Ask a Jedi is doing an Article on TCSS, need YOUR help

[whenbearsreign]

Hello everyone, my name is Joe and like most of you, I am a huge Star Wars fan. I am a writer for AskaJedi.com (writing name is Josto) and want to do an article for the Off-TORpic column on my experience using TCSS but want to build a saber first. Ask a Jedi is a fansite dedicated to keeping fans up to date on news about Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming MMO from BioWare Studios. My specific job at Ask a Jedi is to write about more off-topic things from just the MMO, relating to Star Wars and MMO's in general.

I plan on writing about the store, community, MHS builder (which is amazing btw) and the overall quality of the product. However, I have one issue-- I'm technologically impaired. When it comes to wiring something that doesn't have clear instructions, I feel a bit lost. This is especially true when it comes to buying the parts that I need to complete this. Using the MHS builder, I have a slight idea of what I want, but I'm hoping I can get the community's help.

I'm looking to do a full fledged, LED lightsaber. Something that can be taken apart and put back together in a somewhat canon fashion. I'm talking a slot to put a crystal, a blade that has the animation similar to the ForceFX sabers, the works. To be able to do all this, though, is going to require some ingenuity which is a quality I do not posses when it comes to electronics. Below is the basic idea of what I'm thinking for the saber (thanks to your MHS Builder).

The requirements for the lightsaber I want to build is it has to be something that will impress readers. I’m going for full canon on this one. I want to be able to break down the lightsaber to get to a crystal chamber without seeing too many of the components that make it light.

UPDATE

External View:

I plan on putting a sleeve over the 2" extension on that is between the main body and pommel and another one from the end of the machined part that extends 1/4" past the blade holder. The adapter box will be mounted directly to the sleeve which will have matching mounting holes in the main body. The sleeve mounted to the extension will be held in place by a flat button screw and the sleeve near the blade mount will be fastened to the main body with a decorative screw. The sleeve on the extension will have a Trim Ring 1 between the extension and the main body, tapering down from sleeve to main body.

This section has been moved to the Part Check thread I created.
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...-for-purchase)

[Boj-Vaati Mau]

The biggest help to yourself is to read the stickies that concern the type of build you are making; as you said LED blade, crystal chamber, etc. The answers that you can't find (there shouldn't be many) will be answered by the community when asked. You'll more than likely get several ways to do what you're asking also.

If you need a tutorial on soldering, Erv at Plecter Labs has an excellent one on his website and it'll have you soldering your own electronics in short order. The technique really is easier than it looks. Also, with a sound board, you need to decide on whether you want to go inexpensive (Econo Board), moderate (Master Replicas), moderately pricey (Petite Cruton), or expensive (Crystal Focus (if one can be had)).

I hope you have fun and enjoy your build!

[whenbearsreign]

Hey, thanks for the reply! I've been browsing the forums and have found a LOT of helpful information already. All of the information being available is extremely helpful. I think what I'm having the most trouble with is exactly what pieces I need. I've got the pommel, base hilt (guarded) and blade holder, but what light would work best? Will just that give me enough room for a crystal chamber? What's a nice, cosmetic way to hide seems? For the most part, I just have no idea what I'm looking at when it comes to electronics. What my goal is coming into this project is to show my readers how easy it can be to shop for all of the parts you need in one place; that once place being TCSS.

I'm planning on writing an article every couple of weeks about my experience building the saber. Part 1 will be using the forums to find what I need, part 2 will be construction and part 3 will be the final product. Throughout, I'm hoping community members will give their insight on what I should do during each part of the article.

Besides that, I'll be browsing the forums some more and start piecing together what I know I need. Thanks people of TCSS!

[Boj-Vaati Mau]

Looking at what you plan to build doesn't provide much room for a chamber. The hilt is only 7" and the heat sink, if you're going the route of a Rebel Star or Seoul P4, will take up the space in your emitter (Blade Holder). The type of board you want, the battery solution, what type of activation switch (the depth it takes up), if you're using a recharge port (makes life easy & difficult in it's own way) all play a part in how much space your taking up.

You'll also have to plan on how the chamber will be revealed, as so -http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...270-Caladcholg or very complex as so - http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...r-Reveal/page5 . You'll need to add a space in your hilt somewhere and a system to get at it. Those two are just the iceberg's tip in how to accomplish one.

