Ezra inspired saber build for son...sound board advice?

[FenixFire]

My almost 10 yr old has expressed an interest in learning to build a saber. Expressing that dad you are a designer and we have the metal lathe and mill, as well as the makerbot. I have talked him down from the original supper elaborate plan and drawings he came to me with...removable crystal chamber, spring loaded lighted dart firing, vibrating, arcing blade, etc. Though he does still want it to be an a blaster/saber like Ezra's from SW Rebels. What soundboard or configuration of boards would best suit the needs to have a purple blade, with red FoC, as well as an auxiliary trigger to activate a blaster sound and LED. I have a couple of ideas but wanted to run it by some on here to see what came to the top.

[Kouri]

I'd recommend gutting an actual Ezra saber for the electronics. I'm in the middle of converting one, and I think you could pull off what you're asking with some creative wiring.

Tri-led with Red and Royal Blue will be useful. Third color might not matter, or go with another blue for a brighter blade. Usual economy board transistor tricks.

Blue LED wired to the board's LED negative. Red LED wired to audio negative. Blade will pulse purple. When the blue LED blinks off on clash, you'll have a red blade. Soundboard already has separate momentary switches for saber ignition and blaster firing. I forget the term, but a momentary with two sets of contacts can be used for blaster fire to also signal an Aux LED in the barrel when pressed.

[FenixFire]

Thanks for the information and good luck on you build. Where did you find the fx ezra? I have only found the non-electric one on clearance with all the new merch hitting the shelves...guess I'll be hitting amazon and eBay.

[Kouri]

Don't think they have an FX - I'm using the $35 electronic one that was on shelves before all the new Force Awakens merchandise hit stores. I removed the dart-launching mechanism and extra slide and trigger. Figure I can fashion a custom blade holder and hide switches within the hilt greebles. Once it's all painted, I won't be worried about it looking like a plastic toy anymore.

[FenixFire]

Just found one online. I will be just scavenging the electronics, the little man wants to learn to use the lathe and mill. Looks like I will be breaking out and dusting off the Unimat 3...just hope that after 3 moves I still have all the parts in the create and they all still work. I really don't want him using the full size lathe and mill yet!

Was the wiring on the card similar to the FX? Also since I had to order it, if you don't mind me asking what were the dimensions for the board and speaker. I want to make sure we will have room in the parts he will start turning over the weekend. Planning on having a 1.15" - 1.2" ID so we can maintain a minimal OD of about 1.4. AKA, I have several feet of 1" ID/1.4" OD Aluminum pipe laying around.

[Kouri]

Wires up like an Economy board, not an FX board. I can get dimensions later on, but electronics are split into a couple of boards. One is the main soundboard with LED, the other houses the main Power/Try/Off switch and blaster switch contacts. Each of the boards looked small enough to fit within 1" ID tubing. I'll check the speaker along with the boards, but memory puts it at standard economy saber size of about 1.25"

[FenixFire]

Just a thought, feel free to shot it down if it won't work. Watching show with my son I saw that the orange switch on the side switches between blaster and saber modes. If I add a rotary selector switch it could switch the -from the speaker from the blade red to the accent blue, so the red won't light when the blaster trigger is activated. What do you think?

[Silver Serpent]

That certainly sounds possible.

[FenixFire]

So here is the proposed wiring diagram I will be mocking up when I can get back over to the electronics shop and pick up the resisters. Let me know if you see any glaring issues I should address before breadboarding.
The shop did not have TIP42C but owner recommended the TIP32C, should I order the TIP42C?

Comparison:
TIP42C (TIP32C)
Collector Emitter Voltage V(br)ceo: -100V (-100)
DC Collector Current: -6A (-3A)
DC Current Gain hFE: 15 (10)
Power Dissipation Pd: 65W (40W)
Transistor Polarity: PNP (PNP)
Transition Frequency Typ ft: 3MHz (3MHz)

Blaster Saber Wiring.jpg

[Silver Serpent]

Specs for the TIP32C look acceptable. I don't think you'll have any issues with it.