WIP -Fett263's Proffieboard Kylo CG 2.0 Neopixel (Pic Heavy)

The final piece has arrived! I've been waiting and waiting on gustavo's V5 insert to finish up the emitter mods, truth be told I was holding off until I received it and decided I wanted to use it before doing the final mod but now that I have it I definitely think it's a big improvement. I got the piece printed in steel and it took longer than expected to arrive from Shapeways.
If you go this route, definitely do this mod BEFORE painting, I have to repaint a bit because the dremel kicked a few times and scratched things up so you can learn from my example.

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You will need to trim the insert a bit on both sides, I used a cutting disc and just went very slowly to keep the line straight, I saw a few guys on FB hack the hell out of it, so take your time, a little patience goes a long way (says the guy who painted before finishing his dremel work :P).

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Then it'll be a bunch of sanding, I used the same sanding drums as I did for the side ports since I have a bag full of them, In parts I also used the dremel cutting bit as well, just a little at a time and kept test fitting every little bit. I ended up taking a bit of material off but do it in small bits so you don't over do it

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And the final test fit, here's roughly the result, I will be able to slide the insert up a tad more, I took a little bit more off the inside to fit it after this pic was snapped.

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Now I just started the repaint, for the area under the insert, since it will be partially visible I painted the same silver as the port tips, I may give the insert a spray also but I want this coat to dry and see how it looks first. I like the steel look but it's a bit darker than the reference images so it might need a coat of paint. Still undecided.

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I will need another coat of the silver and then I have to respray some black where the dremel nickd up my paint, so a couple painting sessions in store. I'm really, really hoping it's done and dry by Saturday because I have to travel this coming week, leaving on Sunday morning and I'm sure anyone following is just as excited to see this all come together- I am trying, really, really trying but I also do not want to rush it.

In the meantime, I also came up with another "fix". Originally, I was going to glue the speaker mount in place, then I was going to use the pommel insert to hold it, but I read a few guys had sound distortion from the speaker vibrating against the insert. So while looking it all over I actually found a super simple fix. The bottom most mounting hole for the belt clip goes all the way through the body but the screws only go half way, so I got the short set screw and put it into the hole to hold the speaker mount in place.

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It now holds the speaker mount in place and can me removed if needed

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And it's short enough that the screw for the belt clip still fits with no issue.

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Any way you could PM me about that Shapeways part? Don’t think I’ve seen that one.
Thanks!
Darkmatter73

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darkmatter73

Any way you could PM me about that Shapeways part? Don’t think I’ve seen that one.
Thanks!
Darkmatter73

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Sure, thing, PM inbound

I was able to do the finally assembly and prep for wiring up to the board. Putting everything together one last time, I decided to test everything out one last time and I'm glad I did - a minor hiccup that would have been a PITA had I started hooking up already wasn't too bad and easily rectified.

Started by inserting the neopixel connectors for the quillions, one at a time and positioned how I wanted them.

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Pulled the wires through and positioned the gash insert (I ended up hitting with a coat of silver to brighten up), when the time comes to finish the weathering and final details I will be working on perfecting the color.

Then I feed the wires and position the top portion onto the saber.
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I actually put it all together and inserted the upper battery and ran into the first "hiccup". The set screw for the main blade connector was actually too low and must not have locked the connector in place so when I pushed the battery up it moved the connector. Not a big deal all things considered I slid the top portion up a little and then drilled and tapped a higher location for the set screw, it will still be hidden by the shroud, but the original location didn't work.
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It actually took multiple tries to get the battery right where I wanted and have the connector get locked in, I would slide the top piece down, see where the battery fit, then pull it up a little loosen the set screw and move the connector up and down slightly There is literally no extra room with everything inserted so getting it "just right" took a bunch of tries. Once it was perfect I locked the top portion into the shroud with the set screws provided. The set screw for the connector is still hidden once the top portion slides down so all good.
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The connector is slightly higher than I started but I needed to get the battery in position.
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Another change, I had to make was expected and easy but the inner screws for the wire holders in the main body were preventing the battery and chassis from moving into their final positions so I removed. Once everything is tested the back plate will get glued along with the wire holders. Kinda thought that would be the case but putting it together just proved it.
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The battery is really snug, this will most likely be it's permanent home to avoid messing with the wires, I did wrap a sleeve of heat wrap (without shrinking it) over all of the neopixel wires to keep them bunched up and let the battery slide into the chamber easier but I had to get the wires from all 3 connectors in position on one side of the inner tube to get the battery all the way inserted, it took a while and is not something I'll be doing at an event. The battery will be charged in place by disconnecting the JST connector so not a big deal.

