Lightsaber Questions VOL1

[michael scout]

Im relatively new to the saber market and have various questions regarding top of the line saber parts, circuitry and design. Your information is highly valuable!

Let me start by saying.. I'm obviously interested in building a lightsaber, in-fact I'm interested in building a number of lightsabers.. so my questions are all relating to larger batch orders.

My questions and remarks for your feedback: Please explain in as much detail as you have patience for..


Soundboards:

What is the top of the line sound/light board? Can it be purchased in large quantities? 100+?.. cost aside.
I've heard names such as crystal focus, petite crouton, crystal shard obsidian USB.

What soundboard does ultra sabers and saber forge use?

LEDs:

What is the recommended LED for maximum brightness?

Is it possible to have all colors in one LED without sacrificing brightness? If not, what are the possible combinations / if yes are there any sacrifices?

Are all saber related LED's the same diameter? is there a standard?

BATTERY:

Please recommend your ideal battery considering these factors (Small diameter, any length, long life, highest power output (brightness), compatibility with your recommended LED and soundboard.

BLADE:

In order to use a 3/4" blade does the lightsaber itself need a 3/4" hole? are any other companies such as saber forge and ultra sabers offering such a hilt?

Why have the majority of saber owners elected to use a 1" blade?

Is the 1" blade not "fat" in comparison to the 3"4" blade?

Which blade is closer to the diameter of the lightsabers in the recent star wars movies?


FINAL THOUGHTS:

Using your recommended LED, soundboard, and battery please outline each factor of compatibility necessary for consideration. Please include specific details for each part.. using terms such as charge, voltage, current and diameter / dimensions to outline each parts specifications and compatibility.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Welcome to the Forums.

Based on your questions I would venture a guess that you have a whole lot of reading ahead of you.

I will answer this question for you... the vendors you mentioned use their own soundcards, neither of which are very good. And said vendors are not really discussed on this (and most other) forums.

It looks (and sounds to me) like you want someone to wave a magic wand and make you an overnight Sabersmith. It doesn't work that way, and there is no magic formula when it comes to building hilts. Everything is "tradeoffs" - brightness versus having unlimited color selections, battery size vs long life, etc.

Also, please refrain from making multiple posting of the same post.

[darth_chasm]

Welcome to the forums. I'll answer what I can.

Im relatively new to the saber market and have various questions regarding top of the line saber parts, circuitry and design. Your information is highly valuable!

Let me start by saying.. I'm obviously interested in building a lightsaber, in-fact I'm interested in building a number of lightsabers.. so my questions are all relating to larger batch orders.

My questions and remarks for your feedback: Please explain in as much detail as you have patience for..


Soundboards:

What is the top of the line sound/light board? Can it be purchased in large quantities? 100+?.. cost aside.
I've heard names such as crystal focus, petite crouton, crystal shard obsidian USB.

Crystal Focus is probably the best on the market. You should email the store with questions pertaining to quantity.

What soundboard does ultra sabers and saber forge use?

These companies are not discussed in these parts.

LEDs:

What is the recommended LED for maximum brightness?

Crees seem to be the most popular choice.

Is it possible to have all colors in one LED without sacrificing brightness? If not, what are the possible combinations / if yes are there any sacrifices?

See store page for details.

Are all saber related LED's the same diameter? is there a standard?

As far as MHS is concerned, yes they are all the same. See store page for details.

BATTERY:

Please recommend your ideal battery considering these factors (Small diameter, any length, long life, highest power output (brightness), compatibility with your recommended LED and soundboard.

Li-Ion is the choice battery type. Size is very dependent on many different factors. This question is better answered once you have an idea of what you want to do.

BLADE:

In order to use a 3/4" blade does the lightsaber itself need a 3/4" hole? are any other companies such as saber forge and ultra sabers offering such a hilt?

You could use an adapter to fit a 3/4 in a 1"

Why have the majority of saber owners elected to use a 1" blade?

Is the 1" blade not "fat" in comparison to the 3"4" blade?

Which blade is closer to the diameter of the lightsabers in the recent star wars movies?


FINAL THOUGHTS:

Using your recommended LED, soundboard, and battery please outline each factor of compatibility necessary for consideration. Please include specific details for each part.. using terms such as charge, voltage, current and diameter / dimensions to outline each parts specifications and compatibility.

[Cire Yeldarb]

I like Darth Chasm will give my 2c...

Soundboards:
What is the top of the line sound/light board? Can it be purchased in large quantities? 100+?.. cost aside.
I've heard names such as crystal focus, petite crouton, crystal shard obsidian USB.
Crystal Focus is the best. Petit Crouton/Prizm are next tier down, Crystal Shard is a Sabersmith only board that is next tier down, and Nano Biscotte is the most basic tier. and then waaaaay below the bottom tier is the Obsidian

What soundboard does ultra sabers and saber forge use?
Not sure about SF, but US is the Obsidian which as I noted above is garbage. Like others have said, these two have bad reputations, look around at different groups on FB for details cause nobody here likes talking about it.

