equinox13's MHS5 build

[equinox13]

still waiting on a lot of parts, which i'll list, but i feel i have a lot done so far. here are some pictures and a video of everything so far.

Here's the basic setup for the crystal chamber - a slotted double male (marked so i know which end is which since i want the paint dusting to line up later), 2 cut up blade bases from hasbro econo sabers, and 2 tubes for the wires. the wires were quickly replaced with 22AWG transmission copper wires.


Inside of the upper part - 3 LEDs (2 blue & 1 rainbow) wired in parallel and epoxied in.


The switch box and covertec button in a nice faux woodgrain pattern. The box is resting against the start of the crystal.


Not a very good picture, but this is the 'crystal' after initial shaping. I epoxied layers of scrap acrylic together and stuck them in a vice for a few hours. i had to glue tabs to each end later for the mounting. the second picture is after final shaping and some polishing. it looks good lit up like that so i think i'll leave that last tiny bit of polishing wax on it.


and here's everything in a short video all assembled with the pommel and crystal chamber fully assembled. i put some gundam type vent things inside the chamber to add a bit of flair to it as well, though they're hard to see... The pommel has a thin piece of plastic plating to diffuse the LED in it.


Picasa Gallery

EDIT:: forgot to list parts still on the way...
- blade holder 13, 16, or 19 - all were ordered but still deciding
- main hilt body parts - pseudo Mara style
- MR Sith board
- Skott's FD 1.0
- RGBW Cree LED and resistors
- thumbscrews

[polarcupz]

Very nice! How did you get faux wood grain?

[iamdrake]

Looking good so far. Again I see you have gone with a crystal chamber that changes colors... nice.

[equinox13]

Looking good so far. Again I see you have gone with a crystal chamber that changes colors... nice.

thanks. ^_^ i like to have some variation in things and this gives a sort of 'active' look that i kinda like.

Very nice! How did you get faux wood grain?

i painted it on. ^_^ the main body grip will be similar, but i'll be aiming for a bit darker of a shade.

[dgdve]

Yeah, gotta Luv the color shifting crystal chamber!!

[Knighthammer]

That color crystal chamber is awesome! What's the diffusion panel for in the pommel? Just looks or some other random idea?

[equinox13]

i wanted a lit panel - not an implement of eye surgery. left alone, the LED is just too blinding and overpowers the pommel itself. i did the same thing for the 3 upper LEDs in the crystal chamber, though the crystal does protrude into the main LED chamber a tiny bit to catch the light there.

[Ronan]

Nice !!!

[equinox13]

a little update. i had trouble getting Li-Ions shipped over here to japan from the place i normally get my battery supplies so i just broke open an older camcorder battery for 6 14500 cells rated at 750mAh. anyway, i wired them up into a 3.7V ~1500mAh battery pack using mylar ESD shielding as a casing since my heatshrink seems to be way too thick...i've also discovered that i'll have to redo the mounting plate that i made for the pommel, but that's not an issue.

here's the new battery in all its glory. yes i'm using painter's tape to hold the shielding in place. no i'm not worried about it. it's a better option than electrical tape and i know it won't catch fire at any temperature this will operate at.


and here's all the electronics hooked up for testing. the final build will have an RGBW - RB for the main color and GW for Skott's FD1.0 board. for now i have the white P4 from my first saber wired into the green line for testing, since i already have both of the clash lines resistored.


pull the killkey and the AV switch LED and the soundboard wires get power.


click in the latching switch and everything else gets power.

[dgdve]

good idea gutting that old camera