Jay-gon's Chrome Saber 41 (CS-41)

[Jay-gon Jinn]

A small update on this build...

After drilling and tapping for the two screws that secure the blade mount to the aluminum grip tube, which for some reason turned out to be 10-32 threads (I don't know what I drill with that bit before putting this saber in the press) I went with those screws and finished up that bit of work.

I moved on to the emitter shroud after that:



I drew the S-curve on the chrome sleeve by hand, loaded it into the vise on the drill press then started by using the cutting disc on my Dremel to remove as much material as I could, then I switched to a 60 grit sanding drum and removed the rest:


I checked it for fit, and looks, and it looked good:




I deburred the edges and removed the remainder of the marks from the marker:


A shot of the whole saber with the emitter shroud sitting in place:




I looked at it for a bit trying to decide which way to go for mounting the sleeve to the emitter....I started out by drilling and tapping for the 10-32 blade thumbscrew, then added the two 8-32 screws on the sides for continuity's sake...it doesn't look that bad, I think:




Now it just needs some detailing on the rear grip section:


And something besides the white washers:

Working on that next....and then it will time to figure out what we're going to do for electronics, aside from the blade led (a triple Cree or Rebel) and sound board (Crystal shard 2.5) which we already have.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I worked on the alternative to the washers today!

I have a bunch of pieces of aluminum tubing that can slide over each other for layers on a saber, so I used a scrap piece of that for this:

This is a piece of 1.375" x 1.259" tubing...I marked off three locations for holes to be drilled and used a 1/4" drill bit to drill it:

I went all the way through for each hole.
Next, I marked off some line with my tubing cutter, connecting each set of hole to the corresponding hole on the opposite side:


Then, using a reinforced cut-off wheel on my Dremel, I cut along the line on the first set of holes:


Then did the rest, and after some time with the files, I had this:

Now it's ready for some sanding and determining if I want to paint & bake it.

[Star Bird]

that looks like its going to be epic

[Jay-gon Jinn]

And here's what I got done before heading off to work Wednesday afternoon....

I put the grip section onto a scrap piece of aluminum tubing and sanded and sanded and sanded it some more, until I finally had this:

Now that's much better than the washers!

There are, however, some issues with it:



There's a nice little nick in the rounded end of the first grip slot on this side of the saber. I can probably get rid of that with more filing, which will not hurt anything, since I was thinking this should be where the AUX button will go. Zark and I will have to discuss that next. also notice the scratches on the inner tube as well.

The other problem with the piece is on the other side:

This is what happens if you don't maintain tight control of your Dremel when cutting a piece of tubing...the disc got away from me and skittered across the tube, leaving these marks. I sanded the crap out of the part to lighten them up as best I could, and may still work on it some more, especially if I file the the grip slots deeper on the other side to eliminate that little gouge.

There's also a nice scratch in the inner grip tube on this side:

The problem with sanding out scratches on the inner tube is that the more material I remove, the more loosely the grip section fits. I had planned on it being a tight fit in between the two MHS sections and be pressed in between them enough not to allow for it to spin, but that didn't work out as planned. :

I could fix that by epoxying the two pieces together, or using the AUX button, depending on which type I use, to prevent it from moving. One way to hide the scratches would be to paint the grips and the inner tube, but I'm kind of liking the brushed aluminum look....it contrasts nicely with the chrome pieces without being a distraction.

Overall, though, I think this is a big improvement over the original design:

[Lilac]

Awesome addition to the design!
I think a bit of brass would be neat.

Lilac

[setelf3of5]

It looks very good, I have only finished one saber and found it hard not to have a few scratches.

[Star Bird]

Dang ! That looks good who knew a sink tube saber could look THAT GOOD.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Dang ! That looks good who knew a sink tube saber could look THAT GOOD.

Um, me? LOL....

Couple of small updates on this one....

