Dumb question of the day - "build sequence"...

[MikeC13]

...does it make sense to you experienced builders for someone taking their first crack at this art to design/build a chassis first? Then you are sure of how much space you need inside a hilt?

I've played with the MHSB (fun stuff!) and have a rendering of what I want, but with chassis built I'd have a better idea if my hilt was within spec or if I need to add an extension and could order it right the first time. Seems to me if you stay within the MHS the I.D. will be consistent, and length would be the main factor limiting you?

I'm thinking NB with a PeX, tri-color LED, 18650 and charging port, and a crystal chamber, assembled rod/disk style. Outside of actually fabricating the chamber's structure, it looks to me like a crystal chamber is essentially just an accent LED (since I'm not looking to make it pulse or anything advanced, I just want it to light up when the kill key is pulled and the board powers up. If I can pull it off I'll inlay a clear window in the body over it) And because some of y'all make building the chamber itself look relatively easy to pull off (FJK) I want to take a stab at it. Building cool things from scratch materials I can do, I just may need to be corrected a time or two when it comes to wiring it all up!

What do y'all think?

[darth_chasm]

Designing the internals and chassis first is most advised in my opinion. My latest build design went something like: crystal chamber, chassis, wiring plan, hilt.

[MikeC13]

This is how much space I've allowed myself, if it helps...

SaberBuilder_render1int.jpg

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

It would probably be easier to post a screenshot of your "planned build" and what you plan to put where, and we "experienced builders" can tell you how "doable" it really is. Besides, designing is one thing, building installing and securing is another story completely.

I made it "look easy" because I've been doing it for a long while, and spent tons of time, (and money) experimenting. It might not be quite that easy for you the first few attempts.

[ColdVizjerei]

You can go about it either way. For my first build I designed the hilt before thinking about the internals. Thankfully, it was a pretty basic setup so everything fit. However, for the build after that, I designed the chassis first and then built the hilt around that.

That being said, for me part of the fun is designing a hilt and being able to figure out a way to cram all the internals into that hilt.

Though if you want to be more cautious about your first build, I'd recommend designing the internals first.

[Cire Yeldarb]

You can plan it out either way first, it really depends on what you want:
-If you have certain external parts you know you want to use (chokes, some pieces with smaller IDs, etc), that will affect how your internals are laid out.
-If however you have certain internal features you know you want to have (crystal chamber, hidden recharge port, etc), that will affect to some degree how your external pieces can be laid out.

I would say it really depends whether you can about external look or internal features more which path you take. Of course the more experienced you get (or the better you plan), the better you will get at doing both (like all the works of the saber-masters around here).

[darth_chasm]

Cire makes a good point and I think you'll find that you actually end up making changes/compromises on both interior and exterior. If it helps, I know that an NB & PEX, 18650, speaker and recharge port can fit into roughly 4.5". Probably less with a skilled cram-fu-ist.

[MikeC13]

Thanks for the input. I have to admit that seeing what y'all are creating and learning what is possible with the hardware is inspiring me to push my first build farther than I probably should. I have some solid prior experience though, I'm confident I can do it.

4.5" give or take, that's good. I can work with that (I've done a little "cram-fu" under the hoods of radio controlled trucks) I prefer a longer hilt anyway, partially for looks but the handling is better as well IMO. From handling steel swords I know that a longer haft can be better manipulated for increased blade speed, especially when you use both hands.

I'll get a solid list of stuff together soon, and I think I can rough out a drawn plan of how I envision it going together. Then we'll see if I'm getting in over my head!

[MikeC13]

Not to scale noob drawing. Going from memory of product images and videos I've watched.

If nothing else, it'll give you guys something to laugh about right?

primumexperirichassis.jpg

[darth_chasm]

Good start. You won't need the disc or that much space for the PEX. It's about the size of a fingernail. You can just tape it to the battery with double sided foam tape.

You'll also want to position the NB more centered in the disc.

Lastly, where will your switch go?