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Thread: Will it Cram Fu? or should I rethink my life?

  1. #1

    Question Will it Cram Fu? or should I rethink my life?

    I'm just trying to get a reality check from you more experienced saber-smiths here. I've bought the bare minimal electronics requirements so far for a Prizm saber and I'm drawing out the cosmetics of my hilt.

    This will be my first saber and I am very keen on making a crystal chamber. The schematic is below:



    Current concerns:
    • This requires some custom machining for the shroud (Yellow) and the two custom chassis-disc/egg-holders (Red). I plan to ask TCSS to do this as a service, but not sure how hard this would be for them. Also, the builder shows a small extra clearance in the threading of parts. Do these spaces allow chassis discs to fit snugly while allowing male parts to fully thread in?

    • Activation box 14 kind of has a lot of switches/ports in one place. Too much Cram-fu?

    • Wiring RGB accent lights for crystal chamber seems simple on paper, but with the current design, would the space limitations make this unreasonable?

    • Space limitations in general. This is already a 13 inch saber and I just realized I didn't even draw the speaker. It looks like I might be wasting a lot of space at the front in order to prevent the shroud from obstructing the crystal. Would it make it easier to have a longer front area, get rid of the pommel-side extension and put the crystal chamber in the pommel just before the speaker?

    • Anything else that looks horribly wrong?




    I am incredibly grateful for any advice.

  2. #2

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    Cram-Fu depends on YOUR skill level...

    It seems to me that you have done what many a padawan have tried... a "difficult build" to start with.

    To answer your question: Yes, the space between the threads allows certain disks to "lock into place".

    The main issues (as I see them) are:

    1. You are going to have A LOT of wires going through the crystal chamber
    2. Lack of speaker (and possibly space) in the rear half of your saber
    3. How you plan on securing your little crystal egg thingy

    Easy, this will not be.
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  3. #3

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    I'm not sure if TCSS will make fully custom parts to hold your crystal. I would recommend getting some of the aluminum chassis discs, then finding parts at a local hardware store to use for the crystal chamber. You could even ask Tim to make custom hole placements in your chassis discs if you need something other than what's available in the store. Search around the forums, and check out what other people have come up with Just make sure you have a way to route wires through your chamber, because it looks like you'll have quite a few of those. Consider moving your recharge and RICE ports to be on the pommel side of your crystal chamber in the final design if there's room, because that will considerably reduce the number of wires you have to run through.

    As far as the saber as a whole goes, it seems weird to me that you're trying to cram everything in, yet have quite a bit of empty space right in the middle of your saber. For example, if you moved the crystal chamber to come right after your AV switches, you could make the whole saber shorter and still have plenty of space left.

  4. #4

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    Yeah, basically what they said. If you moved the CC forward, you could use up that empty space and make room for your speaker/resonance chamber.
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  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Forgetful Jedi Knight View Post
    [...]
    1. You are going to have A LOT of wires going through the crystal chamber
    2. Lack of speaker (and possibly space) in the rear half of your saber
    3. How you plan on securing your little crystal egg thingy
    [...]
    1. Yeah I was hoping to maybe cut some slit in the rear side of the chassis discs to make a nice row of wires, but perhaps its too many wires
    2. yeah, this is definitely a concern I realized after the fact
    3. The red pieces on the schematic are supposed to be chassis discs that are held by the threading of the chamber extension male threads. The idea is that these chassis disks would have cylinders that I would dremel down to fit the egg between (probably use some kind of clear epoxy or jewelry glue to bond the crystal egg in between them)

    Quote Originally Posted by NanoRex View Post
    [...] if you moved the crystal chamber to come right after your AV switches, you could make the whole saber shorter and still have plenty of space left.
    Quote Originally Posted by Miraluka View Post
    [...]If you moved the CC forward, you could use up that empty space and make room for your speaker/resonance chamber.

    The empty space was to give clearance to keep the shroud design from blocking the crystal, but the shape might not actually block much. I like that 4 inch extension I use near the pommel because it has a thicker OD to make the saber less of a "smooth tube." However, if I get rid of that, and have a longer frontal tube and put the crystal chamber closer to the pommel.
    If I can put the speaker in front of the the crystal chamber, I could use it as a pommel, and not have to run any wires through it. But I would just have to put some holes in the chassis discs for the sound to get into the crystal chamber and find a way to run the LED wires through the speaker. Would that be a nightmare?

    Alternatively I could put the crystal chamber in the rear, but just before the speakers. Then I would have a more traditional speaker in the pommel and the crystal chamber would just have the speaker wires running through it.

  6. #6

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    Most people have a few wires running through the crystal chamber (I myself will have around 8 in my build), so I don't think you need to eliminate the wires completely, but I count around 16-18 wires that will be running through your chamber, which will be quite a challenge. By moving the RICE and R/C ports to come after your crystal chamber, you'd reduce that significantly.

    I like the look of the thicker 4" extension as well, and I think you should keep it. It looks to me that if you moved the chamber forward just enough so that the window was in front of the small round circle parts of your shroud, everything would fit. You could also make your shroud a tiny bit longer if you need to so that the small circle parts don't obscure the chamber.

  7. #7

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    I'm thinking the same thing most others are; the amount of wires going through the crystal chamber. I have taken to placing crystal chambers directly behind the blade emitter and keeping the switches and ports near the sound card. This allows for shorter lengths of wire which makes for easier cramming.

  8. #8

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    I did pretty much the same thing due to lack of options. having the recharge/rice ports up top is a PITA. one way you can reduce the number of wires going through the CC is to consolidate ground wires where you can. You only need one common ground going back to the board, not one for each component.

    Speaking of which... the return line for your blade LEDs is going to be POSITIVE so make SURE you read your manual before wiring your star. You can wire this directly into the power lines coming up from the lower hilt so all that's going back to the board will be the negative legs for the color channels.

  9. #9

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    I am somewhat unfortunately attached to a certain shroud design that requires the buttons to be near the front.



    Quote Originally Posted by NanoRex View Post
    [...]I like the look of the thicker 4" extension as well, and I think you should keep it. It looks to me that if you moved the chamber forward just enough so that the window was in front of the small round circle parts of your shroud, everything would fit. [...]
    Quote Originally Posted by CET View Post
    [...] I have taken to placing crystal chambers directly behind the blade emitter and keeping the switches and ports near the sound card. This allows for shorter lengths of wire which makes for easier cramming.
    Im hoping I can keep that thicker extension.
    Unfortunately, the activation box 14 service is only offered on 3 inch extensions or longer so it requires at least that much consecutive tubing somewhere in the saber. I can possibly move the chamber in front of the buttons. That would reduce the wires going through the chamber. But it looks like I'll have to use a minimum 2 inch female to female extension because I need clearance for the heatsink. This might also cause clearance problems with the shroud if I want that thicker hilt section.


    hmm.. If I could convince myself that the activation box doesnt have to be in the center of the diamond shroud, I could move the shroud up above the crystal in such a way that it would frame the crystal chamber without obstructing it.



    Alternatively, if I could bring myself to part with the thicker part, I could put the crystal chamber near the pommel, this allows more consecutive space to ease cramming, but Im not quite sure of the viable speaker locations. Pommel might be too cramped, and if I put it in front of the crystal chamber Ill need holes in the chassis discs.



    Again, thanks all for your suggestions and advice. It's really encouraging to be able to draw upon such expertise.

  10. #10

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    If you have the funds, you could ask Tim at TCSS to mill the chamber windows in a custom placement on a long double female extension. That way you won't have problems with the threads getting in the way.

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