This is something that I've been working on for a while, and I still haven't come up with a good name for it. I initially started plans for this back in early '08, and finally it's nearing completion.
Figured it was high time to share. I wanted to give a big thanks to Master Jedye and Chewbacca for their helpful insights into this project, as I found myself coming to them more than once with questions. This will be running off of:
2 CR123 3.0v batteries
MR Yoda board
8ohm 3/4" speaker
2 UV led's and 1 blue
I started with this:
I am not positive on who made this, but it is one of my favorites of all time. So much so in fact that I've had 4 of this certain saber. They each had a number stamped onto various parts of them. This one here had a 4 stamped on the bottom of the emitter. The other one I'm about to start converting is numbered 10, and I've also had 5 and 11. I don't know who out there stamped their sabers, but if anybody has a clue I'd love to know who to praise for the awesomeness of the saber. I also have a qui-gon stamped with a 3 and another with a 5, and had a Maul stamped with a 5, but that never helped me in identifying the maker. ANYWAYS, moving on...
The black grip section had a solid aluminum core firmly wedged within, so that had to go first and foremost. A small hole here and a good whack to the end of a metal rod and boom
After that came out, it was time for dremmeling the opening. Made my measurements and markings, taped areas off, and went to work
Yay that went fairly well, and I was able to keep the removed section fairly intact, maybe it'll be a hatch! Next, I needed a hole drilled through the pommel section to house the battery compartment. This was one of those 3 piece designs, so things were lined up and holes were drilled and threads cutoff.
Yay, that went smooth and well. NOT :-X Ah well, little extra filing and the battery holder fit! Cemented the pommel to the inner core and drilled a set screw hole opposite side of the covertec hole. Now the pommel stays in place via the set screw. yay
Ok, so now that the power supply has been taken care of, I've managed to free up nearly the entire grip section to house whatever I want. One thing that always got to me about some of the negotiators was the lack of depth in the grip section. I like how the grips have a nice depth to them before hitting the inner aluminum core, and wanted to keep the look that way. Sure I could have sacrificed grip depth for more interior room, but definitely did not want that. So I set to work, and after a faaaaaaaar deviation from the original plans, wound up with this
I still have to clean off some of the cement residue from the amethysts, but otherwise I like the result. Since I went with this hair-brained idea, the soundboard is going to have to fit in the small neck section of the saber, making this now a mainly display/very light dueling saber. That left only 1 choice for soundboard: MR Yoda. So, after Qui-Gon came to my rescue with one to trade, I set about working on the emitter. I wanted the bezels to light up with the LED color, and the brass knob to light up purple (UV). I used some hot glue and set a 6mm round amethyst in the center of the brass knob and wired a 5mm uv led to shine through it, keeping the red knob for saber activation. After alot of planning and re-planning and drilling/cutting, I got everything to work right
There's still work to be done. If my stupid speaker ever arrives I can finally wire everything up and put it together, as my current configuration requires the speaker to be in place first for the soundboard to rest in it's holder directly above it. Then I need to cement 3 either light blue or sky blue 5mm round topaz's into each of the bezels (haven't decided which I like more), and decide whether I want to go with a hatch covering the chamber or just let the outer shroud do it. It has a cool factor if I put it on, but for show it'd be easier to just remove the ct wheel and swivel the pommel/grip section around to show off the chambers rather than THEN having to open a hatch. Meh, we'll see.
I went a little pic happy, and seeing as I already stuffed this post full of pics, if anyone wants to see mroe of the WIP you can visit:
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/norbits/Obi%20Project/With any luck this one will be finished by next weekend, and I should have some glam shots of it's brother in the works. Thanks for looking!
Topic: Obi Project--OV1 !!PIC HEAVY--updated pg 2!! (Read 7241 times)