First Saber build - "Velocity"

[Johannes Huber]

Hello,

Just finished up my first saber and thought I'd post it. Many thanks to LDM and to Tim at TCSS for their patience with questions, etc and FenderBender for his 10W LEDEngin tutorial! Hopefully the saber looks ok even if it's a bit unconventional. It's running a white quad rebel in a variation of seriallel from the above tutorial with a light blue filter at 1500mA in a "full powah", non-"FOC" style setup with an obsidian soundcard that and a 7.4 rechargeable lith-ion battery pack from TCSS and all the electronics are modular and held in place with acrylic chassis rings to make them more durable. The inner pieces are all TCSS and handpolished to 4000 grit and the outer pieces are TCSS sleeve material that I cut and polished to 100 grit and then coated with multiple coats of clear coat first to get an first "orange peel" texture and then more heavily to get the protective coat and somehow the coating darkened the metal which I decided was a happy accident. The window in the blade holder was the result of slipping while drilling a retention hole and gauging a line too deeply to sand (oops...) so I added the window to hide the evidence. The stand is one of Sanjuro's Level 1 stands. Next saber will be a bit more conventional so I can try working out the PC soundcard and the LEDEngin for a comparison. This is a dangerously addictive hobby.

Johannes

POST_VEL_Side_On.jpg
POST_VEL_3_4_Front_On.jpg
POST_VEL_Front_close_Off.jpg
POST_VEL_Front_close_On.jpg
POST_VEL_Rear_3_4.jpg

[Ty_Bomber]

Stunning. Absolutely...stunning. Was the shroud machined or carved by hand?

[Yoshi-Taka]

[gasp!] A saber with the long curved choke! I like this design. Get a picture or two with a blade in it. That LEDengin would look so much better with it.

[amwolf]

Really nice saber - love the shroud work. Quality dremel skills... I'm jealous. Big fan of that choke, too. Did you draw any inspiration from B5's White Star?

[The Yin]

well done. I like the use of that choke. Not until looking at the saber a second time(after reading the post) did i realize it was not a double bladed setup.

[shmoetech]

I like it!!!!

[Starwinder]

Great job and congrats! Excellent shroud work!

[Batosai]

a really nice saber. congratulations!

[Johannes Huber]

Hi everyone!,

Thanks for all the kind comments. I wasn't 100% sure whether this piece was too unconventional to work aesthetically for anyone else but me.
On the shrouds, those were done with a saw and mitre box for the big cuts and then a flexshaft (after my 10 year old dremel died trying to cut the sleeve material...) for the fine cuts. After that it was lots and lots of rasp/file work to clean up uneveness in cut angles and then sandpaper to smooth edges so, as with most things, I guess the shrouds would be a hybrid.
The long curved choke was something that I swore over more than a little since it made the electronics have much longer wiring and I couldn't just throw in whatever power supply I wanted into the back section (batteries and card fill up the back along with the recharge and speaker and then the switch and the 5MM LED are up front with the main LED and a pair of heatsinks to counterbalance the batteries in back). That said, the way it behaves as a grip is quite nice, allowing for a very ergonomic and fluid handling shape. I actually went back last night to the MHS builder and started playing to see if I could come up with a shorter saber that would take advantage of this and there are some definite possibilities. The other nice thing is that the choke is good for someone who has smaller, sensitive or injured hands so it may other another solution for people building with any of those issues in mind.
I'm still tinkering with blade approaches since I'd like to explore what will work best with the quad rebel and the 10 degree lens, so that may be a little while as I experiment...
Did I draw inspiration from the White Star? Not conciously, but I did go towards the art deco/art noveau styles for ideas and in looking at the White Star, it has quite a few similar design choices so I may very well have done so subconciously. I certainly will go back and do another closer look at the ship and see if any more interesting shapes catch my eye, so many thanks for the observation.
Again, thank you all for the kind comments and support. Trying something new for the first time and having others look at it is always a little nerve rattling and the support is very much appreciated.

[cannibal869]

Nice symmetric design. Clean cuts.
Good job I'd say!