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I have been reading alot, but havent seen anything about how to wire in a cheapo sound board to a el saber. My son is 5 and i dont want to give him a LED saber. He really would like his saber to have sound! can anyone point me in the right direction?
Well, firstly, welcome!!
Secondly, Why would you rather use EL and not LED?? LED is brighter, tougher, and more reliable than EL. LED is what you should use!
I don't even know if anybody here uses EL anymore.
As i said my son is 5, he likes to try to take things apart though, and i'm afraid he look int the led while on. I just wanta make a saber that he can bang around with and not worry about him ripping it apart.
Thanx for the welcome!
okay I belive I found it. X wing posted it in 2006. thankx.
Perhaps you permanently mount the blade on an LED saber? And only let him play with it when he's supervised, then take out the batteries after that.
Sound with EL can be done, but the power solution is a pain. EL inverters run at 9-12V while sound boards can't take more than 6V, most are happier with 4.5-5V.
I don't know how well a 5V regulator fto the sound board would work in this case, I've never used one.
I did once help a friend build an EL saber with sound using a 9V battery for the EL inverter, and a 4AAA battery pack for the sound board. But you need a fairly long saber to house all that, and we used 2 separate switches.
This was back in 2003, before this place existed.
Sorry to persist but...
Permanetly mounting a LED blade is easy. You can use Epoxy or other things.
Like J-Lo said, It is MUCH easier to use LED+soundboard. EL may be cheaper but I'm telling you LED is the way to go!!!
If your five year old does happen to look into the LED once or twice it won't cause any serious damage. Plus, he probably won't do it again. You can also buy plugs in Tim's store to put in the emmiter when the blade is out.
One 3.7V trustfire will run a cheapo board well and there will likely be enough room for that and your 9V & inverter. wire it all up using a dpdt switch and you are ready to go.. Easily doable if you have the internal room in the hilt.
Card collector, coming form the father of a 4 year old boy, I can say that he knows his son best and if he is not comfortable with an LED saber, then he should go EL. Everyone should build at least 1 EL saber IMO, because it helps to understand sabercraft from all angles! ;)
Yeah, I didn't think to look and see if there were any DPDT switches at RadioShack back then. :p
You would have thought of it if EL was still respected by the n00bs, since you are the Mistress of EL technology and the Matriarch of this hobby!:mrgreen:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jedi-Loreen
Listen up n00bs, J-Lo is to be respected and listened to, because she has forgotten more about sabercraft than most of the current 'smiths' know!:cool:
...and she is Italian, so if you don't listen, she will physically come to your house and hit you upside the head with an iron skillet just like my grandma used to do....:lol:
No, I'm talking about not having thought of it in 2003. I did know about switches like that, I'd been working in the electronics field in some way for years. It's possible that my friend wanted the option of not having to use the sound, if he didn't want to, or liked the look of 2 switches, I don't remember.
Maybe that's why I wasn't thinking about them now. :razz:
I was respected back then, because EL is what we had. People were just starting to play around with the idea if using LED technology in lightsabers.
Ok, sorry.:(Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Dottore Matto
I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes or anything. I was just making sure he knew the possibilities of both.
LOL, no need to be sorry! :mrgreen:Quote:
Originally Posted by cardcollector
What makes you guys think that a 5 year old will be able to loosen a thumbscrew or set screw in the hilt??????????????
It's a fair question and many kids might not but would you want to bet a child's eyesight that he/she couldn't?
It would depend on the child of course and what resources [s]he had around...my father was a millwright so there were always lots of tools around including all varieties of screwdrivers and I was the curious type of kid who had a Meccano set at 5 and liked assembling and disassembling Meccano projects that fastened together with nuts and bolts and screws...I suspect I'd have figured out that a setscrew was a screw and had it out PDQ if Lux sabers had existed.
My 4 year old son would (and has) have a set screw off in 30 seconds or less. He is an evil mastermind, but I still prefer that he not blind himself or his sister!;)Quote:
Originally Posted by $tarkiller
As a child, I was pretty precocious with tools, too. I was always taking things apart.
It's probably a good thing there were no high powered LEDs or lasers in consumer products back in the 1960s. :eek:
I have done a el sber with a hasbro sound board and there is a diagram some where on the forum. The basics are that you use 2- 4AAA battery holders and connect them in series. You use the two packs to drive the el inverter and 1 pack to drive the hasbro sound board, by center taping the back packs. You put a relay on the output of the habro sound board where the led is normally connected and you use the relay to turn the el inverter on and off controled by the sound board. If you get stuck email me and i will make a new diagram to help youQuote:
Originally Posted by patd
On the topic of protecting the set screw from kids, you could put so apoxie over it to cover the screw head, then some sinktube to hide the apoxie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Dottore Matto
I am however not saying it is the better choice to go led with a kid, could hurt their eyes. Whatever patd builds for his kid is fine with me.
Ofcourse you could upgrade to LED when the child gets older.
dunno if this would be a hassel, but you could by an anakin rots, and convert it. Then, put the set screw UNDER one of the brass knobs.... probably a stupid idea, but it could work, right? And If so, then super glue the kob back on.
I know this thread is old, but I think I need to point out that it doesnt matter how well you secure the blade or set screw. There will always be a risk of LED exposure from the blade tip coming off.
As for the issue at hand, sound boards for EL, it isn't too far off.
I just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever: a sound board that can run just about anything, including EL.
Interesting......
Wait..what?Quote:
Originally Posted by UltraSWG
Yeah interesting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by UltraSWG
*raises single eyebrow*
"Fascinating!"
errr, waitaminute, wrong franchise...
...aha...
"I've got a GOOD feeling about this..."
A board that can run EL too is going to need a decent sized transformer on it for that.
Yeah I'd think so too if he's planning to do it on-board. Couldn't he just have meant a board that would 'pass' through higher voltages than previously which could then be sent to the inverter normally sold here? Wouldn't a soundboard that could handle the high voltage of say a 4 Trustfire holder for use in running tri-rebels or LEDEngin 10Ws also be enough voltage for running EL? With a pass through to a normal inverter that is.
I'm hoping this means a soundboard that can "run just about anything, including EL" means significantly increased maximum voltage handling is on the way...if that makes sound easier with EL as well as the higher power/multi emitter LEDs then I'll be even more happy...I still want to go 'EL safety' with my 'youngling saber' design.
*inadvertent double post that should have been an "edit" deleted...this glitch happened a little while ago to me too...I'll try to edit again and hope it doesnt happen a third time*
good luck, dude. and thanks for asking the question. I wasn't there yet, but at some point, I woulda had if you didn't. seems someone has the force with them :D I'm also glad to see how much help is on here.:D
All Hail the Smile King