Twigz' "Nemo"

[Twigz]

Hello all! It's been a while since I've posted anything. Here goes. This will be the third lightsaber I will have constructed, as well as the most difficult (for me, anyway). The hilt will be based off of a 1.25" sink tube, and be littered with what shroud work and ideas I have to offer. I'm going to be etching, cutting, drilling, tapping, sanding, and soldering my project every which way to get what is currently stuck in my head. Now, my dremel-fu and soldering skills are pretty sub-par, due to my shaky hands, but I'm going to do my best to fix what I can. I'll also do my best to keep this thread picture heavy, seeing as I'm not too great at keeping text interesting. :P> The picture below is a very rough sketch of what I plan to create. I apologize for my MSPaint skills being a little sub-par, as well. xD>
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I'll be using a 1.25" sink tube, a 1.5" sink tube, an MHS sleeve, some old sleeve material, an MHS to 1.25" adapter, and O-rings to create this.
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The electronics are just a standard stunt set-up: a cyan lux rebel with a 1000ma buckpuck that runs off of 4 AA's.
Today I managed to cut my middle shroud out, though I plan on removing the chrome finish from the pipe to reveal the brass and need to fix the odd edges and mishaps.
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[Twigz]

Today I got around to removing the brass and fixing my edges a bit on the middle shroud,
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[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Good work so far!

[Twigz]

Thanks FJK! (sorry, didn't see your post earlier)


Had time for some more work on the shroud today. I ran into a small design flaw: the shroud wouldn't fit over the O-rings neatly (O-rings were too large).
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Therefore, I split the shroud one way and cut out another piece of sink to somewhat close the gap (to make it more comfortable to grip all around).
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I sanded the chrome off of this piece as well, and epoxied it to my hilt.
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There is much more to come later- hopefully tomorrow I can get started on the emitter piece shaping (maybe even get started on some of the etching).

[Twigz]

This was a decently (saber)productive day! My friend and I managed to solder the guts today and got a sneak peak at what the blade color will look like (got a Cyan rebel).
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Other than that, we decided on a very basic design for our bottom sleeve and did some etching.
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Now I just need to shape/etch the emitter piece (unsure as to when I will do so) and start attaching what I can to the main hilt. Let the first drill and tap saber session of my lifetime begin.

[Twigz]

Made a bit more definite progress today, drilled and tapped for the first time ever and attached my pommel to the rear of the saber, as well as my clip.
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Tomorrow I hope to sure the electronics and blade holder in, as long as my drill doesn't crap out on me. xD> Still unsure as to when I will cut and install the emitter shroud.

[Askew Wai]

I like this so far! The last photo has a post-apocalyptic feel to it. The second-last looks more high-tech. I look forward to seeing where you go with this.

[Twigz]

Thanks, Askew! The saber is built off an idea of an old, sort of 'ancient' saber that an old Jedi Master had left behind. Rather than simply weathering it, I wanted the pieces to look somewhat dated, but still containing the power of a lightsaber. I'm not sure how I feel about it being used in duels, as I prefer smaller hilts, but I will more than likely be satisfied in it being a saber for show.

[Twigz]

Hello, all!
The past few days have been a bit crazy, so I was unable to upload progress as soon as possible. The following will be the last set of photos during the build before I post photos of the complete saber.
What was left was to cut and etch my emitter, and drill and tap the rest into place. Unfortunately, my phone died before I could take a photo of the drilling and tapping. xD> Here is the emitter work!
I planned on the 1.25" sinktube having revealed brass as well, so I did that while my friend helped me cut out my emitter.
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Once I finished sanding all the chrome off of that section, we used nailpolish, tape, and rubber bands to create our etching resist.
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Once it dried, the piece was off to a late night etching session.
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The following morning, we drilled the switch hole and installed our electronics, drilled and tapped the emitter piece to the top of the hilt, and drilled and tapped a hole for the blade retention screw. As I mentioned before, my phone died before I could document any of this with photos. Final build photos will be up soon!

[Twigz]

It is done! I've certainly learned a decent amount from this build concerning sink tube sabers and the such. I definitely need to improve on the dremel fu, but there will definitely be time for that. I also think it would be a good idea to utilize a drill press the next time. xD> Enough talk, here are the final build pictures!

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