New here, have a couple questions.

[Crystal Chambers]

There's so many ways to install electronics that it comes down to what works for you. This is where the research and even some headaches set in but it really does help to have things at hand to visualize the space. You could even put the board in the the ribbed grip section if you want, and then the 4" section could hold your batteries. The only problem is that makes SD card access more difficult since you'll need room to counter twist wires before assembling the MHS parts. Every solution has it's benefits, limitations, and sometimes solutions. Unless you repeat hilt design aspects every build presents new challenges.

[Ashiva]

That was my other idea. I figured as long as I made a mount for the pc-l and bot could fit inside the ribbed extension, I could just make the wiring long enough to accommodate unscrewing either the choke or the ribbed extension off and pulling the pc-l out enough to get to the card. I will look and see when I get parts. It may be a while before I get the pc-l though with them being more then almost all the other parts together. What do you think would be easiest? Using a battery holder that is sold in the store wired to a recharge port with 2 aa li ion batteries in it, or making a pack instead? I would probably do it the way you suggested with the batteries and speaker in the 4 inch extension and the pc-l mounted in the ribbed extension.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

In the sabers I built that use the same style of construction you're thinking about, I mounted the soundboards to one of these:

That is made from a TCSS chassis disc style 1 with holes and some of the 4-40 rod and spacers I had on hand, but it could also be done with the aluminum tubing sold in the store. The soundboard can be made to fit on top of it like so:

This location allows for accessing the sd card by simply removing the blade holder and the led module without having to worry about wires twisting. This probably wouldn't work if you wanted to also put an 18500/18650 in there with it though. It would work just fine if you wanted to use only one to power the saber. I've done that a few times and it seems to work just fine for me, even though it isn't the ideal power supply for the PC.

[Ashiva]

But if that would work with a single cell then I would probably do something similar.

Do you mean using these
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Al...read-P600.aspx

With these overtop?
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Al...tube-P601.aspx

And that wouldnt short it out if you hot glued it together?

[thejedilestat]

hot glue will keep everything from shorting out the same way heat shrink will its just heat shrink is better. or so i have heard eather way if you wanna be safe heat shrink the aluminum tubing and all should be well in the world.

[Ashiva]

Would you recommend doing 2 14500 Li ion batteries with PCB for What I was wanting to do, or should 1 protected 18650 be enough for sound and all? i'm not very savvy right now with Amps and voltage and such. I would think the 1 protected (No extra PCB cause I read as much as I could about the Li ion batteries and making a pack if needed) 18650 would be enough wired to a recharge port in the 4 inch extension would be ok. Also, Can someone explain why you would wire an aux switch and not just one switch, like a latching switch, to turn your saber on and off? I tried searching for a while to find out what one would use the aux switch for, but I couldn't find anything really.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Would you recommend doing 2 14500 Li ion batteries with PCB for What I was wanting to do, or should 1 protected 18650 be enough for sound and all? i'm not very savvy right now with Amps and voltage and such. I would think the 1 protected (No extra PCB cause I read as much as I could about the Li ion batteries and making a pack if needed) 18650 would be enough wired to a recharge port in the 4 inch extension would be ok. Also, Can someone explain why you would wire an aux switch and not just one switch, like a latching switch, to turn your saber on and off? I tried searching for a while to find out what one would use the aux switch for, but I couldn't find anything really.

Well to start, the aux switch activates extra features that you wouldn't be able to use if you didn't have one. if you tap it once, the board will play back a blaster sound or other sound in the blaster slot in the sound font, and when you hold it down, the blade will flash and shimmer while a lock up sound is played to simulate crossed and locked blades.

you can use a single protected 18659 if you want to. it will have a longer run time than a double pack of 14500's. The 14500's may fit better, and if you only need it to run for say, an hour, that might be your best bet. you may get 2 1/2 hours with the single 18650.

Make a list of what you want it to do, and write down the pro's and con's of each set up. look at how much it will cost with either battery set up and see which one would give you the most bang for your buck.

Also, if you use the aluminum tubing for the sound board mount, you could also use some 3M double sided foam mounting tape to attach the sound board to the legs of the mount to insulate it from the inside of the hilt. I have done it several (over 20, I think) and not had any trouble with any boards shorting out yet.

[Ashiva]

Great! I think I'm ready to partake in the next step of building a working saber (as I've built just a hilt a couple times).. One problem though, which I think we've all had happen at one point or another.. Getting the money to do it with LOL