NeoPixel build part list

[RarestSquirrel]

Hi,

Need a sanity check before pulling the trigger on the major parts of this saber as its my first.
I'm Australian, so much of what I could find locally was prioritized. Unfortunately for my budget... a lot of it wasn't.

Parts: Items in bold already purchased

Saberforge arbiter hilt.
2 x skinny white NeoPixel strips (the 144 led per metre variety).
Vaders Vault Photon Blade 34".
Plecter Prizm 5.1
Nitecore 18650 3400mAh battery (found here http://www.ausbatteries.com/lithium/...n-battery.html )
3x TCSS Foam tube for 1" thin tubes.
2 X TCSS 12mm momentary white LED switches.
3.5mm R.I.C.E. Port Style 2.
20mm 4ohm 2W Bass Speaker
18650 Battery Holder Wired (This particular version apparently fits the longer protected 18650's and is found at SulpherCityFoundry).
2 x GX16 10-pin connector for blade, hilt and charger(if possible).
390ohm 1/4w resistor.
470µF electrolytic capacitor for the strips as per plecter instructions.
Blade film (thin walled)
A 3d printed chassis that I've been noodling with in software, but won't be finalised until I can get my hands on the actual parts.

So that's the list so far, not sure if I'm missing anything in particular.
So with the Arbiter hilt's guts giving me only 28mm to work with I've opted for the 20mm speaker.
Will obviously have to drill a hole somewhere for the RICE port. Thinking almost exactly opposite and between the 12mm switch location.
Also considering ordering one each of the TCSS amber and blue enhanced blades just to see what best produces the colours I'm looking for - might also be fun to capture some footage in 4k via my sony a6500 of all the different effects of the three blades for youtube etc.

A quick mockup of the internals using blocky geometry.


So my questions are currently:
What am I missing?
What gauge wire should I be working with?
Is charging via the hilt blade connector a possibility with the 10-pin?
And finally how critical is an ESD safe soldering station? Built pc's on carpet before and survived so... are there more risks here or is it just an abundance of caution?

Cheers!