Scintilla, 2012 MHS Saber Contest Winner by Don
Finally the LSCA 2012 Tournament is over and I have again some spare time to properly introduce Scintilla, which means spark in Italian.
I began planning this saber to be used mainly in events and as a spare in case I had to put my main dueling saber out of commission for some maintenance. At that time I wasn't planning to enter the contest, but as the time was passing I realized I was going to fall right in the proper time frame for the contest, so I decided to give it a try.
The saber was planned to incorporate some improvements respect my main saber.
The main issue I was trying to address was the grip, especially on the rear part, so I decided to craft the overlay with the thicker MHS sleeve material rather than the sink tube I used on the other saber.
When designing the overlay I tried to mix and match some elements from my two previous personal sabers (Rebel Soul and Brass Fencer) to some other details I saw in the sabers posted here in the forum. The result of the long planning is a two sections overlay that provides a great grip when spinning the blade and at the same time is hiding most of the junctions between the MHS pieces.
The other main characteristics I was willing to have was a bright green blade with a good running time for those occasions when we have to run demonstrations or test lessons at the events. The LED selection was very easy and I picked a 10W RGGB LedEngin, wiring the two green dies in parallel.
For the battery pack I was almost forced to use the 4x NiMh cells for their high mA capacity and because I use the weight of the 4 cells to properly balance the saber. Placing 3 cells in triangular shape close to the pommel and the fourth in front of them below the sound card helps greatly to balance the saber. This is a crucial feature for me because I don't like sabers too heavy on the blade since they have a very different feeling when used for fencing. A proper balancing was also the reason for choosing the reverse sound setup. Initially the speaker was to be installed at the pommel end, but that solution didn't work well. The chassis you see in the pictures is actually the third version I built before finding a good solution.
The combination of the dual die LedEngin and the 4.8V battery pack forced me to select an MR sound board. For a short time I considered using a PC or CF but in the end I decided that trading running time for fanciness wasn't the best solution in this case. I know this choice raised some concerns here, but at that time it looked like the best solution for me.
However, after testing the saber for the first time I fell in love with its handling and I soon realized that it deserved a better sound solution, as many of you suggested. Unfortunately the time was running short and I wasn't going to make it in time for the contest, so I decided to delay the upgrade.
So, consider this as a spoiler, sooner or later you will see Scintilla V.2 sporting the CF 5.6 I originally bought to upgrade my other saber.
Once again I want to thank everyone for the appreciation demonstrated for my saber and because all of you are a constant source of inspiration.
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Originally Posted by eastern57
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