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Just to finish everything off I connected all of the blades to make sure there's no issues, etc. I will be adding theProplicator's main blade sleeve once the main blade is tested and I finalized it's positioning.

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The plan is to begin hooking up the board tomorrow morning, but I have limited time so any more hiccups or issues and it'll have to wait until I get back from vacation. I have already programmed the Proffieboard and prepped the SD card, but there are a LOT of wires to connect and it's a tight fit in the chassis so I plan to be very diligent in the process.

Getting closer and closer but it still feels like there's a lot left to do...

I began hooking the board up but it was taking longer than expected so rather than rush and screw something up I'll finish when I get back. I did read that it's helpful to clean the pads on the Proffieboard with isopropyl but I didn't have any handy so I'll pick some up. I was having some trouble getting the solder to take and marked it up to the universe telling me not to rush, but I think cleaning the pads is probably the issue. So I'll come back at it with a rested mind, no time crunch and some isopropyl.

"She may not look like much (yet), but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hirv...ature=youtu.be

Got back from a long, expensive vacation and got everything wired up, I did clear the pads with isopropyl, and things went much easier. I tried rushing through the morning before I left to crank it out and nothing was going right so I just took a break. Much simpler with a clear head and no time crunch.

One thing to keep in mind is to keep the wire lengths longer to allow the chassis to be able to make it in and out and give yourself some slack for wire it up, it's a tight fit in the chassis with all the wires. Another pointer, wire the speaker last, this gives you more room and freedom to wire everything else up. Since everything but the speakers wires from the top down get it all wired up, then feed the speaker wires up from the bottom to finish it off. The next trick is going to be carefully taking up the slack into the bottom of the chassis to clear up some space in the body for the 2nd battery. I have a feeling that will be a tedious under taking, but I'm psyched it's all running beautifully, so I'll take the current victory.
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I also tested two tips, the first is a 3D printed tip and the 2nd is the TCSS new hollow neopixel tip. The new TCSS tip looks better so far, I will have to trim a little off the diffusion sleeve, the base of the TCSS tip is just a tad longer so I need to be 100% sure before it's finalized, but initially it's looking brighter.

First, 3D printed tip:
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And the new TCSS neopixel tip:
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Nice work! The new tcss hollow blade tips work well?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seth Skywalker

Nice work! The new tcss hollow blade tips work well?

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Yes, it looks good so far, I have 3 pixels in it, 2 on one side and one on the other and it's just as bright as the rest of the blade. Still working on the styles and all but so far I like it.

It worked out very well Fernando, don't think I'll get to mine for awhile, but all this will help. Someone got a 26650 in on at TRA. I think I'd like this solution. Where did you put the battery protection circuits at for the IMR 21700s?


Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom Tilmon

It worked out very well Fernando, don't think I'll get to mine for awhile, but all this will help. Someone got a 26650 in on at TRA. I think I'd like this solution. Where did you put the battery protection circuits at for the IMR 21700s?


Tom

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I'm using the KR Sabers 21700s they came with the protection circuit PCB on the battery already, I didn't have experience doing myself so I got theirs instead.

Still have a lot to do, now that everything is working I have to go back and glue the main button and power switch in place and try to clean up and try to organize the wires in the chassis a bit. I did push everything into place and it's fitting but the wires in the reveal cavity are pushing the battery up a bit so I need to get them flattened out to let the 2nd battery sit better.

I'm also going to test out the quillion diffusion a bit, I'm getting a slight bit of corn-cobbing on one side, I think I actually have too much film on the side blades, so I have to try a smaller piece and see if that works, it took me a while on my first build to get it right but I never measured, this time I'm trying to document much better. So lots to do but getting there slowly but surely, hopefully by the time you're ready I'll have all the kinks worked out.

I have a new idea on the reveal cover I'm going to test out as well once I get everything glued and organized, so more to come, but seeing it fire up is a huge weight off, I was holding my breath when I first powered it up, thinking "please work, please work".