Ok, not to necropost, but I do actually think I finished this one...
Got my recharge port installed finally. Now I can recharge it without disassembling the whole thing every time it runs out of juice. I milled out an inset for it and drilled and tapped it to fit the threads of the port.
I also have found myself a real graflex red button for the bottom switch hole.
I think it looks much more at home than the thing I had on there previously. Also i found a nice section of telescope that fit my one inch diameter blade, and put that in there at the emitter section, to emulate the bulb retainer ring from the "bunny ear" section of the original flashgun.
Will put pins and leads in the recharge ports...
As for what that red button will do, I'll probably install a tactile switch underneath it, and connect it to the PC, at the aux switch connection. So I can trigger extra sounds with that button.
To install a switch under the red button, I snagged a tiny momentary through hole mount switch and folded the leads out, soldered my wires to that and fed it into the shroud.
Heat shrunk and installed for fit, I'll dab some hot glue over the exposed lead and that will also seat the switch and keep it from moving around.
And the switch wires run the length of the TCSS graflex adapter channel and into the switch section. I had to mill out a little ramp in the MHS Ribbed piece to allow the wires to transition from section to section without crimping.
And now that I have all the wiring done I want to do to this saber, it's time to finish out a few details. I placed some short pin contacts in to the holes in the adapter, and modded one of the original graflex connector tabs to fit the shallower hole of the TCSS adapter. I also put a short setscrew in between the red button and emitter to anchor the blade.
This saber is probably more fun than any of the rest I've made. It's been a great project to put together, and lots of fun once it's finished.
The giant heatsink beneath it will be the basis of my display mount when I get 'round to it.
Here's a vid of all the sound effects and whatnot in action. Thanks for looking!