A Padawan's Guide and Glossary//Dictionary to a lightsaber

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Glossary of Terms:


14500 - refers to a Lithium Ion battery. "14" is the diameter in millimeters, "50" is the length in millimeters, the last "0" at the end means it's round.
18500 - refers to a Lithium Ion battery. "18" is the diameter in millimeters, "50" is the length in millimeters, the last "0" at the end means it's round.
18650 - again, a Lithium Ion battery. 18mm x 65mm, round.
7.4v - refers to a 7.4 volt battery pack. This is the standard voltage for most lightsaber battery packs.
Accessory LED - refers to LEDs that are not used the light the blade. Usually used to add effects to the hilt, like blinking lights, a lighted crystal chamber, switch lights.
AFBB - "As First Built By". Acronym for a prop that is clean and as new, not weathered and old looking.
ANH - abbreviation for "A New Hope", episode IV of the Star Wars movies.
AOTC - abbreviation for "Attack Of The Clones", episode II of the Star Wars movies.
Anti-Vandal Switch - a button switch, that is either momentary or latching, that is has an LED light (green, blue, red, yellow) it it.
Aux Switch - most lightsabers have 2 switches. One is the main switch that turns the lightsaber on/off. The other is the Aux Switch, that is used to activate effects like blaster deflection sounds, force sounds, blade lock up sounds.
AV - abbreviation for Anti-Vandal button switch.
Black Blade - refers to a lightsaber with a black blade similar to one seen in video games. Often asked for, and controversial as to its feasibility. Please don't ask for one, or tell your ideas for making one. If you have an idea as to how to make it - make it, then post a video and show it. We would all be interested in a real "black blade", but until you actually make one, please do not post about one.
Bling - refers to some cosmetic component of the saber, or added cosmetic feature to some functional part such as chrome plating, engravings, gemstones.
Bling strip - refers to a thin strip of metal or plastic that has cosmetic add-ons, and is usually placed in the clamp area of a Graflex or Obi-Wan saber.
Boot - refers to when the saber is powered on (not ignited where the blade lights up). A "boot font" or sound is the sound the saber makes when powered on. Saber smiths will usually put a unique boot sound in their sabers - such as quotes from the movies, or other effect sounds.
Buttered Toast - refers to the Crystal Focus (CF) soundboard made by Plecter Labs.
Canon - refers to the images/story/acutal props that were used in the Star Wars episodes I-VI movies. A "canon" lightsaber, for example, would look exactly like one of the lightsabers in the movies, and have no crystal chamber (since none was shown in the movies).
CeX - Color Extender. Used with the later versions Crystal Focus soundboard to allow color changing of the main blade LEDs. Actually controls the powering of different LEDs on a multi-LED main setup to allow the blade to change color.
CF ? an abbreviation for Crystal Focus^tm. A sound board made by Plecter Labs. Currently felt to be the top of the line soundboard. Currently in version 5.1 (v5.1).
CFv5, CFv6, CFv# - abbreviation for Crystal Focus, version 5, 6, etc.
Chassis - refers to an internal "skeleton" in a lightsaber that holds the batteries, sound board, speaker, wires and other components.
Clash/Flash - The blade light will flicker when in hits something, INCREASING brightness to make the flicker. This is accomplished by another LED in addition to the main LED lighting the blade.
Clash on Flash - See FoC^tm
CoF ? See FoC^tm.
Crystal Chamber ? an actual crystal (made from quartz, glass, plastic, etc) which is built into the saber to add to the cosmetics of the saber.
Crystal Focus^tm - A sound board made by Plecter Labs. Currently felt to be the top of the line soundboard.
Crystal Shard - another excellent soundboard from Plecter Labs (Erv). This is a dimensionally small soundboard - much smaller than the Petit Crouton or Crystal Focus - with similar features to the Petit Crouton and Crystal Focus, but with different technical specifications. Some differences include the optimization to use just one battery, continued Flash on Clash support but with and on-board Power Extender, and no Auxillary button. Currently only available through certain sabersmiths.
