Roger, xwing, I'm sure. After Eastern first tipped me yesterday to look at it closer, the emitter section is in fact the same size as the older versions, but everything rear of the thin neck section is narrower than the older versions. Whereas the black grip on the older version was ~1/16" thick, or something around there, on this one the black grip is ~3/16" thick, almost 1/4" I think...I'll have to put my calipers on it for sure, but it is noticeably thicker. Phaseblade's core is 7/8"OD/3/4"ID instead of 1 1/16" OD, like as you said the ELs were. The Phaseblades are indeed the slimmest Parks Obi TPM, but again, a part of me sure wishes it wasn't, LOL!
Sethski,
I'll start posting the pictures and walkthrough tomorrow. To answer your initial questions:
1) I'm using a charge port hidden in the covertech wheel as the kill switch for the USv2
2) I'm using a modified tactile sitting in a spring tensioned, bored out metal red button. I experimented with a few of the red acetate copies from TCSS since I only have two of the aluminum ones. I was going to hide the tactile under the brass button, but I want to *dimly* illuminate the amethyst crystal in it so there's no space left.
3) The 3W speaker is one I bought from Ari-Jaq on TCSS. It's a titanium cone speaker that's been out of production for a little while now, but if you can find them, they're certainly worth it. Great, deep bass and timbre, noticeably several times more "robust" sounding than the premium 1Ws, which are already a really get component in their own right. If I can find the link to these 3Ws I'll post it here. Size wise, it's about three times thicker than the premium 1W (3W has a built in resonator cavity), and about 1.25" wide.
The speaker's size presents a huge challenge for this Obi saber, as it will not fit in the main saber body where I have it sandwiched between the black shroud (which ends just before the covertech wheel) and the pommel (which protrudes into the main saber body by 1/4"). So, the only place I can put the speaker is in the pommel. Obviously, I can't put it at the very end of the pommel, because then it won't have any space to resonate. To set it as far back into the pommel as I can, and buy ~3/4" of space to resonate, I'll basically need to fab an entire pommel in three pieces: the shaft which connects to the main saber body, the base which will hold the speaker, and the cap/cube section which will fit over that and have a removable "butt" so the sound can escape. In order to keep the proportions as accurate as possible, the base and cap/cube sections' walls will be so thin that I don't think I'll be able to thread them, so they'll be secured with set screws. Visually, this will be the only place on the saber where a set screw or any other external modification of any kind will be visible.
If I didn't want to do ALL of that, I may just settle for a 2W Deep Base iPod-ish speaker. They're much more manageable
Keep the suggestions coming!
If only I had a CF available....but that may have to wait for the next saber I may buy from Kurosawa... ;)
**EDIT** Jango, run it at 1200ma and you won't be disappointed with it. Depending on the bin you get, I wouldn't mind sending you one of mine if a different bin for comparison. I noticed Mouser has them out of stock, may I ask where you're buying yours from?