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

[farlander]

I've been trying to come up with two short sabers for dual wielding, 26" like escrima. Your design looks good - have you considered a switch on the bottom of the pommel to keep the hilt "cleaner" for him to grip?

[Alcfalath]

Things you need to consider when making a small saber.

1. All Double female extensions are 1 inch shorter on the inside due to .5 inch threading on either side. Chokes take up all of that room, a pommel will not.

2. 3 Inches = ~2 inches of viable room. Meaning it will be nigh impossible for a 'standard' (either guarded or basic) switch, battery room, and resistor/buckpuck/soundboard.

3. Sound will take up more room in the hilt, with need for locating the speaker/speaker holder, and obviously you will need a kill/recharge port. 5 inches would be the bare minimum for a Double Female for this use.. Feel free to chime in anyone who has enough build knowledge to counter that.

4. If you want (ultra)sound, you will need a recharge port for best use. Meaning in hilt batteries. Trustfires are the way to go, but obviously you need to figure out what LED you want to use. The Lux 3s are fast disappearing, though the P4s are staying for a while. Just remember at the ultrasound doesnt regulate batteries that well with a Lux/P4 red. If you want red, hit the books and find out what is doable. Generally 2 x 14500 Trustfires are best for battery packs, as they are AA sized (enough to fit the battery packs just) and will last a good amount of time for their output.

There are many more things to consider/research when making this saber, but that will be up to you to find on these boards. The information is there (its how I have learned, as well as physical experience) and if you word your searches right (or browse) you will find it.

FYI, ive been working on a double choke saber for almost a year now (my unicorn), and im finding it very hard to put what I want in it with a 5 inch double female. That and trying to turn it into a double sided saber isnt easy either. I can barely do it without sound, and with a Crystal Focus is just going to be that little harder.

Just remember, start big to begin with, then work your way down. Experience will build your cram fu skills.

[Caine Drathul]

Funny you just posted this...I just finished a Padawan style saber (just over 8 inches) and MAN that thing was a pain...I got those wires as short as I possibly could and it was still a PIA. I used a 6" sink tube along with a sink tube adapter (kept about 1/2" out of the sink tube for length) and then BH 5....it had a Hasblow Force Action board wired with a relay and a 4 AA battery pack and I just BARELY got it all in. (would have prolly been easier if I used a different battery solution, but still made it happen)

[Et Kin Evenstar]

...may want to consider the new 2010 Hasbro Obi Wan saber. The card in that is TINY. Note the card in the Vader/Anakin versions is not the same. Still, as a newbie to this myself, I can see how getting the wires and batteries to fit is a challenge. I'm about to start a smaller saber for my daughter and have been thinking about how to do things also.

[cardcollector]

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

Amen to that!

I think that 8-9 inches is what you want to shoot for...

Unless you think long term, he will grow up ya know.

[Darth Biff]

Greetings all,

Rivenshield: The US board is 2" X 1". How you mount it will depend on what kind of battery pack you use. I have used the 4 X AAA pack and have a standard MO for installing the board. See below:



That's some 1.5" heat shrink, with the wire leads from the battery pack secured with a second piece of heat shrink holding them. This set-up requires only rudimentary Cram-Fu to fit it into the hilt.

[Darth Biff]

Damn! Let me try this again:

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a...tronics-1a.jpg

[Jedi-Loreen]

You could have just edited your post.


And, you should not have your US board totally covered by heat shrink. Those board burn off excess voltage as heat, you could cause your board to overheat and actually melt the solder and cause some of the tiny surface mount components to fall off.

I'd like to see what that heat shrink looks like after you've used that saber for a while.

[Darth Biff]

Greetings All,

J-Lo: That was after using it for a while... I did run it for about an hour when I first wrapped it, and checked the temperature by touch. It didn't seem overly hot. The board is open at either end (not completely encased in shrink tube), but I'll crack it open again, and this time I'll use an IR thermometer, just to be 100% sure I'm not cooking anything. Thanks for the info, I'll let you all know what I find out.