Hiding seams can be done with shrouds, but seams aren't an inherently bad thing as the weapon needs to come apart in some manner. The MHS parts don't leave much of a visible seam to being with, so that's a help. In general they'll fall where they should and I wouldn't stress about it.

Good luck and keep us posted...

[cardcollector]

I, like you stared with no electronics experience. Let me tell ya though. Once you read through all the stickies, and get your parts... it will turn out to be easier than expected.
I also love this site. Anything I didn't learn here, I learned on this site. Everything is super simplified with great illustrations.
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/

As far as electronics parts you need, I recommend you browse the gallery and take notes on what you would like. Then you have a basic list of stuff you know will work with each other. There are TONS of wiring diagrams too in the "cutaway views and wiring schematics" section. You can go there to get a basic Idea as well...

You have a long journey ahead. It took me three months of reading and research before I completed my first saber. As you can see, I got hooked. This is one of the most rewarding hobbies out there.

Good luck on your quest.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Welcome to the forum and best of luck with your article and your saber build. A few thoughts/suggestions come to mind about your design and your description of what you want to achieve with it. Yes a basic 7" hilt/pommel/bladeholder design is short for everything you want to include, particularly a crystal chamber. Its not impossible but for a first time builder the necessary 'cram-fu' may prove challenging; a little more space could be easier for you. Just my opinion but I would consider adding a "MHS gear" between the pommel and 7" hilt which would give you an additional 1.5" to work with and make the cram-fu easier.

Your description sounds like you want to build a 'revealable' crystal chamber i.e. you unscrew the pommel and pull out an inner section revealing the crystal chamber rather than having slots or cutaway on the hilt itself for a full time visible crystal chamber. If so then that would be possible by building a chassis using several MHS chassis discs with holes, threaded rods, nuts and spacers which would hold the battery solution, soundboard and crystal together as a revealable unit. You havent said what colour you want the saber LED to be or what battery/soundboard solution you wish power things by. Nor whether you intend to mount the board 'tandem' in front of or behind the batteries...or to mount the board on top of the battery pack/holder. If you intend a tandem mount you will probably need an extension as in the earlier example of the 'gear' or even longer double female section along with a double male connector.

I notice you have both a an AV switch box 9 and a square control box 1 located directly opposite one another. You may find this is not a very ergonomic arrangement for your forward hand when dueling or spinning. You could keep the box and add a tactile switch for activation or keep the AV switch and box 9 and ditch the box 1 and have a more ergonomic handling saber...of course if you intend this to only be a display piece ergonomics might not matter much to you so YMMV eh?

About hiding seams; shrouds can indeed help but another approach is to use paint, or the powdercoating or media blasting finishes available as a TCSS service, to vary finish/colour between adjacent threaded parts. This doesnt conceal the seam entirely but it can camouflage the purpose of why the seam is there and can look less obviously a "screwed together" seam line than a line between parts having the same machined finish colouring. If you did choose to use the gear and had it powdercoated black to match the grooves and had the rearmost ring on the bladeholder back end just ahead of the threading also powdercoated black the seams might not look obviously seams imo. Of course your aesthetic taste is what matters for your saber.

A last concern is your choice of pommel 1/2...those are meant to be used with switches in stunt sabers and have no sound holes just one switch hole...you could certainly try adding some wire mesh over the switch hole for a with-sound pommel but you could alternatively use MPS pommel 6 which is also rounded off albeit less round than pommel 1 or 2.

Whatever you decide for your build Bienvenue, Bon Chance and MTFBWY

[whenbearsreign]

what battery/soundboard solution you wish power things by. Nor whether you intend to mount the board 'tandem' in front of or behind the batteries...or to mount the board on top of the battery pack/holder. If you intend a tandem mount you will probably need an extension as in the earlier example of the 'gear' or even longer double female section along with a double male connector

Thank you for the great advice I'm looking into all of that stuff as I continue working the build. However, the quoted section might as well be written in Greek, lol. Ideally I wanted the crystal to be mounted directly to the blade holder so I could easily light the crystal and the blade at the same time with minimizing the amount of wiring (green blade and crystal btw). I'm not sure what a "tandem" is and I probably look like kind of an idiot for not knowing that, lol. I'll probably battery/speaker for space conservation unless there are recommendations for something better or cheaper. I'm also planning on doing two Li-Ion batteries with the charging option as well, which I'm assuming will just go into the hole at the bottom of the pommel. I'm also updated the build I'm looking at, this time I'll provide the pieces I have selected so far.