LEDs:
What is the recommended LED for maximum brightness?
Just judging on Brightness Creee XP-L is the brightest, but it is also just white. Cree XP's in the other Colors are next brightest, a Tri-Cree in a single color will be marginally brighter than a single led in that color.

Is it possible to have all colors in one LED without sacrificing brightness? If not, what are the possible combinations / if yes are there any sacrifices?
No. Its all about the tradeoffs of infinite colors vs absolute brightness; if there were a magic LED, everyone would be using it. Tri-Cree R/rB/G is recommendation for color mixing LED

Are all saber related LED's the same diameter? is there a standard?
The LEDs are all star-mounted, and at least all the ones I have encountered are about the same size. If you look around you'll see others have taked LED stars not specifically made for sabers, which have a slightly larger diameter, and modded them to fit in a standard heatsink.

BATTERY:
Please recommend your ideal battery considering these factors (Small diameter, any length, long life, highest power output (brightness), compatibility with your recommended LED and soundboard.
7.4V li-ion battery pack works best for CF, but it can be modded to work with a 3.7V li-ion pack (smaller) if necessary sacrificing some audio power I believe. Just get the highest mAh value you can for the Voltage you decide on

BLADE:
In order to use a 3/4" blade does the lightsaber itself need a 3/4" hole? are any other companies such as saber forge and ultra sabers offering such a hilt?
You can get an adapter for your blade to fit the 1" Blade Holders, they sell them in the shop. No, not that I am aware of. the 1" blade/blade holders seems to be an industry standard.

Why have the majority of saber owners elected to use a 1" blade?
Because thats just the standard

Is the 1" blade not "fat" in comparison to the 3"4" blade?
I do not personally think the difference is significant enough to bother with the thinner blades, but other people will swear by the 3/4"ers. Its all really personal preference, but like I said, 1" is the standard.

Which blade is closer to the diameter of the lightsabers in the recent star wars movies?
No idea, I never took the time to measure the diameter of his blade the last time Qui-Gon came to my planet...


FINAL THOUGHTS:
Using your recommended LED, soundboard, and battery please outline each factor of compatibility necessary for consideration. Please include specific details for each part.. using terms such as charge, voltage, current and diameter / dimensions to outline each parts specifications and compatibility.
Nah, I'll leave you some reading to do lol

[setelf3of5]

welcome

[Miraluka]

Couple things to add in...

Im relatively new to the saber market and have various questions regarding top of the line saber parts, circuitry and design. Your information is highly valuable!

Let me start by saying.. I'm obviously interested in building a lightsaber, in-fact I'm interested in building a number of lightsabers.. so my questions are all relating to larger batch orders.

My questions and remarks for your feedback: Please explain in as much detail as you have patience for..


Soundboards:

What is the top of the line sound/light board? Can it be purchased in large quantities? 100+?.. cost aside.
I've heard names such as crystal focus, petite crouton, crystal shard obsidian USB.

Getting such a large order of CFs would probably take some time and Erv might be reluctant to build such a large order for a novice smith. You'd have to ask.

What soundboard does ultra sabers and saber forge use?

Last I knew, SF "champion" sabers use a board they call "saber core" not to be confused with the Crystal Focus Saber Core. "Hero" tier uses the Spark Color 2 made by NEC. the US Obsidian board has been mentioned. It is viewed as severely out of date compared to other soundboards.

LEDs:

What is the recommended LED for maximum brightness?

Is it possible to have all colors in one LED without sacrificing brightness? If not, what are the possible combinations / if yes are there any sacrifices?

Without sacrificing brightness? No, not really. You can still have a bright, color changing saber but you can have a brighter one if you decide on a single color. You can get basically any combination of colors you want but blades are typically made from 2 diodes + a third for FoC although some builders DO use quad LEDs.

Are all saber related LED's the same diameter? is there a standard?

BATTERY:

Please recommend your ideal battery considering these factors (Small diameter, any length, long life, highest power output (brightness), compatibility with your recommended LED and soundboard.

BLADE:

In order to use a 3/4" blade does the lightsaber itself need a 3/4" hole? are any other companies such as saber forge and ultra sabers offering such a hilt?

Why have the majority of saber owners elected to use a 1" blade?

Is the 1" blade not "fat" in comparison to the 3"4" blade?

Which blade is closer to the diameter of the lightsabers in the recent star wars movies?


FINAL THOUGHTS:

Using your recommended LED, soundboard, and battery please outline each factor of compatibility necessary for consideration. Please include specific details for each part.. using terms such as charge, voltage, current and diameter / dimensions to outline each parts specifications and compatibility.

You will need to decide what features you want out of your saber(s) do some research and decide what soundboard has the features you want... size of hilt, battery solution and LED are all going to depend to a certain degree on your choice of soundboard.