.jpg

Additionally, you must solder on fets on the bottom of the Teensysaber V3. There are footprints for the fets where they belong. This is fairly advanced. Its not too tough, if you have messed with little things like SMD leds/SMD resistors. But this alone makes this project a bit more challenging. I wouldn't suggest a TeensyV3 for anyone on a first build. Existing sound cards that are available here at TCSS are definitely the way to go for most applications. Here is the fet work prior to joining the boards:

We begin with the components:
https://i.imgur.com/Bjskfh6.jpg

Footprint pre-tinned:
https://i.imgur.com/tJ7vEqt.jpg

Fet soldered on footprint:
https://i.imgur.com/dXqbnDl.jpg

Fets in place:
https://i.imgur.com/bIVXiGJ.jpg

Boards joined with header pins:
https://i.imgur.com/faRAJKp.jpg

Once the boards are joined, they must be powered via battery to program them, because the vusb is cut with a razor. Now, programming is a whole different subject matter that I won't go into here, except to say: If you really want to tackle Arduino, DIYino, or Teensy.........and you're not a computer programmer......boy, you got lots of learnin ta do! It took me months of computer work, reading, posting, asking a gazillion questions of Hubinette and Zimmer to figure this out. This stuff is not easy for me, I'm no rocket scientist, I'm just a nerd that likes expensive flashlights with sound effects!

Tom

Following the instructions, I soldered in the board. I wasn't happy with my wire routing, and they way this board is set up, that can be difficult. I got everything clean up this point; however, because of the hinge, and the need to be able to rotate the board up on the hinge, I had to leave enough slack in the wires to avoid strain on the solder joint while hinging. Fixed the magnets into the chassis and board hatch, slapped on a Megtooth sticker, and oilah! Megtooth Sith Kylo Ren Neopixel Lightsaber with fireblade, tron blade, cylon blade....yep, I went nuts with the programming stuff. Ha, I also put a smoothswing font in there. Smoothswing is really cool by the way.

Here is a demo of smoothswing by ObiShane:
https://youtu.be/ru9SSSnmy-Y

https://i.imgur.com/vM6Z5DM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wvRcc2v.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6YVeypY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yD4cazG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vI2M1wj.jpg

Tom

My initial demo video:

https://youtu.be/ahsFkQ6lLRA

More coming.

Tom

Good Lord, Tom. Blade literally looks like it's on fire. That's amazing.

Dam, fam!! Wow!

Full video:

https://youtu.be/n4cQtzanpBc

Tom

Love the use of the Lego hinge.

Great job.