Out of touch Jedi needs assistance on MHS build

[Sloda Foade]

Hi, I am trying to build a MHS v1 lightsaber (on a very tight budget) after 4 or 5 years away from the forum and things have changed quite a bit since I was last on here and built my Adjudicator lightsaber.

I have sort of decided on a basic design (2nd one down in pic) with a choke and crystal chamber. Planning on a Prizm sound card with G/G/W Cree LED, one 18650 Li-ion battery, premium speaker in a v5 speaker mount. I plan on using the acrylic chassis discs to mount the battery and Prizm in the v-grooved section, a 3D printed crystal chamber, one slot to have 2 mom tactile switches for on/off and aux. See below for the pic.

The questions are:
1. If I use the new flat heat sink for the LED, will there be enough room behind the blade holder for cables to go through braid covering through the CC and whatever else is needed there?
2. If I want to use FOC (on white LED) will I need a PC/CF V3 Color Xtender or just a Power Xtender? 2.0 for the white LED (or am I confusing that with the requirements for the NB)? I assume I use std resistor for the Greens in parallel.
3. Assuming I have the recharge/kill port and RICE port in the pommel using the MPS insert style 13, does this leave enough room for the batt/prizm to fit in the v-grooved section?

Any help would be appreciated, I am not as with it as I was a couple of years ago. I have major Chemo brain and have lost some of the feeling in my fingers so working on this will be a challenge.

Thanks, Sloda Foade

Pic: http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/...psgrjgpx7c.jpg

[Darth Vislir]

That's going to be some cram fu my friend. Having the crystal chamber that far up doesn't give you much room for anything. You would litteraly have to wire up the LEDs last once in the hilt to minimize wiring. My suggestion would be to put a 2in double female above the chamber or minimum the 1.2 double female kinda like you had in the first saber to give you some wiggle room and the ability to put in the cc ceiling.

Second Do you have a solution to wire both recharge port and rice port past the speaker, and if that rice port might be too long and interfere with the speaker. But, You should have enough room for prizim and a 18650 in the vgroove section.

All the new boards that just came out have on board power extenders.

To me logically the first saber seems easier to work with.

[NanoRex]

A lot has changed in the past few years

1. You should be able to wires in nicely if your crystal chamber is short enough.
2. The PRIZM has three channel direct drive built in, so no, you will not need any satellite boards for Flash on Clash or colour mixing.
3. You should have no problem fitting the electronics in the 4" grooved extension and pommel. Just keep in mind that you will have to modify the speaker holder in order to run wires past the speaker.

EDIT: It would be much easier to fit the electronics in if you used speaker mount V4 and chassis disc 5 instead of speaker mount V5.

[Sloda Foade]

Thanks for the feedback Darth Visir. It has the 1.2 double female behind the blade holder. I wanted to make the saber "balanced" around the choke for spinning while trying to keep the overall length less than 13". I would try for 12" If I could get away with it. I need the choke to aid in spinning as my hands don't work very well any more. By 3D printing the CC contents, I can make it a little shorter than the normal discs would allow, and make areas on the opposite side from the crystal for the 2 switches. All I really need between the blade holder and the CC is the connector for the LED so it can be removed. The LED power cables can run through some braiding and/or a tube that can be left hollow in the back area of the 3D printed crystal holder.

The solution for the cables through the speaker is possible to use some very thin Teflon video shielded cable for RICE (which is only data and doesn't need a very think cable) and normal power cables for the power. I have a 26mm or 27mm premium speaker which I can use if necessary and will cut slots into the speaker holder to channel the cables through. Failing that, I will keep the RICE connector in the pommel and using a low profile power connector maybe 3D print a holder for inside the choke.
Once I have the saber together I don't plan on taking it apart again unless something breaks or I purchase or create a new sound font.

[Sloda Foade]

NanoRex, thanks for the info. I'll have a look at sizes etc. for your speaker option. Thanks also for the info on the sound cards. I had read the older manuals. I have just read through the new NB manual and noticed that it has FOC as well. Maybe I could use a NB instead of a Prizm to get the FOC. Ideally I would love to get my hands on a CF, I have been trying to get one off and on for 5 years (mostly off while I was in hospital), but that would require using 2 Li-ion batteries and would definitely not fit.

Maybe I'll order both speaker options, IO am sure the one left over will be used later for my son's lightsaber that he has requested for his birthday in August.

Update 16/02/2016
I have decided on the final layout of the saber. I am getting the crystal chamber machined out of a ribbed extension v-grooved, where 4 of the "blocks are to be removed as shown. I will order the blade holder 25 with new thin heatsink which will give more room behind the blade holder. I am starting on the 3D printed crystal chamber tomorrow, I will start a new thread in the saber build area for updates. 2 orders for parts now in process, and still need to get Pommel 10, Blade Holder 25 with thin heatsink, MHS speaker mount v5, 2 long SPST momentary tactile switches and a Prizm sound card once they all come in (probably not at the same time
plan of MHS parts
Final-share.jpg