Jay Gon's "Agony" (conversion from EL to luxeon)

[savyas]

wow. That turned out pretty nice, but what a whole lotta PITA that was for you! Would a thinner sheet of brass plate have done the trick?

My local hardware store (handyacehardware.com) has various thicknesses of brass and copper sheet metal that I've been considering using. So far I've only bought a variety of brass screen patterns and brass metal strips, but this has given me some new ideas.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

It was actually really easy to do, and I already had the brass tube sitting here, and it was already curved. i just had to bend it a bit more in a pair of channel-lock pilers to match the hilt. I may have to look though, and see if my hardware store has any type of sheetmetal, that's a good idea.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Well, I have it pretty much finished, and took a few "beauty shots" after cleaning and polishing. You'll notice I left the dmaaged ares alone, and just polished it. I think the damage adds character to the saber, and gives it that "used" look:






It's basically done, but I still have one minor detail to do something with:

This hole needs something...I was thinking that it might look good drilled through to the blade tunnel, and put a clear plastic cabochon in there and have it light up with the blade.

[ArkaiHalon]

Looks really good Jay-Gon.

as for the hole on the side. one idea would be a brass thumb wheel (or similar) to serve as a control knob. The clear jewel idea is good too

[Jay-gon Jinn]

It actually used to have a little brass thumb knob right there, but it got in the way of handling the saber. I'm leaning more towards the acrylic plug....

This has been a fun project, but this saber definitely lived up to it's name...it's been a real PITA to get done. Just makes it that much more satisfying I guess!

[DarthFender]

Jay-Gon, if you didn't pull half you hair out over it, it wasn't fun.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Just a quick update on this one! I actually did figure out what to with that hole in the side of the hilt. I drilled it all the way through into the blade socket and made a small acrylic plug to fit inside:



I do believe this saber is finished! (Well, as finished as most sabers get, anyway )

[MoonDragn]

That looks great Jay! I don't like those type of switches either though, It looks like you have enough room for a Vandal style switch maybe you could put one of those in there. The switch just doesn't look like it fits on such a beautiful saber.

That little hole you had in the side, have you ever considered putting a push button switch in that hole that had the button top flush with the side of the saber. Like a little recessed switch?

Since I was derailing the other thread about the 3/4" blade, we can try it in this one, do you see any drawbacks of using a 3/4" blade in this saber? The reason I'm asking is because I was thinking of using a smaller blade on a Luke ROTJ style saber with the thinner neck and the fan, but that neck is only about 3/4" in diameter.

[sekrogue1985]

Impressive!

[Jay-gon Jinn]

That looks great Jay! I don't like those type of switches either though, It looks like you have enough room for a Vandal style switch maybe you could put one of those in there. The switch just doesn't look like it fits on such a beautiful saber.

That little hole you had in the side, have you ever considered putting a push button switch in that hole that had the button top flush with the side of the saber. Like a little recessed switch?

Since I was derailing the other thread about the 3/4" blade, we can try it in this one, do you see any drawbacks of using a 3/4" blade in this saber? The reason I'm asking is because I was thinking of using a smaller blade on a Luke ROTJ style saber with the thinner neck and the fan, but that neck is only about 3/4" in diameter.

There's not enough room for an anti-vandal switch, they go too deep into the saber for that. The quad-AAA battery pack actually fits underneath that switch a bit, so I'm stuck with it.

The hole in the side goes all the way into the blade socket, so any switch I put in there would be just for looks, really. I like the acrylic plug, it makes it look like it has an accent led that comes on whe the blade is activated.

The only real drawback to the 3/4" blade is the dimming I get near the blade tip. I could probably eliminate that with a small piece mirored film, though. I just don't want to take the blade apart to do it.