Need some advice.

[Ashiva]

Well I'm about ready to start ordering for my first saber but wanted to ask your opinions on which version you would think would look the best.



Out of those three, all of them would have an activation box style 2 with a short green ring AV switch, red aux switch and a recharge port in the 4" double female extension, as close to one set of the internal threads as allowed.

The top one would have a PC, and possibly 1 14500 battery pack in the fluted section, and an accent LED lighting up a quartz Crystal in the opening in the middle.

THe bottom 2, would have a 14500 pack in the extension, and a PC on a chassis in the ribbed section, but not sure if a side by side pack would work in the extension, as the speaker would need to go in as well, maybe a stick pack would work.None of the sabers are over 12" in length.

So my questions are, Which do you like the most, and the other is, Would a 14500 pack fit in a 4" female extension with activation box 2 with the buttons on it and a speaker?

Any help would be appreciated.

[TuxedoCartman]

In terms of appearance, I kinda like the middle one best; but I've got a thing for small, slender sabers. But as for fitting a 14500 battery pack, type 2 box, and speaker in there, ehh... not so sure. Maybe... MAYBE... if you go with the premium speaker, and not the 2w bass speaker, you can get it to fit.

On the other hand, you can also try mounting the speaker in the pommel, which makes a great case for your third design there. It's a pain in the butt to do, and your resonance will be non-existant; but if space is at a premium, it's something to consider.

Also, if it were my saber, I'd go for style 3 (or at the very least style 2) for the powdercoating scheme on the choke/ ribbed section combo. Again, just my opinion.

[Johannes Huber]

I agree with TuxedoCartman that #2 is the one I like from a visual perspective, but I also like slim, sleek designs.... It has enough breaks/form changes in the silhouette to get away from the straight cylinder look while at the same time retaining favorable ergonomic traits such as not having much that will catch on the hand or clothing (I don't know your specific use i.e. display, stunt etc so I'm going with what I know from training with actual swords...). What might be interesting to add to the sleekness of #2, if it can be managed, is to have TCSS cut the AV switch holes directly into the hilt rather than as a box installation. That might be cheaper and keep the form slimmer but that said, it may get crowded in there with the electronics in either approach. The bright side is that there is no rule against building one and then the next and the next (you know, like eating potato chips: you can't just eat one ). Good luck, and let us see the pictures when you're ready.

[TuxedoCartman]

Nah, I can tell you from experience having a short AV switch flush mounted won't leave enough room for the battery pack.

[Ashiva]

That was part of the reason why I chose a box to maybe give me some more room. See I was leaning towards the top one with a crystal chamber in it, maybe switch te fluted section and the 4 inch extension around and make a shroud from PVC ad plastidip that would wrap around the saber, with a whole cut out for the box, halving it around the center crystal chamber with matching holes cut for the holes for the chamber, then slightly wrapping back up and around the fluted section. I have it in my head, I just need to lay it out on paper for you to really understand what I was lookin at. I want my first saber as a personal saber but I decided go big
Or go home on it. I do like the Luke look from rotj, but it's been done so much I thought it over killed.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Even with a box, especially style 2, you will still have a hard time getting the battery pack and a speaker to fit. You can forget using one of the store's speaker mounts, since they take up space inside the hilt (unless you do some serious modifications to one; like cutting it in half), and then you'll have an issue of the recharge port hanging down from the switch box and getting in the way of the battery pack. It will be much easier to get this to work if you use a 5" extension instead of the 4". Keep in mind you have to have space for the wires to go when tou install the battery pack, especially if you use a JST connector to hook it up to the recharge port.

[Ashiva]

So if I went with my first saber choice, but have the fluted 4" at the pommel and the 4" extension for the top, could I put a speaker, PC, and 14500 battery pack in the fluted section, with the box 2 and switches in the 4" regular extension? I'm leaning more towards that one.. Or should I add an inch to the fluted extension and make it a 5". I was planning on more then likely making a custom chassis for the pc, speaker, and battery pack, with some chassis disks and threads and covers for a crystal chamber in the center, then the box and switches in the non fluted extension. I planned on sticking a green LED under the crystal to light it up from the bottom, since most of the wires will be running upwards. I have an idea to run the wires discretely through the crystal chamber..