New member

[Cancer]

Hey all, just wanted to finally introduce myself to the community. I feel that I should at least let everyone know, here in the forums, how helpful they've already been for me. I literally dove into the saber community head-first without even knowing that there was a community of enthusiasts who've been doing what I have only dreamed about for years....

I think it's safe to admit, I have an addiction. Anyway, the real point of this is to just say thank you for all of the help that I've attained just by reading the infinite amounts of information that you have all provided thus far and for all of the information still available that I've yet to get to. In short, I love you guys in the same way a junkie loves their dealer ... except slightly less bad for the cumulative health for all of those involved ... maybe.

Rambling ... anyway, I'm happy to know that I'm not totally insane for embracing this little hobby of ours.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Glad we could have helped. Like most dealers we just keep coming up with better and better stuff to really get you hooked. LOL Just kidding. We are glad to help, the more people we have here the more knowledge we have to share and the more awesome sabers we can make. Now crank out some sabers to get other people hooked. lol

[Cancer]

I've actually got 2 PVC sabers and a really simple metal-hilt style saber (all direct-drive) and a MR Vader(2005) that I've yet to convert ... kinda wanted to get the hang of making a couple of my own sabers (one of which I'm actually working on right now) before I attempt to do my own conversions and muck it all up.

But I've got almost all of my parts now, for the new beast, just waiting for the big brown truck to bring the other half of my parts. I'll get some pictures posted as soon as I find the money to spend on a digital camera. Need to do some more reading, though, because I'm planning on using an illuminated switch for the first time and it's proving to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. ^_~

[Shadar Al'Niende]

hey, welcome! I recently used an illuminated AV in one of my sabers, feel free to pm/email me via my profile if you have any questions. Good to have you on board

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Welcome.

[jjshumpert]

vader was my first conversion, once you get into it you will see it isnt nearly as intimidating as you would think, only down side to the vader is that pesky little pin in the activation box...

[Cancer]

I've seen several videos and such for making the conversions, and eventually I'll get to it, but being as that I don't have my own drill press right now a lot of the customizing options are limited to what I can do with my hand drill, which unfortunately, isn't nearly accurate enough for me to attempt the operation with confidence.

The build that I'm working on right now, I plan on being a little more inventive with. I've got quite a few ultraviolet LED's that I think will look awesome as accents and I'm going to see if I can incorporate a crystal chamber somewhere in the hilt as well, along with a plexiglass or possibly acrylic window for easy viewing. This hilt is pretty large so far, though, measuring at a little over 15 inches (can you say Zweihander?). I may shorten that up eventually by removing the choke or taking a chunk out of the main body piece ... maybe even both. But that's really all depending on whether I can afford to lose the space or not. I've got the basic wiring all soldered together so far, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to use a DPST or a DPDT switch and an individual coin-cell to drive the additional LED's. I'm also looking at installing a recharge port and using some lithium rechargeables from a cordless phone just to save the constant battle of unscrewing the hilt every time the batteries die (I run around in my basement with the lights turning off a LOT...). My inner child pretty much runs the place, just FYI.

I'm not sure if I'm going to even attempt to play with sound just yet on this build. I've got the room for it, as above mentioned, but I'm taking this particular hilt one step at a time and I've made pretty fair use of the abundant quick disconnects and latching wire connectors at my disposal, so everything can be taken apart for modifying/rectifying/repairing/replacing with ease.

I'll get some pictures posted (concepts and actual photos) of the lack of progress so far as soon as I can. ^_~