Hello All!

I completed my first saber build on 12/17 mere hours prior to the opening of Ep. VII (I loved it! Can't wait to take my little boy to see it next week after the holiday). Anyway, I'm completely new to building electronics, Ohm's Law, and saber building as a whole -- and it was a trial by fire learning experience. I happened upon this hobby by pure chance, my love for Star Wars and my passion for a challenge. And I can honestly say - I'm hooked! There will be more down the line.

As my wife said to me: "Holy sh*t it works! ...you know you're going to have to build another one for the boy..." - I hope this is her blessing to keep making them. lol

This board is a wealth of knowledge! Without it I surely would have failed many times prior to getting it correct, but - as it is echoed time and again by many here - I read until my eyes burned, and then read some more, and was able to build my saber successfully.

The sound board is an old 2010 Hasbro Ani Board, it has a Tri-Cree RbRW LED w/ 18-degree lens, a 16mm Short AV Illuminated Purple Ring Switch, a 2.1mm Switchcraft Recharge port w/kill key, a Panasonic Protected 18650 3.7V 3400mAh, a 2W Bass Speaker, and a 1.45"dia Sinktube Blade holder. I was going for purple and it's close, but a little too pink for me. I will have to go back and resist the red some more. I'm still considering using a pot to "dial" it in.

It was built out of a 12" sink pipe, an econo-showerhead, pvc, and washers - BYB style 8 was the basis for my saber. ...something to get the juices flowing.

I was limited in tools - I had a soldering iron, dremel, hand drill, and a pvc cutter. (My drill press was picked up after the completion of my saber... I'll likely re-tap some of my retention screws)

At one point I had thought I had torched my board as the traces started to peel away, but they had solid solder connections - so I broke out the glue gun and hot glued the connections and traces back to the board. It was some time around 1am when I finally attempted to power it on. And I nearly burst with excitement and relief when it powered on with sound and all. ...I was so excited that I woke my pregnant wife to show her (to her credit - she humored me. I love that woman.)

Well without further ado; my first saber:








Thank you all again for answering all the questions that come your way!

Regards,

Cralii
[krə-laɪ]