Second Build CF 7.5 With Crystal Chamber

[darth_chasm]

Hey Folks,

I wanted to begin a new thread to chronicle my second build. I've spent the past couple months designing this saber, while building my first, and the majority of the parts are in, so I figured it's a great time to start sharing. I wanted more of a challenge than my first saber, so this one is packed to the gills and has a lot of little custom touches to it. It obviously takes inspiration from Vader's saber, and Madcow's Corran Horn.

The outside is all MHS and features what I think is a cool little "reveal" plate for the crystal chamber inside. The plate will be held in place by set screws for easy removal. The rear grip will also slide off to reveal access to the rice and recharge ports.

Plans for the internals are CF 7.5, tri cree RGRB, 7.4v 18500 pack, 2 tactile switches, crystal chamber, rice and recharge ports, and 1-2 led bar graphs depending on space.

As everything with me, I try to plan out as much as possible before diving in so for this first post here are some renderings of what I'm envisioning.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

[Greenie]

That looks pretty awesome! I like the use of the claw mount. I'll be watching this one progress

Good luck Chasm

[darth_chasm]

Messing around with the crystal chamber. I was worried it wouldn't be bright enough, but it's looking good to me so far. I'm using 1/8 brass compression sleeve and 5/32 brass tube pieces that I cut and sanded as spacers. As pictured, the chamber is 1" from disc to disc.

I have some 18 gauge copper discs coming later today, so hopefully I can get it most of it roughly assembled this weekend. I'll have the black finned piece pictured in the first post by Monday. It's simply an aluminum heat sink that I thought would be a nice design cue for the chamber. We shall see.

[darth_chasm]

After two failed tries, I finally got ONE copper piece mostly done. Was also able to finish one of the brass inserts for the claw mount. Doing all this with a Dremel, drill press, files and sandpaper is pretty laborious, but it is rewarding once you get a piece done.

[darth_chasm]

I decided to switch gears today and move from the crystal chamber to the emitter and chamber plate.

I was having an extremely hard time with my pipe cutter walking, so took out the hack saw and did it the slow way. The screwed up piece has an interesting look to it so I'll hold on to it for something in the future.



After I cut the pieces to length I drilled the fastener holes. I started out with these spot bits then moved on to the 6-32 bit.



After that, I cut, filed, and sanded the plate, half shroud and emitter. About 8 hours worth of hand work. Not perfect and nowhere near a machine finish but I'm extremely happy with the outcome. I decided to forego the drill holes in the half shroud as I felt my skill and tools lack the precision I want.



Updates to come...

[Miraluka]

That's looking pretty.

[darth_chasm]

That's looking pretty.

Thank you!

[darth_chasm]

That looks pretty awesome! I like the use of the claw mount. I'll be watching this one progress

Good luck Chasm

Thanks Greenie!

[darth_chasm]

Time for some updates.


I spent the week toying around with the crystal chamber after some parts arrived on Monday. Specifically, the aluminum heatsink that I plan on using as the holder for the crystal. It's been a mostly experimental process to see how things will look and fit together.


The first idea was to use the heatsink as both the holder for the led and the crystal. So I first drilled a 7/32 hole, then counter-bored a 15/64 hole leaving a tiny lip at the bottom of the heatsink for the led to sit on. Then I counter-bored a 5/16 hole about half way down for the crystal to sit in. It seemed to fit together nicely, but I wasn’t entirely happy with it. I couldn’t really see a way to make the led secure without using hot glue which would end up covering the lens.





The next idea was to use one of the blank chassis discs as the led holder and to mount the heatsink to the disc. So I went about drilling all the holes and creating a seat for the led in the center. But I quickly realized that I was doing this with a 1.24” disc and I need the base disc to be the 1.31” locking type. Unfortunately, those aren’t sold as blanks, so the led “seat” idea wasn’t going to work in the final.





Then I got the idea to use a 5mm led holder as the holder for the led…brilliant right? But in this case I am using it a bit backwards and dropping the led in leads first. The threaded end of the holder fits perfectly through the predrilled hole of the chassis discs. Using the holder backwards allows me to use the heatsink as the nut. I am waiting for a 5/16-32 tap to come in and I will tap the hole in the heatsink and screw it onto the holder with the chassis disc between. As you can see below, everything seems to fit nicely. I have a few ideas to secure the led in the holder so it doesn’t rattle around. I can put hot glue where the leads come out, use a small piece of heat shrink around the led itself to snug it up inside the shaft, or use a small piece of stiff foam on the leads. I’ll test them all once I have the heat sink tapped.





I was also able to work on the claw mount/guard a little more. I have the brass inserts for the top two slots cut and placed with temporary socket cap screws. I am waiting for some low profile, black oxide socket cap screws to come in which I will use in place of the ones you see here. The d-ring is mounted to a piece of 0.25” brass square bar cut to size. I’m not crazy about the d-ring I have in there now, so I may try to form my own that will fit a little better. I’m also not crazy about how much it rattles, so I’m trying to come up with a way to reduce that. Maybe tape or heat shrink.





Well, thats it for now. I’ll probably have more updates next weekend. Thanks for looking.

[darth_chasm]

Here's a shot of the chassis mocked up. I had to use some cardboard for the battery and CEX, still waiting on those. I'm feeling pretty confident with the size and everything fitting inside the hilt nicely.



My 5/16-32 tap came in today. I tapped the heatsink - "chamber fan" moving forward - and mounted it to the 5mm led holder and chassis disc. Fits like a charm.



And here's a shot of the custom housing I designed for the r/c port, rice port and bar graph. Again, everything fits beautifully.