2 New PVC lightsabers, Destiny and Unnamed Jedi

[Sloda Foade]

It has been a while since I built a saber, the last 2 were PVC, a jedi "Padewan" with amber blade for my son, and a sith. These were based on Jay Gon Gin's PVC saber designs, but the sith has a joystick handle with the switch in the original trigger button.
Padewan_lit_no_flash.jpgSith_with_flash.jpg

After several months of illness, I have managed to get back into building and am working on 2 new PVC sabers. One called "Destiny" for my sister and an as yet unnamed Jedi as a stunt saber.

Destiny will have a light blue Cree (I believe) and the unnamed will have a green Cree (I believe) that I have had lying around for several months. Power is from 2x AA batteries with a mini buck puck. Both sabers will not have sound as I can't get a speaker small enough to fit into the PVC pipe which is smaller than that in USA. Also my sis didn't want sound.

So here is the initial build pics of Destiny, I will add those for the unnamed one as I get to it.
Chris1.jpgChris3.jpgChris4.jpg

The end of the battery holder screws off. There will be an o ring placed between the cap and the body as it doesn't sit flush due to bad thread moulding. 3x hard drive screws hold the outer sleeve in place, another screw clamps down on the LED housing to hold it in place if the blade is removed. The two holes near the front give accent holes into the side of the blade for more interesting look.

It is now ready for painting, I'll add more info as I proceed. I'll try to remember to add the pics of the electrics this time. Basic colour scheme will be chrome-silver and black.

[Sloda Foade]

Sorry about the double post, but there was no other way to show the rest of the photos.
Destiny is finished - painted and wired. The only thing I still have to do is grind down the tip of the blade and glue it in place, which I'll do tomorrow.
The black paint is a hammerite smoky black, and the chrome silver is a high shine paint for detailing. It will take a day to set properly, but if it doesn't I have some silver hammerite that I can re-spray it with. It won't be as shiny, but it doesn't come off in your hand.
Simple electronics - 3V mini buck puck with 2x AA batteries in single holders wired in series and a micro rocker switch (the same one I used in the Padewan saber). The switch locks into the inner tube, with the two outer sleeves cut wider to allow it to lock in place but be recessed to reduce the chance of an accidental de-activation.
The LED is hot glued into a cut off of blade tube which acts as a blade stop as well as allowing the LED to be held in place by the top screw just in front of the switch.
DestinyElectrics.jpg DestinyLED.jpg

These LEDs don't run hot, and the ones I have used so far have run for long times without any heat problems.

So here are the final shots. The one with the blade is without a flash, the other two with flash. You can see the grip grooves made using Jay Gon Gin's pipe cutter technique, and the top has 3 fluted grooves hand cut with a straight edge and a rounded router bit in the dremmel. The battery holders are wrapped in a thin foam sheet, and there is a padded foam insert in the bottom of the screw cap.
The blade is a thick walled 19mm acrylic tube sanded inside and out, with several wraps of clear gift wrapping film inside. If the blade seems dim in the photo, it is probably because I used some well used AA batteries as I don't have any new ones in the house at present.

Destiny1.jpg Destiny2.jpg Destiny3.jpg

I hope you like it, and any comments or constructive criticisms welcome.

[jgunn]

That's some serious PVC work there, big thumbs up. Miles ahead of the stuff I've been doing.

Cheers,
J

[Sloda Foade]

Thanks jgunn, I would rather be building my War Machine MHS saber, http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ht=Sloda+Foade but can't afford it yet so I have to make do with what I have lying in my bits box (which is getting empty as well). My problem is that my imagination is more active than my bank account

[bk_renesis]

Welcome back Sloda, yeah this PVC thing is growing in leaps and bounds have to make me another (destroyed my last one)!!! Hope you get back to full strength soon. Cheers.

[Sloda Foade]

NOOOOooooo! not that really cool red and black one. That was great. What happened?

[RevengeoftheSeth]

Great looking design! Nice work!

[Darth Midian]

My problem is that my imagination is more active than my bank account

I know how that is. That's a great looking saber, good job.

[bk_renesis]

NOOOOooooo! not that really cool red and black one. That was great. What happened?

I needed some pipe for speaker resonance so I chopped it up like a mad man! Then I rebuilt it with a 1.25 sinktube. Then I needed the BH from that for my dark vaapad saber. So I ripped that apart too. I get crazy sometimes but I will rebuild the sink tube sith samurai. One day...

[Sloda Foade]

bk - but wouldn't it have been easier to just go buy another piece of tube? After all the work you put into building it...ah well, maybe the rework will be even better eh?
Darth Midian and ROTSeth, thanks for the positive feedback.

I'm afraid that I had to re-spray the chrome inner tube with silver hammerite paint as the chrome just wouldn't seal properly even after 48 hours. At least the hammerite paint seals so you can handle it without coming off in your hand, but it isn't as shiney as the chrome, more sort of sparkly grey.

I am still fiddling with pieces for the unnamed Jedi stunt saber. About all I know is that it will probably have a green LED. Maybe I'll do some piece placements and post them here, then you can all comment on which combination I should use.

(Later EDIT)

Ok, so here is the basic idea, as listed on the pic, O rings will go on the screw connection in the middle, the section just behind the emitter can be lengthened or shortened to suit (before being built of course). The end cap is a screw end nut with a rounded cap slid over the top of the nut. The idea is to get the rounded cap right up to the flange of the base of the hilt, but be able to unscrew the rounded cap to replace the batteries. The only problem is I would need 2xAA holders in line (which I don't have on hand).



The other option is just to leave off the rounded cap from the nut and just have the nut showing. This is what I did on Destiny, but screwed into a different connector.



The last version has just PVC tube inside the sleeve and the end cap, and the end cap has a screw through it into the pipe for retention. This would allow me to use a 2xAA side by side battery pack which I have on hand.



I want the battery part chunky and heavy to partially balance out the blade, so it can be spun at the thin section of the hilt. Sort of an older power cell from an early age. I want to round off the flat flanges at the connectors at either end of the thick connector at the cell area, and possible cut grooves in the thick connector to replicate the Mara hand grip.