Hey, I am quite new here and this is my first post, so please be gentle.

I currently am still in the planning phase of my first lightsaber, mainly due to some issues I will get into later in this post. Ok, this is also a bit incorrect. In actuality, I plan on modifying my first real lightsaber due to budget restraints and because my saber suffers from feature creep and now and am incapable of cutting any of these features to get the damn thing built with the budget I planned on using (kind of know how Chris Roberts feels). But it seems like I am getting ahead of myself, first I need to talk about the saber I will modify and why this is necessary.

The next part is a bit of backstory and venting about something that annoys me so not really necessary for all to read unless you are interested. (Tldr; at the end of paragraph)

It is a huge 16’’ monster which is modelled after a recently released video game created by an undisclosed saber company. I ordered it back in November so I could get my hands on it by Christmas (I live in central Europe). Sadly, when it finally arrived the chassis which held the batteries was damaged and the speaker holder broke off. This might have also damaged the speaker itself (already checked and it is unresponsive and the fine netting on it is completely broken). So my brand new saber, which I was checking on every single day since I ordered it for almost 3 weeks arrived as a glorified stunt-saber. I have contacted the saber company in question 4 times already, but still have to receive any response (first contact happened on the 17th of December literally 2 hours after I first picked up the package).
Even before receiving the saber I spent most of my day checking out different saber companies, builds and even stumbled upon this forum just because I wanted to know even more about the community that existed for these marvellous pieces of tech. When my saber arrived damaged I also checked out several guides on Youtube and forums so I might find out how to fix it. This spiralled out of control rather quickly and I now find myself almost obsessed with creating my own saber and having spent at the very least 100+ hours doing research, reading, watching videos and creating several different designs of lighsabers on this fine site. It certainly helped that teachers do not have to work during the Christmas holidays and the only thing that could keep me away from my research was spending time with my little boy (8 months) and my girlfriend. What also contributed to my desire to really build a saber myself is that my girlfriend started sowing a few months back and she gifted me the promise of my very own Sith Robe (go black or go home!) for Christmas. I also want to become better with electric stuff now that I have a son of my own since in my book, a good daddy needs to be able to fix stuff around the house by himself. Due to my own father having studied the electrician studied in school he already taught me a bit (and will assist me during the install), but I chose this project to really come into my own.

Tldr; Teacher from Europe, got a son, want to build a saber partly because I am obsessed with it and because I want to become better at wiring stuff. Also, my first saber purchase arrived broken ☹

Also, full disclosure, I am ordering these parts from a Stockist of Ultrasabers in Europe due to the transport and import costs burning a hole into my pocket otherwise. They also stock for Plector and seeing as I want a CFX, this suits me just fine. I certainly hope this is not an issue when posting on a forum since stockists (at least the definition I found) is a very close relationship between two companies almost comparable to a franchise. But if it is an issue, I will take this post down asap.


So, about the saber: I already measured it several times and the hilt should be able to fit a self-build chassis with a 3.7v 3400mAh 18650 Li-Ion battery as power supply. The pommel-part is also supposed to be MHS compatible, but I’d rather check than believe everything I find online. Regardless, the inside of the hilt is exactly as wide as the female part of the hilt, so this supported my own measurements.

What I plan to install in my hilt:
1x Crystal Focus X
1x Tri-Cree XP-E2 Copper, RGB (already calculated the resistors)
1x RGB 18mm AV Switch (already took the thermal tape, holder and heatsink into account)
1x small black momentary switch
1x Switchraft 5.5mm/2.1 DC recharge socket (+ killkey)
1x 28mm WOW 4w Speaker(if available until I order)/1x 28mm True Premium Bass Speakers/or 28mm 2w 8ohm Bass Speaker

I will also build the Chassis myself with MHS v1 parts: 1 speaker holder, 2 discs style 5, 1x recharge port disc-set, 2x acrylic chassis disc-sets should one be ruined by me, and 1 blank set should I need more for any reason, 4x hex nuts, 1x brass OD tube and 3x 4-40 threads, one of which is a spare.

Also going to build my own blade with 40'' TW Trans White PolyC. The finished product will probably be 40’’ or 38’’ long, since the saber I really want to build, sometime later this year, will be a designated 2h saber and I feel it should make up for the slowness with more reach.

Furthermore, I want to electro etch (with q-tips and using either a vinegar/salt or water/salt solution) some designs on it using PCB paper. I already have all the required materials at home so I can practice on store-bought aluminium before I can even think about doing it on my hilt. Already found some very informative articles on this forum and a few really cool videos online on this subject. If you are wondering why the q-tip version rather than a proper bath, it is because I feel it might be easier to use this version on a hilt this large (aprox. 14’’ without the blade holder) and assembled by someone else. But if anyone has some experience with etching prebuild sabers or some advice I would really appreciate it!


Questions I want to inquire about:
The first issue is about the above-mentioned electro etching. I am quite sure there are a few people here who have already modified a hilt received by a sabersmith or company and would love some advice. Most articles/posts or videos I found dealt with completely new designs or blank material, so I am wondering if I might be missing something crucial.
Another issue that I encountered and could not find any answer for is whether the 16mm RGB AV Switch will match the blade colour or not. I’ve googled, searched the forums (might have been too stupid) and read the CFX manual twice, certain sections even more often than that. I feel like it might be possible if correctly connected to the accent LED Pads but I seriously could not find the relevant paragraph or section in the manual, or online for that matter, that could give me the answers I was searching for. An especially frustrating moment was when I found a post from a few years back that stated that it was not possible to have them match, but seeing as many companies have this feature as a standard for RGB coloured sabers, I cannot believe that this is still correct.
Third question is simply: Am I missing something with my build/refit?


I have posted pretty much my entire list of components which I want to use for my refit, and to put into my very own self designed lightsaber later on. Just having bought a saber and now wanting to upgrade it is way easier to explain to my girlfriend than buying a new one as well. Well, it’s certainly still a ways off, especially since I first want to have some experience in etching before I disassemble my old(new) saber to work on it and then mount a new system inside.
But if you’ve read through most of this, thank you! Certainly, a longer post than I initially anticipated. Somehow I just wanted to share my road up until now with people who undertook similar journeys. Nobody I know seems to understand why I am so thrilled doing what they consider hard and boring research until late at night just to find some answers to questions I have not yet considered. But I think the first time you ignite your very own self-build/modified saber (AND HEAR SOUND!) it will all be worth it. Not to mention that doing the research is also a ton of fun. But yeah, thanks for hearing me out (again) and hopefully you can help me with my issues.