Tri-Rebel Star

[Hasselhoof]

Hi guys

I'm new to this, I've been wanting to build a saber for a while but some how managed to miss this site, found it now so all good

I've been planning my saber, like you do, and as I can probably only afford to do this once I want to get the one I want first time.

I would like to have the option of switching blade color using the RGB Tri-Rebel Star, with a switching system for each of the colors. Has anyone done this, offer any advice on how to do this? I was also planning on putting the electronics in a chassis to keep things neat and safe in the hilt. Is it better to build the chassis and electrics before ordering the hilt pieces to ensure everything fits as i want?

And finally, so far, is there any cliffs notes on constructing the chassis for the electronics?

Any advice on crystal chambers?

Thanks all

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Hi guys

I'm new to this, I've been wanting to build a saber for a while but some how managed to miss this site, found it now so all good

I've been planning my saber, like you do, and as I can probably only afford to do this once I want to get the one I want first time.

I would like to have the option of switching blade color using the RGB Tri-Rebel Star, with a switching system for each of the colors. Has anyone done this, offer any advice on how to do this? I was also planning on putting the electronics in a chassis to keep things neat and safe in the hilt. Is it better to build the chassis and electrics before ordering the hilt pieces to ensure everything fits as i want?

And finally, so far, is there any cliffs notes on constructing the chassis for the electronics?

Any advice on crystal chambers?

Thanks all

First, welcome to the forums!

To answer your questions, this site has tons of information, unfortunately, there aren't Cliff Notes, you're going to have to read the "old school" way. You can start with the links in my signature, then really start reading through the forums. The search button is your friend. As for changing blade colors, let's see what you completely have in mind (design and what you would like to cram inside) and we can go from there.

[Hasselhoof]

Thanks for the quick reply

In my reading of the forums I have seen your posts and read your links, the basic guide was really useful

Wiring diagram wise I have no idea yet, as it's kinda what I'm trying to find out.

But kit wise as follows: -

PC 2.0 card
Li-Po battery
RGB Tri-Rebel Star (with each color individually switchable to give the various colors)
Recharge port with kill key
Possibly a crystal chamber if i can work out a way to construct one


I though about using something like 3 x Activation box style 6 equidistant around the hilt for the three LED switches with a separate overall power switch.
I have no idea how much space the PC 2.0 and battery will take up, or if I can run 3 LED's off the one BuckPuck, I know the blue and green require 1000mA and the red needs 700mA, so an additional resistor would be needed if that is at all possible, or would I need 1 BuckPuck for the blue, green and one for the red.

As a side note I live in the UK so forgetting something on my order would mean a longish wait to get the missing bit, as well as the high shipping cost, so careful planning is needed

Thanks again

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Thanks for the quick reply

In my reading of the forums I have seen your posts and read your links, the basic guide was really useful

Wiring diagram wise I have no idea yet, as it's kinda what I'm trying to find out.

But kit wise as follows: -

PC 2.0 card
Li-Po battery
RGB Tri-Rebel Star (with each color individually switchable to give the various colors)
Recharge port with kill key
Possibly a crystal chamber if i can work out a way to construct one


I though about using something like 3 x Activation box style 6 equidistant around the hilt for the three LED switches with a separate overall power switch.
I have no idea how much space the PC 2.0 and battery will take up, or if I can run 3 LED's off the one BuckPuck, I know the blue and green require 1000mA and the red needs 700mA, so an additional resistor would be needed if that is at all possible, or would I need 1 BuckPuck for the blue, green and one for the red.

As a side note I live in the UK so forgetting something on my order would mean a longish wait to get the missing bit, as well as the high shipping cost, so careful planning is needed

Thanks again

OK, first off, use Li-Ion not Li-Po's.

Second, you're not going to be able to have so many switches with a PC (not to mention you won't have that kind of room). What you want (able to change LED colors) is possible with a lot of planning and a willingness on your part to manually open up your saber and make a change each time you want a different color.

The chamber would heavily depend on your design, you could probably easily do a "fake chamber", which would probably be more up your alley, since you are a beginner.

You will need to do a lot of reading which will take a lot of time (and by time I mean probably a week or so), and maybe come up with an idea of what you want design wise, and then we can see what is possible, and what you can actually construct.

[The Yin]

welcome to the wonderful world of sabersmithing!

FJK has got you off to a good start. I would also recommend the "fake Chamber" idea, as that's what I'm doing with my current project. Look up 'Lockheed' for an idea of what I'm doing with mine (thank you Cannibal).

Also, as FJK mentioned, the easiest way to work with multi colors is to have a design that allows you to manually switch out the LED. JST connectors will help you other there.

There was talk of adding a stuck thread about saber chassis, but I don't know if that's been done yet.

oh, and you wont need a buckpuck with a PC, it's got all the LED driver goodies built in. You will however need a resistor for Flash-on-clash (more reading to come )

One last thing, read, read, read and hangout on the forums. With me, I've spent just as much time, if not more (likely much more), reading about and planning out my sabers, then I do actually working on them. I've got a design right now that I'm researching and planning for, but wont even begin to even order parts for another few months.

Oh yes, and Have Fun

[TrypWyr]

I did something similar with a PC a while back. I had a toggle switch to allow changing from blue to green, with red set up as Flash on Clash. This worked great as blue and green used the same voltage, otherwise I would've needed to insert the kill key before changing colors so the PC could output the correct voltage. If you wanted to put red in the mix as a selectable option I guess you would need a 3-way toggle switch, or equivalent, and a resistor on the red for active changing during use, or kill power before you change colors... It may be easier to simply have multiple LED modules and change them out, as stated above, or upgrade to a CF or other soundboard with color mixing. But that brings a lot of new challenges...

TL;DR, it can be done but it takes some interesting wiring or just individual LEDs.

Good luck making a single saber, my friend... I said that a year ago and I've now finished four sabers and currently running about 5 projects. It's an addiction.

[Hasselhoof]

Hi Guys

After some research of other peoples wiring diagrams I have modified and come up with this, would it actually work?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Theoretically, it might. HOWEVER, here are the issues I see.

1. You will have an awful lot of switches on this (5), all you would need is an <Enter> and <Esc> button and you could have a keyboard.

2. You will not be able to magically change colors while in use. You would have to turn the saber off, then turn on and off whatever switches and then turn the saber on again. With all those switches, it is likely that if you do use the saber, you will push something you didn't mean to and could accidentally blow something up. The more you have in a saber, the more that can go wrong.

3. If you do try to put all that in a hilt, it's going to be a big (and long) hilt - AND you wanted to try a crystal chamber???

By the way... how much soldering experience do you have? Do you have some type of design to fit all this into?

[Hasselhoof]

I'm probably going to can the idea of a crystal chamber, due to the length, and it would also need to color change to look right and that would be very difficult.

And from what you say the saber would need to be off to change the colors, is that something to do with the PC SD? or all cards? ( I got the idea from ultrasabers RGB sabers)

This is, at the moment, roughly the saber I'm looking at



I'm thinking of putting a shroud over it, cut into a pattern and acid etched.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Oh, them.

Yeah, it's mainly because the sound cards have a LED driver that automatically detect the voltage a LED needs.

If I recall correctly, their color changing sabers don't have sound, - they are stunt models.