AAAAAAHHHHH! THEY WORKED!!! *ahem* I mean...thanks. =)
So, with all the overtime I have been working lately, it took forever to get my first hilts together. But I finally managed it, and...they worked. I almost wept.
First, an enormous, ridiculously humble THANK YOU to Forgetful Jedi Knight, Silver Serpent, and Jay-gon Jinn. Your patience with my parts list and wiring diagrams bordered on the saintly. I know how tough it is with new people...part of my job is training apprentices. I can't really say thanks enough.
Also, thanks to Tim for his patience with my e-mails, and also for being a superb machinist. Everything fit together like it was...well...made to. Really quality workmanship. Top shelf.
So...I started with this:
Well, more than that, actually, as you'll see later.
The first part was to actually get the hilts together, as I didn't want to be drilling, tapping, using oil, etc. with a bunch of electronics and wires in the way. I started by cutting the brass parts.
The original plan was to etch the brass with muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide, then add patina to certain parts with ammonia fumes, but it wasn't going the way I wanted to. Everything I tried for a mask on the test parts ended up failing, things just weren't getting done the way they should be, etc., so I opted out of the chemicals and went for a "brushed and polished" look instead:
I made the brass parts, put them on my hilts, drilled and tapped the holes, and then did a final polish and a spray-on lacquer seal for the brass, to keep it looking good.
And, after all that work, a few weeks of my evenings and weekends, the moment of truth. I installed the electronics today.
I learned a lot.
Especially about cram-fu. If I do this again at some point, different choices will be made.
Anyway, I took my stuff to the soldering station at work (better than my apartment), and started pulling wires, soldering, crimping, shrink-tubing, etc. I followed my FJK/SS/JGJ-approved wiring diagram, and then packed my stuff up and took it home. Four hours later.
Nervous all the way home...will it work? When I pull out the kill plug, and plug in the charger, will it explode? How long does it have to charge before I can turn it on? WHEN WILL I KNOW IF ALL OF MY EFFORTS WERE IN VAIN!?!?!?!
So, I get home, put the brass shrouds on, and pull out the kill plugs to start the charging....
AND THE GREEN ACCENT LED LIGHTS UP, AND IT MAKES A BOOT-UP NOISE. I almost wet myself. Maybe I did. A little.
I push the button. It turns on. I weep a bit. I insert an unfinished blade and play with it in my living room.
Then I do the same thing to the other one. It works too.
And with the lights on (please pardon the unfinished blades...no diffusers, fingerprints, dust, etc.):
Again. A humble thanks for all the help.
And now...
--Finish the blades.
--Drill and tap the blade set-screw holes.
--The clash sound works great. The swing sound is a bit...insensitive. I may pull the SD cards out and try editing the file to change that.
--Wait until the extra parts I ordered from Tim show up...then do some more brass work, remove the pommels, and screw together a saber staff...Then I can have either a pair, or a staff. WHEEEEE!
I apologize for the length of this thread and all the extra pictures. I am just VERY excited.
~~Kage
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Originally Posted by JakeSoft
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