Imperial Knight Saber PVC WIP

[Volund Starfire]

Inspired by Jay-gon's PVC Hilts, I am going to start designing and building a series of hilts that are seen through the Expanded Universe. At first, I plan to make only lit sabers, but soon I plan to include sound with them too.

Parts List
Hilt Parts
-1” Schedule 40 PVC
-1.25” Schedule 40 PVC
-1” PVC Cap

Electronics Parts
-Build Your Own Seoul P4 Electronics Kit
--4AAA battery holder
--Seoul P4 (White)
--Collimator Lens 5’ viewing angle
--3.3ohm 5w resistor
--Push on/push off switch with black button

Miscellaneous Parts
-32” LED “TCSS style” Battle blade 1”
-Hex screw
-Thumb screw

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My first saber is going to be a relatively easy and straight-forward. It is the Imperial Knight lightsaber as drawn by Jan Duursema in the Legacy comics.



Using the image above, I figured out that if the hilt is 1.5” wide, it would be over 15” long, so I decided to shorten it to 13 inches. In the hands of some of the Imperial Knights, especially the women, the saber seems longer than it should. Even in the hands of the men, they double-hand hold it and it is rather long. So, it would make sense for a 13” saber length.



The only difference between the above picture and the drawing by Duursema is the little greeblie on the end of the pommel. That will be a screw-on D-ring. That’s just to attach it to a belt when the blade is removed.

The round thumb screw on the front is for… you guessed it, blade retention. I’m hoping that I only need one for the blade.

The round bubble hex screw toward the pommel is actually to keep the rear attached. You see, the pommel itself is doing to be the PVC end cap that is cut down and painted with a piece of 1/8” sintra glued onto it. It will have a piece of 1” pipe glued into it to be inserted in the grip. It is better than a screw-in end piece, in my opinion. At least for this project.

The internal 1” tube will also be cut down on the end to allow for the battery pack to be inserted in the end. Also, the activation button will be placed in front of the forward-most grip piece.

At this time, the only tools I have at my disposal are a pipe cutter and a dremel. I am hoping for a dremel drill press, miter saw, and coping saw for future projects, though.

Wish me luck and I will post pics as I get things done.

[HAVOK]

good luck, from experience, cutting all those ...lets call them slats are gonna be tricky. But the more work you put in the more you will love your saber!!!

[Niassa]

I might suggest that if you're really careful making the slatted part, you should cast a mold of it so you can just cast new ones. It would let you make these for other people interested... like me. :P

[Volund Starfire]

The slatted part is going to be the cut off part from the outer pipe that is cut into slats, painted, and glued back down. It will be slightly smaller (by the amount of the cut). As you can see from the picture that was produced in Issue 0 of the Legacy comics, the black grip sections are the same size as the outer part of the hilt.

Trust me, I know what I am doing... I think.

[zeropiccolo]

I like that idea, great re-use of what could be scrap.