QUI-GON JINN's Brass Saber 21 (BS-21)

[wookieecrisp]

The brass screws on the grip are too cool! Looking great so far Qui-gon.

[QUI-GON JINN]

So here's what I had planned for the pommel for this one:

These parts will assemble to form a simple crystal chamber.  I'll use two of the TCSS MPS inserts (style 7's) and some 4-40 pan head screws along with an acrylic crystal from TCSS.

It will basically go together something like this:
 
This assembly will fit inside the pommel:
 
The question is,  will it light up?  So I wired up a 2-AA battery pack and a blue high-brightness led (all I have at the moment) and checked it:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/Brass%20Saber%2021/100_7590.jpg 
Yeah,  I think that'll work!

I'll go ahead and assemble it in the pommel.  I started by dropping in the insert,  than added the snap ring and screws/spacers along with the crystal:


Then I installed the inner pommel insert and it was finished:
 
Next,  up,  I'll start on the battery pack/speaker combo.

[QUI-GON JINN]

To be able to wire the led for the pommel to light up,  I'm going to need to be able to get wires around the speaker in a way that keeps them from getting squashed and subsequently damaged by the pommel.  I decided that I could do this by increasing the depth of the "step" that the speaker sits on in the speaker mount:
 
Since I don't have a lathe,  I'll do this the cheap way...I'll use the sanding drum attachment on my rotary tool instead.

After a few minutes of grinding,  I had increased the depth to an acceptable level:
 

Here it it next to an original speaker mount:
 

Now I'll need to cut some channels for the wires.  I'll use a side scrolling tungsten carbide bit for that:
   
Hmm...those need to be deeper,  I think:

That should work....let's try a piece of wire in there and see how it looks:
 
Yeah,  I think this should do the trick!

Let's try it against a pommel:
 
Yup!  That's definitely going to work. The wire was tucked in nicely inside the speaker mount and shouldn't be a problem when installing the pommel after changing the batteries.

Now,  since I'm cutting and grinding on this speaker mount anyway,  I might as well go ahead and do the modifications to back vent it,  too:
   
I used the same tungsten carbide side scrolling cutting bit that I used earlier to "mill" some channels for the sound waves to vent through.  This should change the pitch and tone of the saber making it seem louder than it really is.

I'll attach  this to the battery holder using two 4-4 screws that have been cut down so as not to contact the batteries or the springs in the pack and cause a short:

I think I can get started on wiring this one up!

[QUI-GON JINN]

Before I can start soldering anything,  I'll need to determine wire length...I'll do that by mocking up the components out side the hilt:

This will let me know if the parts are actually going to fit inside or not.  Looks like they will:

I'll slide in the sound board and then the battery pack to be certain,  though:
 
Looks like I'll be okay using the MR board in this one.  I installed the pommel just to be sure:


I got to this point and then got to thinking that I better make use of the extra vents I put in the back and sides of the speaker mount.  I think I'll try my hand at drilling holes in the base of the MHS choke,  like LDM does in his Reverse Sound sabers,  so I marked off the locations using a permanent marker:


Then set it up in the drill press:

Getting it set up right would have been easier if I'd had an angled block to sit the choke on,  so I improvised and used an old 1.2" ext. instead.

I drilled one hole,  then rotated the part and id each of the rest of them:


I tried it out on the switch body to see how it looked:

Not too bad for having been eye-balled!  I don't have an indexing tool,  so I just marked them off by hand using my eyes to get the spacing for the holes where I wanted them.

That being done,  now I can start on the wiring!

[QUI-GON JINN]

To start on the wiring,  I'll need to run wires through the battery pack to the speaker and the accent led for the pommel:
 
The led used here is a 5mm white,  3.3v, 20ma. and will require a resistor. I'll add that at the soundboard,  though.

This assembly will fit against the pommel like so:
 
The wires for the led are nicely tucked in and out of the way.

I applied some power to the led using the 2-AA battery holder and checked to see how it lit the crystal:

That looks good!

Now I can start making the connections to the sound board:
 
I soldered the brown wire for the speaker,  the black wire from the battery pack,  and the red and yellow positive wires for the battery pack and speaker directly to the board.

