Chassis Designs and ideas

[bigkevin61]

Here are pics of the "version 1.0" chassis for my own personal saber (work in progress).

I'm using a "18650 'Stick' Battery Pack" with "Acrylic Chassis Discs for PC 2.0 and 18500/18650 pack - S2" for the CF7 (same width for both PC3 & CF7 cards), modified (opened and widened) by me "Acrylic Chassis Disc for NB and 18500/18650 pack - S3" for the CE (as the shop doesn't have discs specifically for this), and a "Speaker Mount V5". The Chassis is LONG, as I have an "Acrylic Chassis Disc 2 hole to 3 hole adapter - S9" to hold the battery in place, and another to hold a Bar Graph (for the accent Leds/PLI) in place. That last disc would be cut down to allow a switch to fit.

1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg4.jpg

In this design, I'm basically locking in the SD Card, and if access is needed, it would require un-threading of the rod from the speaker mount, and in this design, that would mean complete dis-assembly. Hence the 1.0 version. This was my first attempt (my saber have been WIP for a year) at internal layout. I believe the simplest solution would be to mount the chassis using a metal chassis disc (at the end opposite the speaker), and un-attach the speaker mount, to allow for removal of the speaker only, for SD card access.

Anyway, nothing beats having the parts in hand to see how things work (or don't) with your chassis idea.
Moral of the story? Chassis parts are "relatively" inexpensive, so buy a few more parts (rod, nuts, spacers) then you THINK you need, as you very well may want to modify the design!