Korbanth DM1

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Greetings Saberland!

Lately I’ve been busy with school, but summer vacation is in full swing, and I am getting some builds knocked out. First up is a Korbanth DM1, a birthday present for my brother-in-law. I’ve already completed the first half of the saber as “proof of concept” and will be blogging the build process of the other half. I am meeting my sister and her husband in Vegas in two weeks, so this saber has a completion deadline of MAY 17th. Let’s get started!

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ELECTRONICS:
- Nano Biscotte v3 (Default font is Koriban, with Pitch Black as the alternate. I looked around at the other fonts that were available, but opted to stick with what I had on hand. Everything Maul related was either not too similar to Korbanth, or had double swing sounds. Since both halves of the build have their own NB, that wasn’t going to work.)
- TCSS 7/8” LED Module with DR/DR/W configuration
- 20mm Bass Speaker (apparently discontinued :()
- No accents or power LEDs (no room for DynaOhms in the hilt)
- Li-Ion 18500 3.7V 1400mAh PCB Protected Rechargeable Battery Module
- Korbanth DM1 Switches (worth every penny)

HILT & BLADE:
- Korbanth DM1 Kit
- KR Sabers Coupler
- TCSS 7/8" Hilt safety plug - Style 2
- TCSS Black machined button for Covertec clip
- Vader’s Vault 7/8” Blade w/shine through bullet tip (VV makes some incredible show blades. These take FOREVER to ship, but are worth the wait)

CHASSIS:
I looked around for months for an existing chassis solution for this kit. The closest I got were some GOTH 3D kits, but there was no way to properly qualify them before buying. Rather than gamble a bunch of money on parts I might not be able to use (or resell) I opted to create my own solution. That being said, I did bite the bullet and invest in a pair of 0.88” OD Recharge Port Holders, which was smart because these ended up being KEY later on.

ELECTRONICS INSTALLATION:
Wiring a Nano Biscotte is pretty easy once you’ve done a few of them. Last year I went ahead and put together a standard wiring diagram for this card that is my personal standard (shown below). For the DM1 I won’t be using illuminated switches or battery indicators. This is due to the EXTREMELY limited space in the hilt. Wiring the first half of the saber was pretty standard, though I did have to go back and rewire it four times because of the chassis.

LESSONS LEARNED:
There is absolutely NO room for plugs/connectors, other than the battery connection. I hadn’t planned on using them for the second half, but when I’m prototyping I like to include them as they can prevent a lot of extra soldering during initial test assemblies. I tried to leave them in for the LED module, but there simply wasn’t room.

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Instead of a DynaOhm you can always just use a regular resistor.. the 1/4 or 1/8 w resistor will take up barely more room than the wiring itself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jbkuma

Instead of a DynaOhm you can always just use a regular resistor.. the 1/4 or 1/8 w resistor will take up barely more room than the wiring itself.

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Exactly, once I figured that out I was done with DynaOhms. They are awesome for flexibility but just too big.

http://orig15.deviantart.net/0e16/f/...ot-db8k7yy.jpg
(photo courtesy of Korbanth, from his 2017 saber run thread)

HILT WORK:
The DM1 is a delicious mixed bag of materials. Most of the kit is brushed stainless, and a couple of cast parts. Not sure wtf metal they’re made of, but they are easy to drill/sand/etc. I didn’t even bother trying to polish them though, as I wanted a heavily weathered look. This hilt needs to look like some lowly engineer found it in the bowels of Naboo’s reactor.

BEFORE WEATHERING:
I went with the Korbanth-supplied switches, I needed to drill out one of the knob holes on either hilt. I used a 3/8 inch bit and drilled with the chassis cuffs installed. This may or may not have been a risky move, but it worked out great. The lower half of the switches inserted nice and tight, stopping at the midline.

The kit only came with one Covertec wheel, which stuck out like a sore thumb. It was replaced with a pair of the black TCSS Covertec wheels. I have no idea wtf threading was in the original mounting hole, so I just re-drilled and tapped them for 8-32 socket head screws.

WEATHERING:
https://youtu.be/TaJQ9To_mNM

AFTER WEATHERING & INSTALL:
The 4mm socket head screws for the chassis cuffs were installed and securely tightened. The knobs were added at the very end. Since I didn’t need to make use of the LEDs that came with the kit, I clipped off the leads and glued them into their enclosures. Once the hilt was installed and tested, all of the greeblies were glued into the hilt with E6000. This was the very last step, so as to ensure I wouldn’t be tempted to play with the shiny new saber while glue was setting. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darth Nurse

Exactly, once I figured that out I was done with DynaOhms. They are awesome for flexibility but just too big.