Hilt style 4 with guarded style switch hole
MHS Gear
Pommel Style 1
Double ended male threaded connector style 1 (2x)
Screw on LED blade holder style 18 "new style"
MHS "new style" Heat Sink
Activation box style 9
LED "TCSS style" Battle blade 1" OD (34 inches)
DPDT Latching green illuminated switch

Unfortunately the 2" Double female threaded connector was out of stock but that's not a big deal, it's just the extender between the base and blade holder.

Should that work as the essentials for building the saber? Is 34 inches enough/too much for a 13.5 inch hilt? So far the total comes to $175 will all of those parts which is pretty accurate to what I was thinking it would cost at this phase. NOW, the electronics...

btw, thanks to everyone for your responses, they've been very helpful and motivating. I think I'm going to have a great time writing this article!

[Natesroom]

on thing I've found is that if you've ever seen or have an architect's ruler ( http://www.mackans.com/ecdb/medsi400/STD9871931_1_1.JPG ) it makes it easier to envision the size of your saber...it's 12.5 inches long. 13.5 starts to become a little long. One rule of thumb from some experienced builders was 10-12 was very good for a one handed saber where 12-15 is more of a two handed grip saber. OF course its preference to but that was one comment i found helpful...it forced me to go back to MHS Builder to keep throwing the parts i liked back together to shorten it up and i came out with better ideas.

[Crystal Chambers]

Welcome aboard! 12 inch is a good medium. I've seen saber range from 10-14 inches without looking stubby or too long when done right. Seeing it in person is really quite different from MHS builder. If it looks good in builder chances are it will look way better in person.

For a chassis reveal I would place your switches up near the emitter and then you can separate it just below the switches by removing the whole lower MHS body and pommel section to reveal the chassis. The board, batteries, speaker, chamber, and chassis could be fit in a 6" section revealed if you go with a petit crouton sound board and 2 li ion cells under it although giving yourself some extra space on your first build is a good idea. Otherwise you might find yourself having some headaches and sleepless night..lol...been there.

As I'm sure you've noted we like to try and get people to get in the DIY spirit and try to find the answers themselves so they can at least ask more informed questions. Once you have a good idea of how you're going to go about your build and parts nneeded be sure to post a parts list to make sure you haven't overlooked anything you may need.

The main blade LED won't focus enough light back to illuminate your crystal. The LED for lighting the crystal should be a 5mm LED right under the crystal. Commonly the LED would be under the LED holder instead of inserted from the top of it as to hold the crystal as well. You can splice this off your blade LED wiring with a resistor so that it matches the blade flicker.

PS. I thought you had to be able to build your own saber before you can call yourself a Jedi. hehe

[slothfurnace]

Howdy do, and welcome to the forums!

Sounds like you're well on your way already, but I thought I'd toss in my 2 cents...

A crystal chamber makes the saber about twice as challenging to construct, in my opinion. You not only have to get the aesthetic and mechanical features you want in the external hilt, but also within the chamber, and reveal method. I usually do springloaded reveals with complex mechanical mechanisms, but that isn't a must. Some sabers are just as excellent with twist to open and slide apart reveals.

Make sure when you get your MHS pieces to keep the threads clean and lightly oiled. You don't want to get close to completion and have your saber get threadlocked. I've read of many sad stories of the threads getting galled and locked together by grit. It's not a fault of the MHS system, but you do need to keep that area clean and oiled.

If you don't already have one, get a GOOD soldering iron, preferably also a digital multimeter. These are relatively inexpensive investments yet are worth their weight in gold. Also a cheap third hands setup (base with articulated alligator clip arms) for assembly of wiring, etc.

Feel free to ask questions, you will get excellent help here at TCSS. All the members are dedicated to excellence in this hobby.

Welcome to the forum and have fun!

Oh also, by the way, I work at BioWare on The Old Republic, ping me if you have any questions not covered by NDA, I'll help if I can.