CS - abbreviation for Crystal Shard, a soundboard from Plecter Labs.
Darkmeat - an example of the name of a soundfont that is included as a standard lightsaber sound on the Petit Crouton.
Direct Drive - refers to powering the blade's LED directly from the battery. A resistor is usually needed between the battery and the LED. This is in contrast to a blade LED that is powered through a sound board that has more sophisticated LED controlling electronics (not Direct Driven)
DIY - abbreviation for Do It Yourself. Usually refers to a kit that you need to put together yourself.
DRL - stands for "Darth Real Life" - "Something happened in my real life that prevented me from fulfilling my promise to you."
Emitter - refers to the part of the lightsaber that holds the blade, emits light.
ESB - abbreviation for the "Empire Strikes Back", episode V of the Star Wars movies.
Flash on Clash^tm - same as Clash on Flash and CoF. The blade light will flicker when it hits something, usually by increasing brightness to make the flicker. This is accomplished by another LED in addition to the main LED lighting the blade.
FoC^tm - Flash on Clash
Font ? refers to the sounds that can be loaded into some sound cards. There are many different fonts out there: Sith sounding, Jedi sounding, even fonts that sound like a cat meowing. DO NOT PIRATE THESE. GIVE THE MAKERS THEIR DUE.
Graflex - refers to the old camera flashgun that was the base for prop made into Luke Skywalker's lightsaber in "A New Hope".
Greeble ? a cosmetic add on. A blinking LED, or knob, or other such thing that has no other function than to look cool would be an example.
Greeblie - same as greeble. A cosmetic add on.
Hero - refers to a screen (as in the Star Wars movies) accurate version of the Lightsaber. Exactly the way the lightsaber was pictured.
HO - abbreviation for High Output. Usually refers to the lightsaber's speaker.
Ignitor - refers to a soundboard with an LED driver which has color changing capabilities. New to the soundboard market. More details to come...
iSaber - the sound bank in a CF soundcard that allows playing of music.
Kill Key - a plug which fits into a recharge port, "killing" or completely powering off the lightsaber. This saves battery power, since without it, the saber will continue to drain power from the battery in those sabers that have more complex electronics.
Latching switch ? a switch or button that can be ?clicked on? or ?clicked off?. You do not need to keep it pressed down for it to be ?on?. Different from a Momentary switch.
Lightmeat - an example of a sound font that is a standard lightsaber sound included with the Petit Crouton.
Li-Ion - abbreviation for Lithium Ion battery. A rechargeable battery.
Li-poly - refers to Lithium polymer batteries commonly used in the Radio Controlled hobby market. Considered by most sabersmiths to be too unstable at this time to be used in lightsaber building.
LED ? Light Emitting Diode. Used to add lights to the saber: the blade light, accessory lights, power graph, a light in the crystal chamber to show it off, etc.
LS6 - refers to the lightsaber Luke Skywalker used in "The Return of the Jedi", also called the MK VI.
Luxeon - refers to the main blade LED of the lightsaber. The LED that lights up the blade. Luxeon is one manufacturer.
MHS - abbreviation for Modular Hilt System. A program on The Custom Saber Shop's website which sells modular parts to build your own saber. People often refer to MHS compatible parts, meaning that they will fit together with MHS parts.
MK III - refers to the lightsaber Obi Wan Kenobi used in "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope"
MK VI - refers to the lightsaber Luke Skywalker used in "The Return of the Jedi".
Momentary switch ? a switch or button that is ?on? only when it is actively pressed down. Different from a Latching switch.
MR - abbreviation for Master Replicas, the company that used to make factory replicas of Lightsabers complete with lights and sound. Had LED strip blades that could be converted to single in-hild LED only.
