First Saber Build: Part List Check, Wiring Check, and, (hopefully) WIP Thread
Hey guys, I'm djmehs. I've made a few random noobish posts here and there over the past few months with random questions as I contemplated my very first saber build, but never formally introduced myself. I think it was because I was still sort of nervous I was going to chicken out or not be able to talk my wife into letting me make the investment.
Well, I'm ecstatic to say that I've just completed my second of 3 planned parts orders for my first saber after FINALLY deciding on a design. I just completed my wiring diagram, which is what originally was brought me to the forums today, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided I wanted to make the thread a little more than just a wiring check. I sorta want to make this into a build log as well. One that will, with any luck, help any other noobs like myself learn from any of the successes, failures, peaks, and valleys that I may encounter over the course of the process. I also think it will be neat to have a sort of "scrapbook" to look back on for my first build of hopefully many more. I've always had a talent for writing, and I'm hoping I'll be able to use that talent to help other noobs on their first builds, and for everyone else, I'm hoping I'll at least be able to make it somewhat entertaining as long as I'm good about taking pictures and sticking with it without falling off.
That being said, this is going to be very wordy, true to my writing style with everything. If I do this, I don't think I'll be able to cut back on length very easily without making a conscious effort to do so. So if the wordiness ends up turning into a sort of "TLDR" sort of thing, please let me know so I can try my best to dial it back a bit. It's more important to me that I get valid, helpful feedback without annoying everyone than it is that I be able to say every single thing I'm thinking about.
Without further ado, the vision, planning, and build log for my very first saber, Ascension:
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Planning and Research Part 1: Inspiration
I went back and forth multiple times over the course of a few months regarding what EXACTLY I wanted the design to be for my first (and what I thought might end up being my only) lightsaber build. The concept of it being a “one and done” type of thing is what I think was the most intimidating aspect of the process. It was stressful to have the mentally that I would get one shot for one lightsaber and that it had to perfect.
Eventually I came to terms with the fact that, while I wasn’t going to be able to make a bunch of sabers back to back any time soon, there was no reason that I couldn’t have both of the designs in my head eventually. Especially when you consider the fact that if I only built one saber, it would pretty much make the investment into a soldering station and stuff a waste of money. I pretty much HAD to make sure I’d be getting use out of it. Once I started thinking about it like that, suddenly it was no longer having to pick one design, tossing out the other one. It became about which of the two designs made sense for me to make FIRST. Ideally, it would be the more simple of the two.
For the design I eventually decided on, I drew my inspiration from a ten year old djmehs. A version of myself with far more imagination than the practical, slightly awkward, real-world living adult I’ve grown into. It was around that age that AOTC came out and became my favorite movie in the whole world. Anakin was my hero and I dreamed of having his skill with a lightsaber. I was sold the second he started dual-wielding against Dooku. My buddies and I started fighting each other with our 7 dollar toy lightsabers every day. Training to be Jedi.
Eventually, I developed a character and personality for the Jedi I always liked to pretend to be. He alternated between a standard grip Jar’Kai and and a single reverse-grip Shien form before either of those canonical terms had existed.
His name was Ace Windu, he was Mace Windu’s son, and this was what his lightsaber(s) looked like:
Attachment 16571
Indeed, I realize the absurdity of all three of those statements. Yes, Ace Windu is an extremely unimaginative name. No it does not make any sense, cononically or otherwise, that Mace Windu would’ve somehow had a son, then that said secret illegitimate son would have somehow been trained as a Jedi. Yes, that is an extremely fat OWK hilt with a purple blade.
That being said, Ace Windu was a piece of my childhood and a character I had become very familiar with and embarked on many adventures as. He is as much a part of my memories of Star Wars growing up as the Prequels or KOTOR were. It seems only fitting that my first lightsaber be inspired by the Jedi I always dreamed of being.
At the same time…I couldn’t call it “Ace Windu’s Lightsaber”…It had to have an identity of it’s own, while somehow still staying true to the character it was inspired by. What about…”Acewind”?…Kinda cheesy….Um…Ace….
*Looks on phone at the cover of the audiobook he’s listening to called “The Well of Ascension”*
…ension?….”Ascension”?!
Ascension it was then!
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Planning and Research Part 2: Initial Design
I immediately took to TCSS Saber Builder and began to prototype, basing it off of my memories of how it felt to hold that toy lightsaber, things I liked or hated about the OWK hilt and things I liked or hated about other hilts (my friends and I had collected pretty much every one of the hilt/color combinations available.
I remembered LOVING how the Qui-Gon hilt felt in my hand. It was simple with no big knobs or anything to get in the way if you needed to shift your grip, but the ridges running the entire length of the hilt gave enough of a texture that it wasn’t going to slip out of your hand. Probably would’ve been my hilt of choice if it came in a purple blade color.
At the same time, I sort of liked the wide pommel on the OWK hilt since it acted as sort of a stop to keep your hand from sliding off. At the same time though…those cubes were really pokey…Definitely uncomfortable if you had to grip it around there for some reason.
Although I liked the fancy angular emitters like the one on the Anakin AOTC lightsaber, uniformity all the way around something was always more astetically pleasing to me. It also removed the need to worry about how exactly I held the saber as long as I could reach the button.
Eventually, I came up with this:
Attachment 16572
I liked the look. A lot. I liked that the pommel and emitter were both wider than the grip itself, acting as the aforementioned “hand stop” I liked and uniform all around. The pommel was also sort of a nod to the owner of the hilt that inspired Ascension, but without the uncomfortable cubes since it more resembled the ANH OWK.
But it still bothered me that the grooves didn’t go all the way up the hilt. If I wanted to choke up on the hilt a bit, the texture would be absent…I began to toy with the idea of having Tim do some custom work for me…But…the additional cost was an unknown variable that was making me nervous. Figured I’d put the overall design on the back-burner for a little bit and start pondering some of the decisions I’d need to make in regards to the internal design as well as any of the limitations I’d be dealing with due to my lack of experience and machinery.
