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Author Topic: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!  (Read 11409 times)

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Offline GENERAL GRIEVOUS

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Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« on: March 27, 2009, 12:51:05 AM »
This is the "Ultrasabers" Vader that I bought on eBay about a year ago.  It worked so I never messed with it, but I have been trying to sell it because I have a "few" Vaders.

I took this one apart to "spice it up" and HOLY $$@&, if I ever found out who converted this abortion and tried to pass it off as an ultraFX I will give Darth Tyrannus their address! 

DISCLAIMER:  I have no doubt that this is indeed an UltraFx conversion kit that some idiot FUBARed.

DO NOT EVER convert a saber like these first few pictures!

Check this out!:



YES, that is scotch tape!  So I take the scotch tape off and I find this!:



Not an ounce of solder any where near this thing!  But hey, at least the wires are twisted together! :rolleyes:

So I redo everything and peel off about 12 tons of scotch tape and end up with this:



On to the specifics:

Lux III BIN 1 Cyan
Ultrasabers UltraFX conversion kit
Vader ESB MR
RGB 5mm LED
100Ohm resistor
Windowed emitter (with brass mesh inlays)
LDM blade

The Video of the cool RGB:



The pix:



Okay it is safe to actually turn it on now...

Offline Jasher Kain

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2009, 01:37:02 AM »
YES, that is scotch tape! 
Guess the poor schlepp never heard of heatshrink...

BTW, the Vader saber looks absolutely awesome with cyan. Great work!

Offline GENERAL GRIEVOUS

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2009, 03:11:31 AM »
YES, that is scotch tape! 
Guess the poor schlepp never heard of heatshrink...

BTW, the Vader saber looks absolutely awesome with cyan. Great work!

Cyan is my fave in Vaders.  It looks even better now (those batteries were old too!)... ;D

Offline arm on fire

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2009, 05:25:44 AM »
Go get 'em LDM
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Offline Master Jedye

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2009, 05:59:35 AM »
Well....you can never have enough tape in a hilt  ::)

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Offline QUI-GON JINN

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2009, 06:51:51 AM »
Wow.....that's just sad.....


Offline darthmorbius

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2009, 07:12:12 AM »
:-\

Not that I haven't seen worse... but HOLY COW! :o

It's reasons like this that there is no warranty for DIY kit installations by the end user.

Glad to see that you got it sorted out though. ;) HEY! We have the same precision screwdrivers! ;D

Offline Tifosi

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2009, 07:31:30 AM »
The sad thing is that had you not taken it apart, no one will never know about the terrible conversion job. And had it been passed to another owner and to another, eventually it will magically "become" an UltraFx saber with Ultra Sabers, LLC ending up with the bad rap. I wonder if it will be wise for companies such as Ultra Sabers and TCSS, to start engraving "DIY Kit" on the aluminum blade holder in the near future or to start issuing some type of "Certificate of Authenticity" with the real UltraFX and the TCSS converted sabers.

Offline darthmorbius

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2009, 07:43:10 AM »
The sad thing is that had you not taken it apart, no one will never know about the terrible conversion job. And had it been passed to another owner and to another, eventually it will magically "become" an UltraFx saber with Ultra Sabers, LLC ending up with the bad rap. I wonder if it will be wise for companies such as Ultra Sabers and TCSS, to start engraving "DIY Kit" on the aluminum blade holder in the near future or to start issuing some type of "Certificate of Authenticity" with the real UltraFX and the TCSS converted sabers.

That really would not be necessary.

Those of us that do warranty service know what an Ultra converted saber looks like on the inside.  Basically, if you follow the instructions that are supplied with the DIY kit to the letter.  You will see EXACTLY how the conversions are done at Ultra Sabers.

Basically, we know our own work, and the work of the others that provide the service.

Conversions like the one above are VERY easy to tell that they were not done by Ultra Sabers Techs.

Offline Kyp Durron

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2009, 07:53:02 AM »
Kinda reminds me of what the inside of my ESB Vader (That I too got off Ebay) in my sig looked like on the inside...right Jango? ;D

Of course, it didn't have scotch tape that I know of. :P



-Kyp

2010...I certainly hope it's better than 2009 was! ::)
10/10/10~Well, so far with my Father's passing away, I'd say that this year was actually worse than 2009, even the fact that I now have a full time job (For now) isn't anywhere near enough to make up for that...so...maybe 2011 will be better? I'm not holding my breath... ::)

Offline darthmorbius

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2009, 08:00:41 AM »
I use scotch tape...  But only to help hold the blade holder to the sound module housing on PPlastic Stock Blade holders in the Anakin and the Vader Sabers.

Masking tape or Scotch tape were BOTH used by MR...

Offline JANGO FETT

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2009, 08:03:59 AM »
Yeah, I probably should have taken pictures. :D

After you have taken apart a few, you get to know their work.
Derek says he can usually tell which tech did the conversion.



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Offline darth_call

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2009, 08:36:11 AM »
Interestingly, ....my converted Obi-Wan that I bought off of Ebay had similar "modifications". It wasn't untill I also took it apart that I discovered what was holding it all together.

Offline Kyp Durron

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2009, 08:38:36 AM »
I use scotch tape...  But only to help hold the blade holder to the sound module housing on PPlastic Stock Blade holders in the Anakin and the Vader Sabers.

Masking tape or Scotch tape were BOTH used by MR...

Well, yes, I know that you can use scotch tape for THAT...but the other things that it was used on in LDM's pictures on the other hand...:P

Jango, I took pictures, and Derek seems to think that mine was originally done by Darth Vader USA on Ebay.



-Kyp

2010...I certainly hope it's better than 2009 was! ::)
10/10/10~Well, so far with my Father's passing away, I'd say that this year was actually worse than 2009, even the fact that I now have a full time job (For now) isn't anywhere near enough to make up for that...so...maybe 2011 will be better? I'm not holding my breath... ::)

Offline Sol Nexus

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Re: Never convert a saber this way! EVER! LDM to the rescue!
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2009, 08:50:13 AM »
Wow, I suck at soldering and when I converted my Luke ROTJ I made sure to solder the wires - after practicing for a while.  One question LDM, was it scotch tape or possibly that clear electrical tape?
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