Naasad Tal's First Saber - Starkiller Replica from MHS parts

[Ty_Bomber]

If it were mine, I would use a 4" blank extension and the 3.75" extension (the ribbed section, without the ribs). It will make the saber more compact and accurate to the initial render, and lead threads makes for a more durable hilt.

[NaasadTal]

If it were mine, I would use a 4" blank extension and the 3.75" extension (the ribbed section, without the ribs). It will make the saber more compact and accurate to the initial render, and lead threads makes for a more durable hilt.

My parts list includes a 5in DF extention for the grip, a 4in DF extention for the crystal chamber & a 1/4in DM extention, the total length (with pommel & blade holder) is 13 1/4in, which is about what screen renders indicate. I've seen other sabersmiths with 12 & 13in long Starkiller hilts so that's what I was aiming for with mine.

[Cire Yeldarb]

Thanx for the tip Cire, was kinda looking for a way to hide the PLI inside the activation box.

As far as the changes go, it won't be anything major...just making the activation box "functional" & adding an extra level to the chassis so the speaker sits in a different position inside the grip.

Ahh, if you wanna hide it inside I would suggest first off using the original PLI (not the 1 designed for box 1) so it will be smaller and hopefully fit inside -- not sure of the box's internal dimensions, then cover it in shrinkwrap as I said earlier to electrically isolate it, top the box with this cover, and cut a slit in the top to be able to see the LEDs through!

ahh okay! Still looking forward to seeing this as it progresses!

[NaasadTal]

Thanx for the links Cire, I was looking for that PLI. I actually was thinking about using that cover (modified of course) over the PLI with the switch. My problem is that it would sit above the box, which might not be horrible since the cover is pretty thin.

I'll have to see if I can make it work.

[NaasadTal]

Hello fellow Saber Jockeys, it's been a while since I posted so I figured I'd let you know I haven't been scared off.

Phoenix Comic Con was this last weekend & I was frantically trying to finish up my Starkiller costume for that, long story short, I made it & it turned out GREAT (I'll post pics in the Cosplay section for those that wanna see it)

During that time I had decided to remake my PVC hilt so that it more closely matched my Combat Hilt length, however when I marked out the PVC I realized something, a 13.25in single blade hilt is HUGE!! so I decided to swap out the 5in extention for another 4in one which brought the length to 12.25in, only .25in longer than my PVC hilt which is just about the perfect size hilt for me. Below is the latest blueprint:



I changed my activation box to Box Style 1, for a more screen accurate look. I am also adding the PLI/Switch card to the activation box & I have talked to Tim about modifying the box to allow me to cover the card with an aluminum plate to protect it. That being said, I'm actually a little concerned about putting this box on because what very few pics I've seen with it on a hilt, it looks massive. For my build however, I am planning to cut a hole in the shroud for the box to sit in & hopefully this will counter the size.

I have also modified my chassis a bit, moving the speaking down closer to the pommel so that the "vents" will act as an outlet for the back of the speaker (something I read helped with the volume output of the speaker) while the front of the speaker will pump out thru a style 6 pommel insert.

One thing I'm concerned about now is the location of my sound board, I've read that having it too close to the center of the hilt will keep the board from working as well. So I'm wondering if I need to move the board closer to the end of the hilt, I've got plenty of space between it & the bottom of the Crystal Chamber so I could invert it putting the SD card the other direction & make the spacer between the board & the recharge discs shorter...thoughts?

Pretty sure this will be the final rework of the design before I actually start building, It seems like I can't settle on the design & I appreciate your patience with me while I hammer it out.

Look for actual build updates soon!

- Chris

[NaasadTal]

So while I wait for parts & credits to become available, I've been working on finalizing the design & electronics for my hilt & the one thing I keep going over is how much power will this thing need in order to get me the brightest blade & longest running saber I can.

Since I am still VERY new to electronics, I decided to go with the Nano Biscotte for now, so if I acccidently blow the thing, it won't be QUITE as painfull as it would be with one of the more expensive boards (however that Crystal Focus board is VERY pretty ). My original plan was to run a R/R/W CREE XP-E2 CopperNova for the Blade & splice in a red accent LED somwhere along the line. Currently I have the Panasonic 18650 3.7v protected Li-Ion battery as my power source, which SHOULD be enough for this basic plan (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong), but ever the far-reaching prop builder, I am now looking into possibly adding a 2nd lit crystal somewhere in the chassis (probably in the top of the main chamber). I also read in one of the threads (not sure which one now) that someone hooked up their crystal LED to the FoC pad so that it flashes with the blade when the saber connects with something solid. I would LOVE to add this feature to at least my main crystal if I can figure it out.

My question is (& you'll have to excuse the "noobness" of it), will the 3.7v battery be enough to power all of this (without dying 30 minutes in), or should I look at a 7.4v battery to power my saber?

Also, any ideas on how to get the crystal LED hooked to FoC would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanx in advance!

[Silver Serpent]

Single 18650 + NB + Tri-Cree is a good solution. Accent LEDs draw very little current, and won't harm your runtime significantly.

Do NOT use a 7.4v pack with the NB. It'll blow your sound board, and it wouldn't give you any more runtime anyhow. Runtime is determined by the mAh of your battery pack (the higher the mAh, the longer it'll run on a single charge.)

[NaasadTal]

Awesome...leaves me more space for greebage! Thanx for the replY Serpent!

[NaasadTal]

GUYS, GUYS, GUYS!!!!! I just ordered my first batch of parts!!!!


Decided to start with Chassis since the parts are relatively cheap & they're whats in stock at the moment...needless to say, I'm SUPER excited right now!!

Also, I drew up what I'm going to call my final draft of the blueprints (hopefully...cuz I'm sure you're all pretty tired of seeing these :P)...


In this version, I fine tuned a couple minor things & drew 3 different options for the Crystal Chamber window (labled I, II, III). As you know, throughout this whole build, the end game was to have a screen accurate dueling hilt, but the open crystal chamber has always thrown a kink in those plans, so I knew it was gonna have to get modified to make the saber something strong enough to duel with. The first option (I) was to keep the window completely open like Starkiller's but make it much smaller so I didn't lose as much of the hilt, the next option (II) was a larger window like Starkiller's but with a piece of hilt left in place for added support, essentially making it 2 windows & the 3rd option (III) is similar to option, 2 except that it has 2 supports splitting the large window into 3 smaller windows.

After talking with a couple friends, the consensus was that option 3 would be the best choice as it provided the support for dueling while giving the best visibility of the Crystal Chamber.

& speaking of the Crystal Chamber, I made some changes there as well...The new CC design now has 2 crystals, the main power crystal, which will take up the biggest part of it & a secondary Focusing Crystal which will be placed in the top of the of the CC in order to make the saber appear more functional. Both crystals will light up & one may even be attached to FoC pad, there may also be some additional greeblies added to the Crystal Chamber later on, but for now this is it.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the final design & as always, thanx for looking...hope to have some actual progress for you all soon!

[sgcdialler]

If I remember right, most of the Starkiller replicas I've seen have two support struts running up the front. Given that, I'd say you could be well served by going with option #3, and putting greeblies up the struts to make them look like something.