Zark opted for the small white mini-tactile, and I just happened to have a 3-D printed tactile switch mount from TCSS:

Being designed for the MHSv1 i.d. of 1.25", it was of course, too big to fit. I cut a small section of it out to make it into a "C-clip" instead, like I usually do with the sink drain pvc pieces I use for the other push button mini switches:



A little trimming, and it was a perfect fit.

I marked off on the hilt where the hole needed to go:


Then drilled it, and checked the fit:



Nice, I like that look, and it is perfectly functional. Small enough to not be a bother when handling the saber, yet easy to activate.

So here it stood after that bit of work last wek:


I still had the small issue of the grip section wanting to spin, since it's a loose enough fit to do so, and to fix that and solve another issue I'll get into later, I decided to drill adn tap for a small 4-40 button head screw:

Being small and out of the way, this will serve a dual purpose.

This is the pommel grille I plan to use, it's the last one I have:

There are a couple of other options, one being the standard chrome grille I use on the Padawan Series sabers I build, or I could use one of the more expensive MHS MPS inserts.

Here's what I finished today:


[img width=300 height=200]http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/Chrome%20Saber%2041/100_3869.jpg[/img]
This is the sound board cradle, or the bare bones of it anyway. Made from a TCSS chassis disc for the ribbed extensions, 4-40 threaded rod, nylon spacers and 4-40 hex nuts in brass, this fits inside the 1.25" aluminum tube just fine, but it's a bit loose since the i.d. of the piece is 1.18" and the MHS ribbed's are 1.15".

Remember the 4-40 screw in the grip section? Here's the other purpose it will serve:


I drilled and tapped the chassis disc with 4-40 threads right in the center of the disc:



The screw threads right in...

Installed:



The cradle has a nice solid fit to it, so if the saber should see any dueling, it will be securely held in place.

From the emitter end:

This should allow for easy enough access to the sd card with the board mounted in the correct direction. It will require the use of tweezers or needle nosed pliers, but I will also be adding a RICE port pig tail to the saber which will be inside the battery compartment and hidden when not in use.

Speaking of the battery compartment:

This is a low tech, but cheap way to keep the single 18650 from rattling around in side the hilt. Just a simple piece of foam wrapped up and fit in between the MHS pieces. I tried to use some chassis discs to mount the cell, but none of the parts I have on hand would allow for the cell to be easily removed and replaced. Replacement is necessary on this saber as it will be serving a s a trooping saber and will need to be in use for 4-5 hours at a time.

With all of that done, this saber is ready for final assembly! More on that as work progresses. ;D

[Noyl Wendor]

Very nice. I dig your work

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Wiring commenced today! Here's what I managed to finish before stopping to get ready to go to the real job.

I started prepping the board by pre-tinning the pads, then added the wires:

I have my own color code I like to use for these Crystal Shard 2.5 installs:
Red (twisted): battery positive
Black (twisted): battery ground
Blue: RICE RXD
Purple: RICE TXD
Yellow: speaker (both positive and negative)
Gray: AUX button (negative has black tracers added)

Blade led wiring code
Orange: Common positive for the blade led
Red: red led ground
Green: green led ground
Blue: blue led ground

Switch wiring color code
White: switch positive
White/tracer: switch ground
Orange: Led positive
Brown: led ground

With the wiring on the board done, I moved on to installing the board which involved attaching the switch wiring:

This will be secured to the clear plastic mount I added (no pics of that) by foam mounting tape for cushioning, and then a "strap" of heat shrink tubing.

To get the battery connector, speaker and RICE port wires through the rear section, I tapped them up with masking tape:


Now I needed to add the AUX button:




With that soldered in place, I could assemble the front grip section:



Getting that screw and the hole in the chassis mount disc to line up was easier than I expected, and the screw threaded right in, securing the chassis.

Now I had to get the switch installed:




Installed:

There should still be plenty of room to reach in there and install the SD card. I was planning to do that before I put it together, but got ahead of myself.

Next up, is the pommel end of the saber, where I'll have to attach the speaker and RICE port: