The Saber-smith's Thread

[Badbrad ()]

so the first setup was
MHSV1 Blade Holder Style 16
MHS choke style 1 short
Double Male Extension
**add**2 to 6 inch double female extension
**add**Double Male Extension
MHS choke style 1 short
MPS Pommel style 7

what if afer the original double male extension I add a female/female extension and then another double male, the extension could be anything from 2 to 7 inches long. I have no issue using the tri rebel, I picked the one from US because it would come allready set up for Purple and since I don't know anything about the LEDs it was the simple answer. how long of an extension would you recommend, if that would make it work. Yeah I'm probably overthingking all this but hey, it's what I do
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Brad Hartsock
Legion Costume Judge

Always remember, no matter were you go..there you are

[Tymae Yarmoo ()]

If you wire up a Tri Rebel for purple, you can put that unit in between the blade holder and the choke. It will lock in there as designed. Then, you just need to find room for the batteries and buck puck. All of that should fit in an extension of no less than 4". Keep in mind you will need to remove the pommel and that rear choke to get at the batteries.....unless you put in a rechargeable battery with a recharge port in the pommel, which would be easy to do.

If you use the Tri Rebel set up, I have achieved a decent purple by wiring the red and blue LEDs in parallel and running them both on a 700mA buckpuck.

If you want to use the Ultra Saber's LED unit, you will need to get rid of the forward choke so the MLS unit sit directly behind the blade holder.

Is there a specific saber you are modeling this after or are you just making it up from scratch? Do you have a picture of what exactly you have in mind?
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May the Force be with you.

[Badbrad ()]

the costume my wife is going to do is this one
http://www.501st.com/databank/Costuming:DZ-Sinya
it is unlikely that a working saber could be made exactly as hers are shown in the CRL since they are so small so I'm trying to at least get something that has that kind of look.
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Brad Hartsock
Legion Costume Judge

Always remember, no matter were you go..there you are

[Tymae Yarmoo ()]

OK, here is what I would do......

First, I would forget about the Ultra Saber's MLS unit. It is going to be too hard to fit into something that small. Here is a side by side comparison between a US unit and a TCSS unit....



The TCSS unit sockets into the blade holder like so....



The US unit sits under the blade holder.....



This configuration with the US unit takes up a lot of space. The Tri Rebel will serve you much better in this build.

Here is how I would construct the body....





I used the same blade holder (#16), then an MHS extension blank #3, then a 3" double female extension, then the short choke #2, then pommel #7. I would then attach the tonfa handle to the 3" extension, and run the wires up to the switch. I would use the Tri Rebel RGB and wire it with resistors only (no buck puck).

For the battery, I would go with a single 3.7 volt Li-ion battery with a recharge port in the pommel. If you are not comfortable wiring that, you can run them on standard batteries but as I said before, you will need to pull off the pommel and choke to get at the battery holder since that will not fit in the choke. You will need to adjust the resistor values depending on what type of battery you use. If you use a single Li-Ion battery, that is 3.7 volts, but if you go with conventional batteries, you will need something like 4 AAA batteries which is 6 volts. There is a resistor chart on the TCSS web page to help you select the resistors, or I can help you once you decide on the battery type. The rechargeable Li-Ion battery will take up less space, and require smaller resistors....but not everyone is comfortable with Li-Ion batteries. It is up to you.

The mock up I posted above will get you pretty close to the actually CRL design. If you are willing to deviate a little bit, I would eliminate the choke and use a longer extension piece, like maybe a 5". That configuration would give you enough room to use that buck puck if you wanted and run it on 4AAA batteries (eliminating the resistor calculations and the Li-Ion battery.

I hope this helps and let me know if you need anything else.
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May the Force be with you.

[Badbrad ()]

Well.... I'm thinking this build is the way to go then, that's why you ask folks that know what they are doing, as such, what blade would you get? and yeah I think the single Li-Ion with a recharge port is probably the way to go. Lastly do you know were I can get a purple lit putton for the end of the tonfa handle? or is such a thing even do-able? It's not a must but it would be cool
Thanks so much for all the help, I was really feeling unsure about how to approach all this without some guidance.
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Brad Hartsock
Legion Costume Judge

Always remember, no matter were you go..there you are

[Tymae Yarmoo ()]

If you do the 3.7v Li Ion battery with the recharge port, use a 1 ohn 2 watt resistor on both the red and blue. That will be about equivalent to the buck puck and should make a nice purple.

The light up AV switch will not fit in that tonfa handle. You will have to use the latching guarded switch.

For the blade, I do not care for the Corbin Blades that they sell. I like the TCSS Show Blades.......but they still require a few feet of cellophane rolled inside.

You will also need to come up with some way to support the battery, either with the chassis discs he sells or something else.

Good luck and let me know if I can help anymore.
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May the Force be with you.

[Tymae Yarmoo ()]

Here is something a bit different. I have gone from saber smith to bomb builder......



Phyllis gave this to me to fix for her. It is along story that she can tell but the ending is that this thing works now. I had to gut it and rewire it completely (almost nothing was salvageable). It twinkles three colors on the display like it is counting down and runs on 2 AAA batteries.
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May the Force be with you.

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

lol.....look out...I will be a thermal detonator equipped Jedi...or Pilot...or Trooper...or...
well..
whatever..



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http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/

[RebelJedi77 (Jason Stoxen)]

Thanks to a little Q&A with Tim, I have finally ordered myself the parts necessary to build myself a custom lightsaber. Now, I am generally horrible at doing WIP photos, as I can be a bit impatient to finish something when I'm excited to work on it, but I will try to this time.

So far, only Tim knows the color of the blade of this saber, and it will be revealed to all either during construction, or at the reveal of the finished product! Either way, I have read some encouraging feedback regarding my chosen blade color, so I am pretty excited to finally be doing this. This will be the first saber I have built in about 5 years, with the exception of maintaining a double-bladed piece running an FX sound board I built for a friend quite a while ago...
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Rebel Legion: Nar Shaddaa Base
Knight of the Jedi Order: Temple of the Howling Moon
B-Wing Pilot: Outlaw Squadron - Outlaw 19

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

awesome Jason!!
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http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/

[Badbrad ()]

I went with your suggestion "If you do the 3.7v Li Ion battery with the recharge port, use a 1 ohn 2 watt resistor on both the red and blue. That will be about equivalent to the buck puck and should make a nice purple."
are those resistors supposed to be wired in on the positive or negative wire and are those two all I need since I went with the 3.7 battery? ie I dont need anything on the green LED. thanks :-)
_________________
Brad Hartsock
Legion Costume Judge

Always remember, no matter were you go..there you are

[Tymae Yarmoo ()]

[Badbrad ()]

Thanks!
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Brad Hartsock
Legion Costume Judge

Always remember, no matter were you go..there you are