Be kind, super noob question

[Bnd10706]

So I am new to saber building but last year me and my son built a sink tube saber and it actually came out very well. He loves the thing and uses it as a prop to play.

He literally plays with it every day and I want to surprise him by adding sound and light and a blade to it.

So in prep I ordered a soldering tool and going to learn how to do that.

But I am so confused as to what I need to buy. I cannot afford anything crazy, but I want to be able to fit it to the sink tube he has now. I'm fine with cheaper sound but a powerful glow with a poly carbon blade.

Looking through TCSS I have no freaking clue what to buy. Looking through the tutorials makes it seem that everyone knows what parts are what.

I just need a shopping guide with how to.

Thanks!

[darth_chasm]

Welcome aboard.

Have you taken a look at the basic saber build videos in the videos section? While they are based around MHS saber parts, they do give you a very good idea of what is involved in building a saber.

Keep in mind that every saber is different and there is no default list of ALL parts needed and ALL steps to be taken. It does take a little ingenuity and creativity.

That said, also take a look in the parts lists section and see what other people have listed and what the comments from others are.

Lots of reading my friend...LOTS.

Good luck!

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

There are sink-tube blade holders available in the TCSS store which will help you add light and a blade to your son's sink tube prop. If you want to add good sound the Plecterlabs Nano Biscotte soundboard is an excellent relatively low cost choice with superb sound quality [the upcoming Pico Crumble should be even lower cost but afaik is not available yet]. You will also need a LED in the colour of your choice, collimating optic lens, a blade retention screw, battery solution [pack or holder] suitable to your LEDs needs and the proper resistor to match, switch, speaker if you add sound and wire and heatshrink...also a good idea to have a chassis or at least the electronics guard shield to protect internal electronics from shorting on the inside of the metal tube. I'm probably forgetting something sorry and you can certainly add fancier options according to your tastes and budgets but that's pretty much required for a basic LED saber. Good Luck and MTFBWY

[Kreyhn]

What I personally have found most helpful were especially the following things.

Watch the tutorial videos on YouTube, especially:
Tutorials Beginner Lever
Build a Basic Saber
If one doesn't make sense, watch others, and a picture will sprout in your mind of how to do this stuff.

I also like the A to Z Build Threads section of the forum. Many projects there are advanced level sabers, but many are also good for explaining how to do things. Keep reading and you will learn a ton!

Let me know if you have any specific questions about these things. The whole shop was incredibly confusing to me when I first started looking into things.

[Thorvindr]

I highly recommend getting pre-wired parts from the "Modular Wiring System" section of TCSS. They cost a little more but the amount of time saved is unbelievable. I don't know how long it takes most people to solder a joint but I know it takes me all damn day. Pre-wired parts make things go a lot faster. Makes repairs easier, too. Fried the main LED module because you forgot to put a resistor on it? Unplug it and order a new one. Want to switch the blade color? Unplug it and order a new one.

[JediCarpet]

Just be careful with the modular wiring system components - they can take up a lot more room than you expect.

Another option for a sound card is to get a cheap Hasbro one from Walmart or Target (I got a couple for $15 each and tore them apart...none too gracefully because they're glued to high hell and back) and use those as the basis of your build. You'll need a bit of monkeying around to get the LED to work properly with it...I did it a while ago, I think it was a transistor I had to add into it to get enough juice from the battery to the LED and maintain the blade effects. That might not be the best project for a beginning solderer though. I recall it involved removing resistors about 2 square mm to replace with wires to wire the transistor in, and I was using 28 gauge wire. Oh, and removing the existing LEDs was a treat.

[Thalan the Exiled]

I would suggest the Nano B for sound. While it is more expensive than the hasbro route it is much easier to wire up. The pre wired options do take more space but if your soldering skills arent up to par the it would be best tonat least get the sound board and LED pre wired to avoid any damage. The rest of the thing you will solder are pretty hard to mess up(switch/speaker). Try to plan everything out before you start soldering too. This way you don't make any mistakes. I burnt out a LED because I forgot to wire in the resistor(got in a hurry). It was bright for the 3 seconds it stayed lit lol. Just take your time and you should be fine. As for a list of parts, if you search there should be a basic list somewhere in the forum. You can also post your list before you buy and have people double check for you. Hope this helps.

[Thorvindr]

Just be careful with the modular wiring system components - they can take up a lot more room than you expect.

It's true the prewired components take up more space (mostly due to the chunky, awesome conectors), if you do kind of a "test build," you should be able to cut down the amount of wire you have to cram in there with them.

For example:
The build I'm just finishing up uses the pre-wired Nano Biscotte v3 soundboard and a pre-wired main LED module. I also bought a blue/white extension because I figured I'd need more than just the bit of wire betwn tthe two parts and their respective connectors. When I actually assembled the whole thing, the longish wires on the soundboard was almost EXACTLY long enough to reach the short wires on the LED module. But there's a catch. When I open the bottom of the hilt to slide out the chassis and access the SD card, I need to first open the mouth of the hilt and unplug the LED module.

So in this case, having prewired parts actually SAVED me some space. If I hard hard-wired the main LED to the soundboard, I'd have needed enough wire to slide the chassis out the back WITHOUT unplugging the LED. Probably between 9 and 12 inches of wire I would have used because in addition to just pulling the soundboard far enough back to remove it from the hilt, I'd need some slack so I could actually handle the board without needing to keep holding the hilt.

Even if you don't use mostly pre-wired parts, I definitely recommend using a pre-wired LED module (or putting a connector on it yourself) for exactly that reason.