Aye, it is the weekend already, isn't it? Well, I have a few pics of the second revision, as promised:
First, an overall shot showing my layout. Speaker in the back, recharge port through the covertec right in front of it, then the batteries (I'm using TWO RCR123A batteries, NOT the single 14500 Trustfire shown in the pics), then the USv2, then an integrated heatsink, then the lens/holder).
I'm going to position the recharge port as shown below. Notice how it sits at the outer edge of the black shroud. As I detailed in my post last night, the male insert will reach through a hollow set screw holding the covertec wheel to the silver body, and *just* be able to reach the female port and click in securely for recharging.
The speaker sits directly behind the charge port. The pommel's set screw secures it snugly against the speaker, essentially sandwiching it between the pommel and the black shroud (formerly the same piece). For speakers, the more snug, the better.
Now, when I did need to occasionally access the two RCR123A cells inside, I'll remove the hollow set screw on the covertec and then twist the silver body to reveal a cut out in the black shroud, similar to Yoda's Negotiator design.
Of course, besides rotating it laterally to reveal the batteries, I'll also be able to slide the entire assembly forward, to access the USv2 board and speaker,
from this:
To this:
Above, you can also see how I've designed the optics setup: The LED itself will be secured to the 7/8" tube, which has a solid copper insert in the 1/2" of available space before the board's mount. For maintenance purposes, when I slide out the inner chamber pictured above, the LED will be sitting at the very tip.
The lens/holder, however, will stay inside the emitter section: How? Well from the picture you can see that I calculated the distance between the LED's PCB (where the len holder's "foot" sits), and the three 10-32 holes for the bezels on the emitter. It is the tension from those three screws, cut to perfect length, that holds the lens/holder in place *inside the emitter*. Due to my calculations, the holder's four small "feet" align perfectly to the cutouts on the LED's PCB, so when I slide in the entire rear section of the saber with the LED at its tip, it fits about .5mm within the position of the feet. I'm rather proud of that.... now I can service and/or swap LEDs easily and not worry about re-securing the lens holder, since its already connected separately to the emitter. Above the lens holder, I still have just under 1.5" for the blade to fit in securely.
Moving along...
Closing it all back up, you can see how the USv2 is secured to the inner 7/8" tube. This is the tube I'm replacing with steel, and it will run the entire length of the main body for rigidity and to negate any flex at the neck joint where the board is situated. The PVC insert you see there is for measurements; that will also be replaced with a steel collar to more securely mate the main body (inset on the black shroud, overlap by the silver body) to the emitter (secured via main button screws.
Topic: Goodman's Obi Wan TPM Parks LedEngin 5W Lightsaber Build Thread (Read 17290 times)