Second full custom scratch build... went for a twist lock crystal reveal.

Gearing up to finally make my own personal saber... (sheesh) but making for other offers great opportunities to try some stuff out. (plus im glad i waitied now that im hearing about teensy sabers fluid sounds!)

https://i.imgur.com/dqaqkYf.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/LGOTAzN.jpg?1

The humble beginnings of parts that would rack my brain.
Attachment 15977
so from left... ribbed grip that would house the crystal chamber and slide open and closed for the reveal... crystal housing... and the choke and emitter

here is the crystal housing inside the grip
Attachment 15978

and a mock-up of how the upper part of the saber would be in its open position...
Attachment 15979

more to come when i upload some more pics :)

Cool! Where did the inspiration for the cutout on the housing come from? I've seen that approach on several designs. Wondering if its from a design element from the movies that I'm just not placing.

That's gonna be awesome!

how much to make a crystal chamber for me

Ok so i needed to come up with a way for the grip and lower part of the hilt to slid over the crystal chamber housing smoothly (since the chamber itself is ribbed and varies in diameter over a few areas. Some brass guide rods were the solution i came up with
Attachment 15989

The bottom part would be a capture point for the crystal housing and also the larger diameter section would act as a stop for the hilt opening travel... and also an attachment point for all the electronics below. (also a little test fit for crystal chamber details)
Attachment 15990

Assembled with the grip on and fully opened to inner stop
Attachment 15991

The stop part also acted as a good secondary guide for smooth travel and to keep things lined up to minimize any metal on metal chatter from the ribbed crystal housing cylinder
Attachment 15992

Attachment 15993

And im sorry i didn't photograph the details for the next few steps. They were a big damn pain in the ass and i had to redo things several times over to get the twist lock ring right... (sheesh) But here it is full hilt assembly (minus pommel) And sandblasted to receive the aluminium blackening oxidization ( my own little experiment for a cool weathered look without using paint)

Attachment 15994

The switch was the second biggest pain (sorry ill get a close up pic once its all finished being oxidized) since it had to be a full scratch fab since it hast to slide over the electronics to reveal the crystal chamber.
Attachment 15995

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darth_chasm

Cool! Where did the inspiration for the cutout on the housing come from? I've seen that approach on several designs. Wondering if its from a design element from the movies that I'm just not placing.

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Well i had seen a few kinda similar looking designs just googling lightsaber crystal chambers... i think it was a 3d printed one that sort of gave the impression it was a stack of rings that rotated in clockwise and counter clockwise directions to reveal the crystal.... It was sort of born out of necessity for wanting more structure than i thought i could get going with radiator fins (i wanted it to be pretty rock solid because the twist locking ring would bear a good amount of load without a more solid core) and i was quickly running out of space too. lol.

but it was crazy joining a couple facebook groups (crystalline construction, and saber-smiths guild) for some knowledge exchange ad such... and seeing brian miller's (black north arms) chamber designs were similar to mine! His chambers are freaking sweet! He has a much more polished and layered execution of what i kinda had in my head.

Aluminum bluing... similar sort of chemical oxidation to gun bluing. I'm letting it seep into the pits and pores created by the sandblasting... then ill scotch-bright and wheel buff the surface to give a nice weathered metallic surface.

Attachment 16002

Attachment 16003

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

Well i had seen a few kinda similar looking designs just googling lightsaber crystal chambers... i think it was a 3d printed one that sort of gave the impression it was a stack of rings that rotated in clockwise and counter clockwise directions to reveal the crystal.... It was sort of born out of necessity for wanting more structure than i thought i could get going with radiator fins (i wanted it to be pretty rock solid because the twist locking ring would bear a good amount of load without a more solid core) and i was quickly running out of space too. lol.

but it was crazy joining a couple facebook groups (crystalline construction, and saber-smiths guild) for some knowledge exchange ad such... and seeing brian miller's (black north arms) chamber designs were similar to mine! His chambers are freaking sweet! He has a much more polished and layered execution of what i kinda had in my head.

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I believe the original creator actually motorized it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jbkuma

I believe the original creator actually motorized it!

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Man it was cool whoever did it. If you have any idea let me know so i can look at it again! Oh and i love your neopixel blade parts! Playing around with my first strip blade build.... Now if i could only get the strips themselves to work right! I think i got a ****ty amazon replica or something. cant figure out why i cant get them to work.