Jay-gon Jinn's Chrome Saber 25(Seoul P4, w/illuminated AV switch, non-sound stunt)

[Jay-gon Jinn]

With the pommel all set, I began the wiring for the switch...this is pretty straight forward, but might get a bit tricky....I started by pulling the wires from the battery pack up into the hilt, and then sliding the switch nut over the wires:


I then fed the wires through the switch hole:



I pulled them out a little further so I can work on the switch easier, and then made up the main blade led connector, as well:


I had to feed those wires up through the nut:


Next, I soldered all of the negatives to the negative post for the switch led:

These all need to be connected as they all have a common ground. The switch will be interrupting the positive side of the circuit.

Then I started on the positives:

These are the positives for the led's. I attached them to the NC tab....with the ring style switches, I like to have them wired for the button to be "up" when on, since they light up better that way. This particular switch has a 12v led inside, so it is not necessary to use a resistor for it, either. I had these soldered to what I figured were the wrong terminals, though, and changed it after taking the pictures. I wound up soldering the battery positive to the Common terminal by itself, and then soldered the accent led's positive to the NC terminal with the main blade led's positive.

I thought about soldering a simple jumper wire from the switch led positive tab to the NC tab, but eventually changed my mind:


Instead, I decided to cut into the main led positive and make a "Y" connection to power the switch led from:




I added heat shrink tubing to the connection, but didn't shrink it...better test everything first:

Well, It works! Sort of....when I pushed the button to turn it off, the mechanism that latches the button down BROKE!!!! The switch essentially became a momentary and was unusable!

I looked in my parts drawer to see if I had another latching blue ring button and found none.....just latching w/green rings....and one latching blue dot:


I soldered it up just like the first switch:


And tested:



I think I like the blue dot better...it's brighter than the ring type was!

Now to assemble it......stay tuned!

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I added the ribbed extension:

And remembered I still had to mount the led to the heat sink and solder the male end of the connector to it:

I put a thermal heat transfer pad underneath the led, screwed it to the heat sink, and soldered the connector, plugged it in and tested:


I slid the heat sink into place in the top of the ribbed extension:


Grabbed a 5 degree lens and a Lux III style holder:


Snapped the 5 degree lens into the holder:


Set it in place on the led:


Lastly, I installed the emitter:


A couple of shots of the saber:




Popped in the blade:


This particular blade has the TCSS "bullet" tip:


So, with that, this saber is just about finished....one thing remains....I need to cut down the blade thumbscrew a bit, because it's too long and sticks out like a sore thumb when the blade is inserted, and then it's on to FINAL PICS and a VIDEO!

[Sidd]

Master Jay-gon how is it you are able to get the whole blade tip to light up like that? it looks awesome. I love the whole saber

[Crystal Chambers]

Sweet saber and an awesome tutorial!

Looks like enough space left that it could easily be upgraded for sound too. I look forward to seeing more pics and the video.

[cardcollector]

Master Jay-gon how is it you are able to get the whole blade tip to light up like that? it looks awesome. I love the whole saber

I second that question! I can't figure out how to do that... (and I've ruined 2 experimenting....)

You tutorial/build log/gallery is truly incredible!
Thank you so much for the time you put into these posts.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Master Jay-gon how is it you are able to get the whole blade tip to light up like that? it looks awesome. I love the whole saber

Trade secret, so if I told you, then I'd have to.....well, you know how that goes.....

[Crystal Chambers]

Trade secret, so if I told you, then I'd have to.....well, you know how that goes.....

Unless you have a unique method it's not a heavily guarded secret...

Blade tip solutions have been discussed just use the search-fu.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Taking off some small areas of reflective surface will allow a small amount of light to pass through. Usually a small hole in the center, or a few spaced around the area should suffice.

Remember, less is more. You can always take more off, you cannot however....put more back on

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Unless you have a unique method it's not a heavily guarded secret...

Blade tip solutions have been discussed just use the search-fu.

wow...can't a guy have a little fun on these forums anymore? Sheesh....

[Crystal Chambers]

And now a double post Jay-gon? hehe With all that you've shared I think you're entitled to keep a few secrets.

I have some extra tips and mirrors I've been meaning to test out but that's last on my priority list. When I get a chance I wanna try using a smaller mirror so I don't get any bright spots in my tip. I've seen people drill a hole in the middle and it doesn't look good IMO.