First-Timer looking for a design proofread

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Go to Youtube, look up TCSS and just start watching. Madcow did a ton of awesome tutorial videos, covers all the basics, super helpful. Also should be tons of basic soldering videos out there that will surely help you.

Ya know, he wasn’t the ONLY one to do videos for the shop.

[Jono87]

Go to Youtube, look up TCSS and just start watching. Madcow did a ton of awesome tutorial videos, covers all the basics, super helpful.

Dude, that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. I'm not even going to pretend my design isn't a combo of stuff I've seen him do, because it is. It does however include a few things not explicitly shown together or confirmed in his videos, that I just wanted to confirm as viable. Honestly, I'm not worried about soldering in general, because of his videos. I do think it would be foolish to attempt it without the caution someone who has never done it probably should have. Definitely gonna take FJK's advice though and practice. As it is, I'm still waiting for my hilt parts to be shipped, and will probably wait for that to be delivered before ordering the electronics. I just like to have as many ducks in a row as I can.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

As long as you have shrink wrap, the proper wire strippers and such, the “hardest” part (for you) will likely be adding the resistors into your circuits.

[bigkevin61]

I’ve used the MHS speaker mount V6, and it locks in between the body and the pommel. In order to get to the Soundcard and the SD card (if you want or need to change settings) OR to get to the battery to swap, or recharge, you are going to need to pull the speaker holder out of the body several inches to get clearance.
Stuffing the extra wire, AND all the JST connectors in the part of the body below the switches will be a challenge.

I know you said you haven’t soldered before. Neither had I before this hobby! My profile pic (the TARDIS) was my first practice project. It isn’t too expensive to get a iron, and parts to practice on are cheap (old broken electronic toys, 20 year old motherboards collecting dust, etc). Being able to do even basic soldering opens SO many more possibilities for saber configuration!!

I’d suggest viewing Madcow’s (Rob Petkau of Genesis Custom Sabers) Tutorial video on a Basic Saber with Sound as his example uses Speaker Mount 6, and shows a creative way of wring with a different connector.
In fact, ALL the tutorial videos are insightful!

[Squimboos]

I'll go ahead and throw my experience in here. I just finished wiring up my fist build (neopixel) and I have never soldered a thing in my life except for one wire like 15 years ago. It seems daunting at times but once you get the hang of it, it's absolutely worth doing yourself. Not to mention it just feels great knowing you did it with your own hands.

[Warlock]

Ya know, he wasn’t the ONLY one to do videos for the shop.

Wasn't meaning to discount anyone, Madcow just happened to be the one doing pretty much every TCSS video I watched.

[minorhero]

I just finished my second saber. For my first saber I used a crystal focus sound board (wouldn't recommend this as a first timer simply because I didn't use all the functions) but it is an expensive sound board with tiny pads etc. I successfully wired it up on my first try with zero soldering experience from anything else ever unless you count doing some minor plumbing repairs in my house. Certainly no wiring before. So yea, its pretty easy to do if you don't mind going slow and taking your time.

[Jono87]

Hey guys.

So I've been doing some thinking over the past week, and really like the idea of a chassis/internal battery build after all. I did some measuring and believe I've got more than enough space for what I'm considering chassis-wise.

I was already planning on using a gender changer to connect both extender pieces as the primary portion of the hilt. I'm now thinking of using the gender changer to lock the chassis to the extender piece that will house the switch box. I was considering dropping the accent LED and throwing the charge port in there as well, as I thought an external kill key might give the appearance of the hilt a little more aesthetic, until I remembered that the kill key would need to be out for me to use the saber. Therefore, I rolled back to keeping the accent LED on the switch with the charge port in the hilt as part of the chassis. Ideally, this build is going to enable a rolling off of the bottom "half" , leaving the chassis connected to the portion with all wiring, switch, LEDs, etc.

The question that has arisen is the viability of the wiring once again. I believe on standpoint of things connected as they are, the theory is the same as my original schematic. With all of the wiring though, I do find myself questioning the efficiency of a build with 3 resistors.

I don't necessarily mind that, but from what I've been able to pick up in the most basic sense, I began questioning whether a buck puck might be something to consider instead. Unfortunately my familiarity with them is simple, and begins and ends with the premise that they might be a suitable one stop shop power management alternative to multiple resistors, and I'd be lying if I said I was confident in that description of a buck puck being accurate.

Would anyone mind letting me know if it is in fact accurate, and if so, if using one as an alternative would be something I should consider, or if going with the concept as it currently stands is a better idea?

Chassis Build Bible.jpg

[Silver Serpent]

You don't use BuckPucks with sound boards. They require 5v minimum to operate, and that is not compatible with any of the boards that run off 3.7v single cells. All the boards that run off 7.4v battery packs have a LED driver built in, so they don't need them.

There is this: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/10...ver-P1211.aspx which could work, but it'll take up a lot more room and it's significantly more expensive than a resistor.

[Jono87]

You don't use BuckPucks with sound boards. They require 5v minimum to operate, and that is not compatible with any of the boards that run off 3.7v single cells. All the boards that run off 7.4v battery packs have a LED driver built in, so they don't need them.

There is this: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/10...ver-P1211.aspx which could work, but it'll take up a lot more room and it's significantly more expensive than a resistor.

So probably better just to go with the 3 resistors then?