Oookaay, so I'll do the best I can here... but I need some help.

[NewberL337]

First... very first; I did read the thread about looking for answers in the forums. A good post and something I agree with. Therefore, I have searched the forums, even busted out a pad and pen to take some notes.

Today I received my hilt; it was just a for my costume as a prop so it has no electronics or anything, just the metal and some o-rings. But now having looked at it and held it, looking at the part pages, and using the MHS builder... I'm just kinda confused. Overwhelmed may be the better term I think, there is just a lot to take in. I don't think I can accurately start creating my electronic saber in the MHS builder until I understand what exactly it is I am going to need to make what I want, which is an LED saber.

From what I took down I first need to choose what kind of LED I want; 3 watt, K2, or 5 watt. Which is better in your opinion? I plan on buying a battle blade and I'd like something as bright as it can be. For the color I was hoping orange but I can settle for blue or green.

For the power choice I will use driver board. But how exactly do I assemble it or place it into the saber? I think what gets me is going to be the actual construction of the saber when I get all the parts.

I will use a 5 degree lens. So now it comes to the part where we have heat sinks and color disks... it is overwhelming. I was hoping somewhere I could find a checklist of what you need to make an LED saber, something like

- A
- B
- C
- D

Just right down the list ya know? So like I said I got that hilt, and with it came the COVERTECH clip, that slides into the pager holder, and I have nooo idea how I would attach that to the hilt. Also a brass piece came with it, and two small white plastic screws... no idea what thats for either.

So I am afraid that if I order these parts for a saber to be LED I am 1.) Not going to have any idea how to assemble it and 2.) I may have not ordered pieces I may need to make it LED as I am not wholly sure of what I need.

Anyway, I'm sorry for making this longer then I wanted. But you all are the best source of help I have and know that I am greatly appreciative of it all. Link to threads, straight advice or help, I'll take whatever you can give me. I just want to be able to make an awesome saber for myself.

[ThreeQuadFive]

Welcome and hello...as its been said, time and time (and time...and time..) again..
Please read through the forums first, perform searches, and above all, check
out the existing tutorials!

You may want to start here: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...hread.php?t=20


Hey Mods, how hard would it be to throw together a mandatory training tutorial for new people to ensure that they complete 'basic training' when registering new accounts

[NewberL337]

Hey Mods, how hard would it be to throw together a mandatory training tutorial for new people to ensure that they complete 'basic training' when registering new accounts

THAT would be awesome. And thanks. Like I said I did my best and I got half-answers and what not. Just it was hard for me to piece it all together as the information seemed so scattered.

[Donnovan Sunrider]

The copper piece is a heat sink for an LED. that comes with all of the blade holders, and you would have seen it in the picture with the holder on the store.
The plastic screws attach the LED star to the heat sink. They're non-conductive, that's why those are used and not metal screws.

This page will show each piece in a basic LED setup.
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=2025
Use the cutaway view at the bottom as your guide.

For the LED starter package, I'd go with a kit.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Kits-C16.aspx

A Lux III is probably the best place to start. Trust me, these things are crazy bright. The kit will have all the bits you need to get it together. Note that it will require soldering to do so.
Take the default options and choose your color. Red/Orange is available in the list.
Note that you don't need color filters if you use a colored LED. Those are just for white LEDs.

To attach the covertec clip, you have to drill and tap a hole in the hilt for it. Instructions for that are here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=5724

I recommend wiring/soldering it up like a basic flashlight before getting into the driver area. Once you get it lit, then you can look at the addition of other parts to make it fancier like LED drivers and sound.

[Jedi-Loreen]

The "brass" (could it be copper?) is an LED heat sink, they come with every blade holder you buy. That's what you mount your LED onto. The white nylon screws are what you mount the LED star with, because they are non-conductive.

Dang, too slow.

[Reith]

For the colors I personally went with Green for my first saber, mostly because Green is my favorite color but also because out of all the usual saber colors Green seems to be able to get the brightest. Amber tends to get pretty bright but I'm not a huge fan of Amber. Royal Blue is gorgeous but as with Red it doesn't seem to get as bright as others.

[NewberL337]

The copper piece is a heat sink for an LED. that comes with all of the blade holders, and you would have seen it in the picture with the holder on the store.
The plastic screws attach the LED star to the heat sink. They're non-conductive, that's why those are used and not metal screws.

This page will show each piece in a basic LED setup.
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=2025
Use the cutaway view at the bottom as your guide.

For the LED starter package, I'd go with a kit.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Kits-C16.aspx

A Lux III is probably the best place to start. Trust me, these things are crazy bright. The kit will have all the bits you need to get it together. Note that it will require soldering to do so.
Take the default options and choose your color. Red/Orange is available in the list.
Note that you don't need color filters if you use a colored LED. Those are just for white LEDs.

To attach the covertec clip, you have to drill and tap a hole in the hilt for it. Instructions for that are here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=5724

I recommend wiring/soldering it up like a basic flashlight before getting into the driver area. Once you get it lit, then you can look at the addition of other parts to make it fancier like LED drivers and sound.

Thanks a lot. That was some help, I can get some help with putting this stuff together by someone who knows what they are doing. If I'm going to lux it up and make it glow, I'm going to want sound as well. I look at a lot of these saber pics though and I want to say that most of them I think people add a lot of their own touches to them. For example other led lights on the hilt themselves... basically all the little bits and pieces that add to the authenticity of it. But I don't see those as part options in the MHS builder. Id like to add some stuff like that. Any ideas?

[Kant Lavar]

My suggestion would be to save that stuff for down the road and keep things simple for now, especially if you're new to the whole electronics building thing. You have to learn the ways of the Force before taking a seat on the Council, as it were.

The electronics kits in the store give you almost everything you need save wire, solder, heatshrink, and tools to put electronics in your saber.

[Donnovan Sunrider]

Those details are too varied to really put on the builder. You have the base in hand, so that's your start point. What personalization do you want to do?
Accent LEDs are also determined by the bits you have driving it inside. Many of the sabres you'll see with that stuff are using something fancy like a Crystal Focus board. That has tons of options for extra things like LEDs, motors, battery meters, etc. That's a pretty advanced build there, as it takes a ton of planning and experience with a soldering iron.
The basic skills you want to get really good are soldering and some simple metal working. Using a rotary tool to cut out chunks to shape it to your vision. Drilling and tapping holes for screws. Space management in the hilt for batteries, switch, LED, wires, resistor and eventually fancy stuff like a driver board and crystal chamber.

My personal sabre project will have all the bells and whistles, but I'm making some basic gift sabres for my niece and nephew as practice first. And before that, I made a huge 12" sink pipe flashlight using the basic parts. That project gave me the best foundation for how these things go together.

One step at a time my friend. Let your lightsabre be special because you learned the process of fully realizing your vision for it. If you attempt to go to advanced procedures without the basics mastered, you could end up damaging expensive parts that will cost you some cash to replace. Soldering to circuit boards is very different from wires. Get really good at wires first, then practice on junk boards to get comfortable with that kind.
You'll be glad you did.

[Jedi-Loreen]

If you get a couple of these quick connectors http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Quick-connector-P38.aspx (I like to put one on the battery holder, but it isn't necessary), you'll need one at the LED end, if you want to change out the LED for different colors, then you don't even need any extra wire for a basic LED saber. The only extra stuff you'll need, besides solder, is some heat shrink tubing.

Building just the most basic LED saber first, is very good advice. It's the "you must walk before you run" kind of thing.