Work in Progress: Silvana - MHS build

[jbkuma]

This saber, tentatively “Silvana,” is almost ready to go, just waiting on some final pieces that I’ve changed as the project has take shape. The specs are:

TCSS MHS based hilt, painted
hand shaped brass switch plate
DIYino Prime 2.0 prototype with FX-SaberOS
3500mah 18650 battery
Custom 12mm switch w/ pixel accent LED
TCSS 28mm base speaker
Chassis:
– DIYino + Battery holder
– TCSS speaker holder
– Chassis Retainer/disconnect
– Choke Adapter
– MHS pixel blade adapter w/10-pin aviation plug
Pixel Blade:
- TCSS thin wall clear blade w/bullet tip
- 120 x2 WS2812 144/m strips
- foam and gift wrap diffusion
- silicon coating for retro/unstable look (also helps with diffusion)
pixel blade plug
programming/charging adapter



I was originally planning on just posting a reveal thread, but here's a bit of a build log instead since this "simple, quick build" has ended up taking on a life of it’s own. It features a lot of experimentation in building, and reflects a the development I've been doing in with Arduino based sabers. While I've used other TCSS parts before, this is my first MHS build, and I can’t say I’m disappointed in the quality and ease of use in the pieces from TCSS. I'll definitely be looking to include some MHS parts even in my scratch builds.

Silvana also features my first time painting a saber. I really like the look of it, and the look would have been very difficult to achieve otherwise, but this also renders this hilt a bit of a “shelf dandy” if I want to keep it looking clean. I ended up repainting a couple of the pieces to get things right. I used self etching primer which didn't seem to really do much compared to the regular stuff, appliance enamel, and several brushed on acrylic enamels. I applied a semi-gloss polyurethane to the copper and brass parts and it definitely improved the durability. I was worried that the polyurethane would take away from some of the texture I was able to get with the paints, but it really helped it quite a bit. The black parts have a heavily brushed anodized look to them, so I'll probably leave that alone. The metallic paints were much thinner and softer and needed it especially since they are on the business ends.

The copper coil in the faucet pommel is a counter weight which doubles the weight of the pommel. This hilt is really top heavy, which is bad enough, but the pixel blade with the silicon treatment weighs about twice as much as a normal thin blade. The center of gravity in the "standard" configuration with the D-ring pommel is about 6" up the blade: not ideal. Since I'm not planning on dueling with this maybe I don't really care too much, but I'm debating how to finish the pommel if I do use it. The scheme I used for the other pommel doesn't really work: Brass surround, black speaker grill, copper knob, brass D-ring. I'll probably just skip it and live with the fact that this isn't a dueling saber. (I don't really duel anyway...)

As part of my ever evolving changes to the build, I'm working up the nerve to expand the holes in the choke that were originally intended for a D-ring into a crystal chamber window. As you can see in the current photo up top the "chamber" is already pretty well lit by the LED in the AV.

I'll be redoing the blade this week so I'll post some more photos and possibly a video later this week.

images are clicky to embiggenate