Building an MHS padawan-sized lightsaber -- how short can I go?

[Rivenshield]

Just found this site last week, and holy mackerel. A full-service machine shop for Jedi nerds. Wow. Just wow.

/genuflects

Here's my mission: For my first build, I'd like to create a lightsaber for my godson. He'll get more mileage out of it than I will. He's ten years old, and has several busted toy lightsabers strung all over the house. I think the quasi-indestructible machined aluminum one would be a good long term investment. It would also give him a massive nerdgasm, because the little guy is one of the biggest Star Wars freaks I know of.

I was thinking I want something shorter and slimmer than the chunky flashlight-sized variety at Toys R Us. I understand it's possible for ten dollars to get a switch hole bored almost anywhere you please, so I was thinking a three-inch plain vanilla extension, say, with a choke on either end. Add a short pommel and long spikey ornate blade holder in the MHS Saber Builder, and you wind up with a dandy-looking little sci-fi weapon not over ten inches long and with two narrow sections for small hands to get around.

Now here's my question: I've spent several days lurking and reading and soaking up information, and have not yet been able to discern what the minimum length and/or diameter an MHS lightsaber has to be in order to accommodate the sound card, battery pack, etc. How small/short an extension tube can I use and still have everything *fit*? Can this community give me some rough guidelines....?

[Crimsonjedi]

I am actually working on a similar project for my son. I am using style 2 pre-made hilt, pommel, and a blade holder. That is is going to be about 9.5 inches. I know it will have enough room because I and countless others have managed to fit all the electronics into the seven inch hilts in the past. You just need to plan out your electronics ahead of time.

[cannibal869]

I've made a saber (Yoda inspired) for a padawan that was about 8-9 inches overall with sound included.

I think in order to help you better you would need to go to the MHS builder and draw up what you want the saber to look like so we can get and idea of the size and parts. Some of the parts (i.e. the choke) are narrower than others and can't really be used for anything other than crystal chambers or passing wires through. In other words, you can't fit a soundboard in them - well, at least not easily.

-C

[FenderBender]

I have fit, with lots of effort, sound, light, and battery pack in a 6 inch hilt section with the switch. The Blade holder adds another 1 3/4 inches, and the pommel can add 1/4" to 1 1/2" to the hilt length. He's ten, so don't think that you have to go REAL short here. I have made similar sized hilts for my kids.

[Rivenshield]

Some of the parts (i.e. the choke) are narrower than others and can't really be used for anything other than crystal chambers or passing wires through.

That was my concern -- I suspected the 7" main body might be 7" for very good reason....

What I'm after is the shortest 'handle' that is physically possible, with a choke on either end. I *so* want it to be ergonomically correct for him. A lot of toys just aren't made to fit kids' hands. Here's an attached pic of what I first came up with. It uses a 3" extension with a switch hole added, a short choke #1 in front, and a choke #3 behind. It looks nice, but I dunno if all the necessary gizmos will fit.

Another build I've considered is using the new Ribbed/Choke Combo with a 2" or 3" female extension on top. If I used one of the blade holders with a kinda-sorta choke on it, like a #16, that would accomplish the same end -- two narrower sections for little hands to grab onto. (Unfortunately the Ribbed/Choke Combo isn't available as a shape in the MHS Saber Builder yet, but hopefully you mandarins can visualize what I'm talking about).

I'm deeply grateful for any and all advice I can glean here, by the by.

[fawnheart2000]

It depends greatly on wether you want sound or not. Sound boards tend to add length to a saber and complexity. One thing you'll hear from alot of people here is the advice "to read until your eyes bleed, then read some more." It is very true that there is ALOT of information on these boards, but since this is a D.I.Y. forum alot of people have a problem with spoon feeding a noobie. (And some people are not shy about shutting down noobs).

Now to answer a few of your questions.
The standard OD (Outer Diameter) of a MHS part is ~1.45 inches.
The shortest saber I have done was a 7 inch x 1.25 inch OD sink tube saber for my 8 year old daughter.

Remember that you need room for the batteries (at least 2.5 to 3 inches)

An easy suggestion for you would be to convert a yoda FX saber.
It is shorter than most sabers (just under 8 inches) with (at the most) 1.5 inch OD.
Also it already comes with a nice battery pack/ speaker combo and a cradle for the soundboard. You must be careful about the clash sensor removal (or just go ahead and get a replacement clash sensor from the store
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Cl...nsor-P485.aspx ).

You'd still need to get a yoda FX saber, LED, lens, and lens holder, maybe a thumb screw to use instead of the set screw that comes with it.

Here's the conversion kit
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/MR...-kit-P428.aspx

And here is the tutorial
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=7940

Sorry, I had taken a long time writing my reply (cooking) so I didn't see the clarification of what you wanted.

[Rivenshield]

It depends greatly on wether you want sound or not.http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=7940

/facepalm

Yes, I would like sound. Should have mentioned. Unfortunately I've been unable to find out what dimensions the UltraSound card is, or find any information on how to mount the bugger. Maybe I should just go gut one of Matthews' old Hasbros, or get a new one and gut *it*, stick a new speaker on it, mount it all inside an MHS hilt/blade/LED, and call it good....

If nothing else I'm glad to see I'm not the first sabersmith to grapple with the problems of building kid-sized lightsabers.

EDIT: As a senior-level technical writer, I always RTFM before bugging people. Hence the weeks' worth of lurking and poring over these forums. There is a fantastic amount of information here, but most of it presumes a very high level of expertise on the part of the target audience... which is a hoity toity way of saying that almost everybody seems to assume everybody else knows what they're talking about. There are a lot of Star Wars geeks out there, but not many of us have picked up a soldering iron since high school.... so just bear with me. Maybe I'll wind up authoring a Building Lightsabers For Dummies sticky.

[cannibal869]

Whoa...
Um, if you can agree to get rid of that rear choke, I think it's doable. Otherwise, the way you have it set up right now would take quite a bit of work. If it's just light and no sound, then it may be possible. You may need to use a different activation switch, cause that one takes up a bit of space in the hilt. If you do want sound I personally think you'll have to get rid of the rear choke...

I think FenderBender's cram-fu skills have put many of us here to shame

[Rivenshield]

Whoa...
Um, if you can agree to get rid of that rear choke, I think it's doable. Otherwise, the way you have it set up right now would take quite a bit of work.

So I am swiftly gathering. Oh well. Form must needs take a back seat to function, as ever. The basic main body *is* seven inches long for a reason. I kind of figured, but wanted to ask. My thanks for the reality check.

/starts happily messing around with the MHS saber builder again

[Cantina Chef]

I've done one just over 7 inches. I used a two AA battery pack with one 3.7 li ion and one dummy cell and mounted a hasbro board on the pack like the set up sold at TCSS. 5 inch extention, pommel, and blade holder...oh and only a 24 inch blade...anything can be accomplished.