Thoughts on a Wood Switch Box

[Thalan the Exiled]

I have a fi ished saber and am looking to add some flare to it with a switch box. I am currently using a 12mm av switch and want to make a box for it and the recharge port. I thought about ordering on of the blank boxes but they are to long for the section I have the switch in. Then I decieded I would like to have the box done in wood to give the saber some style. Anyone have any thoughts o. What type of wood would be good for this. I figure some type of hard wood but I am clueless when it comes to wood working. Hoping someone out there could shed some light for me. Wanting something similar to http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Ac...e-20-P984.aspx just small enought to mount on a 3" double female section. Any input would be great thanks.

[Greenie]

Hey Thalan, Some pics of your 'new baby' might help with ideas

[Thalan the Exiled]

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Here it is in all its glory.

[Greenie]

Wood on metal is quite a contrast so I think any type could do. Walnut could be good for a prominent grain pattern, maybe teak or oak for a less grainy finish. You could wax, varnish, stain to achieve different looks from most wood. It should be fairly easy to make with a few basic tools, I made this from a bit of ally (not wood,I know, but the same idea really)

Attachment 13666

[JediCarpet]

Wood would be great because customization options are endless (staining, painting) and isn't too bad to deal with, but I don't know if a box is the right use for it. You can't really tap wood the way you can tap metal, so you'd have to have a nut on the back side, which means more thickness, (because you need the nut in there, plus enough material to keep it in place, and account for the curvature of the hilt so the nut sits tangent to the body) and you'd have to precisely cut the groove in for the nut to fit into, or make a circular recessed hole for the nut to spin freely with room to use tools on. I made an entire saber out of spruce (soft wood) once and sometimes it was difficult to cut into it in the way I wanted to because the wood is relatively less dense and fibrous. The denser the wood (so something like beech, oak, cherry...) the better your results will be because it acts a bit more like metal, but the harder woods can be more difficult to work with if you're not experienced with working on something with a grain especially on a part that small. I used a cutting dremmel bit and chisels on mine and, while I've used wood in the past but don't consider myself to be a carpenter, I had a hard time getting it to do exactly what I wanted it to.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Good thing here is my father is an experienced wood carver. So I can have his help. I was planning on recessing the screws so they would be threading into the hilt and using pressure to hold the box on. I don't dual with this so impacts are very minimal. Thanks for all the input I have a lot to ponder.

[Quixotic Jedi]

It can be done, but you'd want to use a very densely grained wood. Orient the wood so the grain runs parallel to the body of the hilt to decrease the posiibility of it chipping. Fitting it to the hilt would use a bit of elbow grease and some peel and stick sandpaper tacked to any long smooth hilt piece to sand a perfect fit. Depending on how big you make your box you can either use the nut in a recessed area hidden between the box and the hilt, or what I would do is get a tight fitting O ring and put that on first inside the hilt and then tighten the nut on top of the ring.

[Thalan the Exiled]

I was thinking of trying ash or a maple. They are what baseball bats are made fro. So they should be nice an hard and durable. Also I can get scrap pieces fairly cheap and in good quantity so I have some to play with. If I had a 3D printer I would just print one out since I have a few designs I have already rendered.

[Greenie]

I was thinking of trying ash or a maple. They are what baseball bats are made fro. So they should be nice an hard and durable. Also I can get scrap pieces fairly cheap and in good quantity so I have some to play with. If I had a 3D printer I would just print one out since I have a few designs I have already rendered.

Shapeways?

[Thalan the Exiled]

Don't really want to pay like $20 for the part and another $6? for the shipping. Will only cost me about $10 for some scrap pieces of wood. So I am gonna go that route till I can find something better. Besides I think the wood will accent the old style look I have going. And if i screw it up I am not out much.


I am thinking about something along these lines. none of the measurements are exact but just an idea. switch at one end recharge at the other and screw to attach in the middle. once i get the switch box figured out i then get the joy of completely rewiring the whole saber. i have a small 3 slider switch to change between the RGB led giving me 6 colors to choose between. that will stay at up by the emitter so i can easily access it but everything else has to change to make room for the recharge port to be by the switch. good thing is i can take out some of the JST connectors and just solder things since i wont need to take the saber apart anymore. access to the sd card will be behind the speaker which ill be a bit of a challenge to get to but i dont change fonts much. hopefull this will fill my need to build another saber since money is being spent on a tattoo right now. god i wish this wasn't so damn addictive!
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