I added a pair of leads for the switch led,  too:

The gray wire is the negative,  and the purple is the positive.

With all of the connections made,  I popped in a set of batteries I had on the bench and checked it:
 
Okay,  that works...let's see how it does with a main blade led attached,  too:

Looks good....time to finish this one up,  then!

I heat shrunk the board:

This will protect it fro shorts inside the hilt.

I slid it through the grip extension:


Then added the switch body section:

Now I'll need to wire up the switch....

[QUI-GON JINN]

I pulled the switch wires through the hole in the hilt:

And started soldering them to the switch. I started with the negative for the led....then added the positive and the switch leads:

It was right about now that I realized I had forgotten to add a critical piece...the switch nut!  D'OH!!  I de-soldered the wires,  added the nut,  and re-soldered them:

I shrunk the heat shrink over the tabs on the switch,  inverted the saber so the nut would slide onto the switch and started it:


Then tightened it up:


I wired up the led,  and added the choke,  and installed the led:


Then added the blade holder:


Here's the switch lit up:


And then the pommel:


and with the blade:
 
Final Pics and video coming up next!

[QUI-GON JINN]

Okay,  here's the finished Final Pictures of:

Brass Saber 21

 

 

 

 

 
My camera seems to want to show the pommel led as blue,  but it is lighting up a faint purple,  actually.


 

 

YouTube Video:

This saber is now owned by our very own forum Arbiter,  OBI-WAN KENOBI!  Enjoy it Master Obi-wan!

[OBI-WAN KENOBI]

I most-definitely will, Master Qui-Gon!  8)

Again, superb job on this one!

[Jedi Knight Logan]

This has just the right amount of brass to silver ratio IMO... really sweet. Congrats Master Kenobi!

[Darth Centorus]

I saw this saber on YouTube while the forum was down and it looks even better now I have seen the build log, excelent work as always Qui/Jay-Gon and well done to OBI-WAN for being the one to own this beautiful saber. I realy like that crystal setup in the pommel.

[kamakazykid]

Absolutely love this saber. I have a saber concept that looks very similar. Beautiful work as always.

[KNP]

That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Very cool. I like the brass and chrome you do. It's always very tasteful.  ;D ;D ;D

[QUI-GON JINN]

Just a little update on this saber.....OBI-WAN recently sold it to Sand People Are People Too,  and requested that I take a look at the pommel led,  because it was apparently having an issue with lighting up properly,  most likely from a bad/broken connection:


I wasn't really happy with the way the white led lit the purple acrylic crystal in this one,  so I decided to upgrade it to a violet/purple one I picked up from mouser.com:


Here's how it lights up the crystal in the pommel:

My camera wants to make it look blue,  but in person,  it's a nice shade of violet,  that nearly matches the blade.

After removing the heat shrink from the positive side of the white led,  it was clear what the problem was:

The leg of the led was broken.

I removed the white led,  then I popped the speaker loose and using a pair of needle nose pliers, pulled out a little extra wire from the harness by sliding the battery pack into the hilt a bit;


I soldered on the negative lead of the new violet led:


Then the positive and shrunk the new heat shrink:


I didn't change the resistor that was on the board,  so i wasn't sure how well it would light up,  but it seems to be fine:

I also hot glued the wires in the side channels to keep them below the level of the speaker mounts surface to help prevent them from being damaged by the pommel when it's screwed into place.

I think it's done,  and ready to go to the new owner on Monday:

Again,  I think the purple acrylic is what's messing up the camera by refracting the light waves a bit or something,  but it's actually a nice shade of violet.

The rest of the saber still works just fine,  too:
 
so,  Sand people,  get ready,  as it will likely be in your possession before Thanksgiving,  or at the very latest,  the Friday after.

[Forcestruck]

Looking good! It seems whenever one of your sabers stops back at your place it just gets better. Buyers should just send them back every 6 months or so for upgrades.

J/K   ;)

[Sandpeople are people too]

It's really hard to suppress the giddiness that I'm feeling right now.  THIS, folks and friends of the forum, is some customer service, well after the fact.  Thanks Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

sprp2