This saber started out as an older version of the Parks "Rogue" EL lightsaber. I got this from a friend of mine in trade for an Anakin ROTS themed Graflex or Graflex styled saber, which is still in the works. I've had this one for about 4 years and have been working on it off and over that time as we have both had things come up that caused the project to be put on hold. Overall, it turned okay, but has some minor issues that will be apparent later in this post. For now, here's what I had to start with:
A standard 3/4" EL bladed Rogue....normally, a 3/4" blade socket wouldn't bother me, but they really aren't compatible with the triple led's we use today.That was the first thing to change.
Original saber, dismantled:
It sat like that for nearly three years, until I got some time and motivation earlier in 2015 to get started on putting together the plan for the conversion. This saber has a 1.14" i.d., so chassis discs from TCSS will fit inside with a little modification (read: break them!). The white ring on the end is a piece of 1" pvc. This happens to be just the right diameter and thickness to hold 4-40 threads to act as the starting point for the chassis. This will also be used to secure a 20mm bass speaker.
The speaker housing:
The housing is two pieces of 1" thin-walled blade stock. The thinner piece has been ground on the inside diameter to clear the edge of the speaker and will act as a cap to secure it:
To secure the two halves of the speaker housing, I decided to use some pvc heatshrink tubing for a more mechanical style connection, rather than gluing the two pieces together:
I moved on to the soundboard after that...took very few pictures until I got to this point:
The soundboard is a crystal Shard 2.5 and the battery is a TCSS Tenergy 18650 3400mAh:
Prior to assembly, during one of the many test fittings I did, I also drilled and tapped the pvc chassis disc for 6-32 threaded hole:
This particular hole lines up with a previously existing hole that was used to retain the inverter assembly that powered the original EL blade. This made sense to re-use it to secure the chassis. a simple 6-32 set screw was what was in there before, and i was able to re-use it as well. I didn't want to drill more holes in the hilt and have the recharge and R.I.C.E. ports visible, so they are on pigtails that will fit right inside the end cap.
The chassis ready to go into the hilt:
The second picture there shows the resistors and the aux switch mounting ring. Also shown in the first picture is the TCSS 1.18" blade holder that Tim machined for this a couple of years ago. He got it pretty close to the original and dis a great job on it as usual! I had to modify it further after getting it from him, to allow clearance for the main activation switch, which is the re-used original that has been modified by removing the internals and setting it up with a mini-tactile inside. it has a very soft spring feel to it.
The sound board will be held to the chassis by a strap of heat shrink tubing:
This will hold the board but not completely wrap it up, allowing it to "breathe" and vent any heat build up into the hilt.
Finishing it up after this point was really easy, so no pictures of that, just the finished shots:
The aux button:
Also, if you look closely, you can see one of the "issues" I mentioned earlier...the mounting screws on the side of the hilt are there to secure the blade socket...the original was CNC machined with those holes in perfect alignment. needless to say the holes in the new blade holder had to be drilled in my drill press and they aren't quite as accurate.
The Tri-Cree XP-E2 RGB led and lens:
Here's the other issue that bugs me, but replacing it would be more costly that it is worth:
That piece broke during a test fit in 2014...a hole in the new blade socket wasn't drilled large enough, and not realizing it at the time, i tried to snug the screws for the part and it snapped off right at the locking button. A new one is available on Parks' site, but the shipping quote I got was $20...a little steep for a $15.00 part, so I went ahead and used the broken piece for now.
Accessing the recharge and R.I.C.E. ports is easy:
SD Card access is also fairly easy...push the ports out of the way and reach in with a pair of needle-nose pliers, pop the card, make your changes, pop it right back in.
Some of the blade colors (there are 10, but some are simply different shades of the same color):
I'll try to get a little video demo done for this one tomorrow...got new camera that takes hi-def movies, so it should be a nice change from my older videos!
Topic: Parks Rogue conversion (Read 3904 times)