Nano Biscotte - a Plector Labs soundboard. This is a new soundboard designed to run off 1 Lithium Ion battery. Entry level, with some less features than the Petit Crouton or the Crystal Focus soundboards. No auxillary switch, Flash on Clash is available on version 2.0 and up.
OWK1 - refers to the lightsaber Obi Wan Kenobi used in "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones".
Parallel - refers to how an electrical circuit is wired. When wired in parallel, Voltage remains the same, Amperage is decreased.
P4 - refers to the main blade LED of the lightsaber. The LED that lights up the blade. P4 is one type of LED
PC ? an abbreviation for Petit Crouton. A sound board made by Plecter Labs. The PC used to come in a PC-L and PC-U version, which stood for Locked and Unlocked. This is no longer important, as now all PC's have been reset (flashed) so that they are all Unlocked, meaning they can be loaded with new sound fonts by the user. Locked PC's (PC-L's) could use only 3 fonts (Lightmeat, Darkmeat, and one other choosen font), but could not be loaded with new fonts later. Various versions are identified with a "v" - PCv2.0 would mean version 2.0.
PC - also and abbreviation for Powder Coating. A durable colored or clear coating on hilt parts.
PCB - abbreviation for Protection Circuit Board. Used with Li-ion or Li-polymer batteries to prevent over-charging, over discharging, and regulating current.
PCB - also and abbreviation for Printed Circuit Board.
Petit Crouton - A sound board made by Plecter Labs. The PC used to come in a PC-L and PC-U version, which stood for Locked and Unlocked. This is no longer important, as now all PC's have been reset (flashed) so that they are all Unlocked, meaning they can be loaded with new sound fonts by the user. Locked PC's (PC-L's) could use only 3 fonts (Lightmeat, Darkmeat, and one other choosen font), but could not be loaded with new fonts later. Various versions are identified with a "v" - PCv2.0 would mean version 2.0.
PEX - stands for Power Extender. Used to regulate power (increase voltage) to electrical elements that are powered off a soundboard that delivers less power than the element may require. Often used in FoC setups to drive the LED for the flash.
PLI - abbreviation for Power Level Indicator. An LED bar graph which lights up to show the power level in the battery.
Pommel - The end piece of the hilt opposite the blade emitter. Sometimes wrongly called a "Pummel".
Rebel - refers to the main blade LED of the lightsaber. The LED that lights up the blade.
Recharge Port - a port on the lightsaber hilt which allows recharging of the internal batteries. Usually a standard size of 2.1mm and mounted externally.
RICE - abbreviation for Plecter Labs' "Real time Internal Configuration Editor". Allows you to change the configuration file in the Petit Crouton sound board via a cable and port set-up, so you don't need to remove the SD card.
ROTJ - abbreviation for "Return of the Jedi", episode VI of the Star Wars movies.
ROTS - abbreviation for "Revenge of the Sith", episode III of the Star Wars movies.
Reveal - a cosmetic feature of the lightsaber that is hidden in the hilt, and not visible from the outside unless the saber is taken apart. An example would be a crystal chamber that is in the hilt, that can be seen only when the hilt is opened (Yoda made Graflex sabers, Genesis Custom Corran Horn saber, for example).
Rumble Motor - A motor in the hilt that creates a vibration, allowing the user to "feel" the vibration of the Lightsaber.
Serial - refers to how an electrical circuit is wired. When wired in serial, Voltage is doubled, and the Amperage remains the same.
Stick pack - refers to batteries that have been aligned end to end forming a "stick".
SD - a memory card, like the ones in a digital camera or phone. Used by some sound cards to store information like the fonts.
Stunt Lightsaber - refers to a lightsaber that has a lighted blade only, no sound.
TCSS - The Custom Saber Shop website.
TPM - abbreviation for "The Phantom Menace", episode I of the Star Wars movies.
Tri-Cree/Tri-Rebel - 3 Die main LED parts that are commonly used as the main LED source for sabers
U.S. 2.5 - refers to the Ultra Sound soundboard, no longer made.