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I am looking at having to do another one of these this summer as a commission. If they ask for working LEDs, I'll definitely try those little resistors.

CHASSIS PROTOTYPING:
One of the perks of being enrolled at Arizona State University is getting a school sponsored membership at the TechShop in Chandler, Arizona. This place is like Neverland for DIY hobbyists. Among their many toys, they have several laser cutters. I took the required classes and was off to the drawing board to design a chassis system...

ROUND 1 – FIGHT!
The first thing I tried was 1/8 inch CAST ACRYLIC (transparent red). The parts came out kind of melty and were crazy fragile.

ROUND 2 – FIGHT!
Next I sourced some SCROLL SAW WOOD. There was a lot of different kinds to choose from, and knowing next to nothing about working with wood, I picked three at random: Bloodwood, Purpleheart, and Zebrawood. All three boards were 1/16 inch thick. I had very different results between wood types. The Purpleheart cut pretty well, but was fragile. The Bloodwood burned up to easily and actually bled all over everything. On the positive side, I managed to salvage a few usable parts from this run and it the wood smoke during cutting was really nice. Finally, the Zebrawood was the best of the bunch. It cut like a dream and is flexible enough to work with. The downside is that the Zebrawood is a bit pricey and takes FOREVER to ship from the supplier.

ROUND 3 – FIGHT!
At this point I’ve picked up some wisdom using the laser cutters. I made a few tweaks to my design, and the laser settings, and managed to produce a beautiful and SOLID set of acrylic chassis disks (using the 1/8” clear red acrylic from round 1).

FINISH HIM!
Due to space limitations, I couldn’t use ALL acrylic. Due to the expense and fragility of the crazy thin wood, I couldn’t use all wood. Ultimately, I ended up using a mix of different materials. By combining wood and acrylic discs, 3D printed recharge port holders, and the chassis cuffs that came with the kit, I was able to produce a rock solid chassis!

http://orig13.deviantart.net/ac3a/f/...ot-db8kez7.jpg

LESSONS LEARNED:
Aluminum Spacers: These needed to be ground down so the battery could fit into the chassis disks. I used my dremel, so this was pretty easy.
Mistakes Are OKAY! By the time I finished the first half of the saber, I had built and torn apart this thing about eight times. There were moments when this project really kicked my butt, and these were among the worst. :D
Mind The Gap! I ended up making the "emitter section" a floating component. This made final install SO MUCH EASIER, and since the cuffs get screwed into the hilt, there was no drift or parts banging around. This also let me add a bit of slack to the wiring, which also made things MUCH easier in the long run.

Friends don't let friends go to ASU! :D

(I'm a Lumberjack, and I'm okay :cool:)

School rivalry aside, that's a pretty sweet build, and I found your experiences with the laser cutter and various types of wood to be interesting. I'm preparing to build a chassis out of basswood, but I'm planning on using micro-mark and dremel tools. (mostly 'cause I don't have access to a laser cutter).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jenny

Friends don't let friends go to ASU! :D

(I'm a Lumberjack, and I'm okay :cool:)

School rivalry aside, that's a pretty sweet build, and I found your experiences with the laser cutter and various types of wood to be interesting. I'm preparing to build a chassis out of basswood, but I'm planning on using micro-mark and dremel tools. (mostly 'cause I don't have access to a laser cutter).

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ooh! post pics when you get going on those, I'd love to see how they come out!

Sure; they'll be in the thread in my signature.

That is beautiful! How's the sound with both having NBs when swinging around as a staff?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warlock

That is beautiful! How's the sound with both having NBs when swinging around as a staff?

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Oddly, it's not what I expected. When I turn on both sides the sound kind of syncs up, haha. The good news is that it really amps up the volume. Those little speakers are just as loud as the 28mm versions, but the vents in the coupler are pretty small. I am going to pick up one the new Maul font in the morning and try that out in both hilts.

This was probably the fastest I've every installed as saber! Everything went perfectly for the second half. Virtually everything I learned I've already shared. So, instead of boring you with text I'm going to upload some photos instead...

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[IMG]http://orig13.deviantart.net/adab/f/2017/130/d/8/dm1_11_by_girot-db8ratc.jpg/IMG]

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! ! ! INSTALL COMPLETE ! ! !

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KR Sabers Coupler Compatibility

I spent the morning in Korbanth's shop, and we discussed this very subject.

The original KR Sabers coupler was designed for the 2014 DM1. It somewhat works with the 2016 DM1, though spacers or o-rings are needed to get both ends of the hilt to line up properly.

The UPDATED KR Sabers coupler has been thread matched AND properly clocked to the 2016 DM1.