I write this post today a little dumbfounded at what is occurring, and I wanted to tell you what is going on. Rui M. Leal bought a stormtrooper saber that I installed electronics in, I bought the hilt about a year ago for I believe it was $500 or around there. I took a couple months to get measurements, create and order some 3d parts. The 3d Parts I created and used on the hilt are seen below.
Sign In to ShapewaysSign In to ShapewaysSign In to Shapeways (Sorry you seem to have to sign in to view these)
It then took a few months to get all the pieces, CF7.5, Cex, etc. One problem that I had was with the switches, but I soon got advice from a fellow saber smith from the GUILD here on FX Sabers that “they”, I will not name the person, without their consent” that they had indeed used glue to keep the switches in place. I thought this was fine, went ahead and got the hilt finished, had a custom boot sound made at the buyers request, and shipped the saber off. The buyer had WANTED it insured for only $250 due to something about paying less fees or taxes when they picked it up.
When finished, I made sure to take a video of the saber working, take pictures, etc.
Video link of saber working :
Rui M Leal Saber - YouTubeThe video shows ALL the buttons working fine, sound, etc. The 3d piece that holds the speaker and recharge port , can thread into the pommel, the threads on the recharge port screw into the Pommel. Seen in this picture.
The speaker is secured in with some hot glue, like most do with 3d parts.
The Main Chassis then holds the CF7.5, Cex, 18340 7.4V Battery Stick, and Rice Port.
Sign In to Shapeways Here are some build pictures:
The day Rui M Leal Got it, I got this email from Rui.
Main Points:
Complaining about the speaker/charge port housing:
First of all, customs had unscrewed the pommel , causing the chassis to not be secure, all that Rui had to do was screw the extra threads on the end of the recharge port into the pommel, and it would be secured.
Second, Rui was saying the game between the white control box and the hilt had a gap. If customs tried to pull off the white control box cover, that is not my fault, but of course Rui said it was.
Thirdly, He said that there was no crystal chamber, I had never stated and he had never asked that there was a crystal chamber included. He agreed later that he had not. Rui even ripped the black grips off, thus most likely ruining the grips and or hilt. I am not sure why he would think the crystal was under the black grips.
I posted the email he sent when he received it and the email of him about the crystal chamber.
Another thing was that Rui kept saying that the saber was worthless, he could get a “cheap Hasbro” that was better, that it was not even worth $200 dollars, etc. If Rui thinks he can get a Acerocket Hilt, CF7.5, Cex, Tri RGB LED, battery, led, speaker, etc for $200 then he has no idea, but anyway…
Later today, I get an email, and pictures of how Rui had torn the saber apart, and is now THREATENING me and , etc. I will let you read his email.
Rui Says that you have to use tweezers to get to the SD card, (well yes many sabers require this, I do not see the big deal), and that the switches were glued in. Quoted from the email, but I will post a picture of it also so you may read it.
“It's just hilarious what I've found under the hood. Now I know why the xxx the buttons when inside, they are full with some kind of gummy stuff and they have no support whatsoever so they can withstand any kind of pressure, that's why they went inside the hilt. Also everything is fill with this sticky gummy stuff that can not hold anything together on that part and some gaffer tape to put it in place. A 3d printed piece could easily be made to be put on that part also that's why it has a gap since you tried to fit everything together with that gummy and gaffer onto such a small hole, horrible job I might say!! “
“After open this up I realized that this job is not worth $700 so I demand you to send me the rest of it has I will need to send this now to someone that really understand the construction of light sabers to fix the electronic parts since the buttons do not hold and never will the way you assembled it. This is not a good job worth that kind of money you rip me off completely and even try to make me look like a fool that it's all my fault when the connection are so badly made to withstand any regular usage.
I will expose this all thing at the forums and will spread the word widely has you are not a trusty person not even a good salesman or even any electronic expert.I can see now why did you have other complaints in the past with your light sabers has you mentioned, now everything is explained. This is such a lousy job that I'm pretty sure that when I spread this all over the web you will loose any work you might want to get with your stuff.
Really you mess with the wrong guy, and your after sales attitudes were not even reasonable to try to understand what was really happened since you already new what you have done wrong with the saber and would be much easier to blame it on me and customs for something you made so badly and since the distance was a big issue of this you really think you would get away with it. You have no idea who I am and the connection I have all over the world and a word of advise never do this again to any of your clients this is not a good thing to do to someone who just paid you that kind of money you never know when someone could be knocking at your door and in my case distance is not a problem as I'm always in tour with bands all over the globe that one day I'll be reaching you in person for sure.
So unless you want me to expose you I want you to send me back at least half of my money for this xxx you've built me. The money I paid you for the saber is not worth any of it. $700 is more than enough to pay for this mediocre job, the saber and the electronic board since the rest I've just check it cost peanuts.
So let me know your thoughts over this lousy thing you've done so I can decided if I will expose you or not to the rest of the world of your lousy saber job, yes lousy because if I show this inner connections to anyone in the business they sure will laugh at what you have done here and the hilt so far is the only thing that escapes this misery and lousy job, not even the supports withstand any normal usage.
“
Rui is pretty much slandering me along with threatening me.
Email of from Rui Today March 1st
First of all, here are the pictures when he has torn the saber apart.
First of all, in parts, the saber was a total of,
$500 about for the hilt bought from a fellow fx member, $160 (CF7.5) + $68 for Cex + $25 for led, + $20 for battery + $7 for speaker, + $10 rice cable, +$3 rice port+$3 recharge port+$25 or more in 3d parts
Totaling $821 just in parts, then $42 for a blade, and $10 for a charger. Shipping was $70(something) to Portugal, so in total of COSTS the saber COSTED $943.
Rui Paid a Total of $1667.
Due to Rui wanting a crystal chamber, “Mushing” the buttons so hard that they recessed into the hilt (even though I told him not to push hard in the video), I refunded Rui $350 so that he could get the crystal chamber he wanted.
Buttons after Rui Mushed them
Here are all my finished photos, along with the video link from above of the lightsaber clearly working, buttons not being recessed when pressed, etc.
One large problem I think is Rui, had no idea how to treat a saber such as this, and in the process has broken many parts of the saber, from ripping the grips off, to ripping out all the wires, etc, wasting over 45 HOURS of work, between 3d designing the parts, wiring, rewiring to get the shortest route, etc. I posted pictures of emails he has sent, you see Rui mentioning CURA software, which I have no idea what is, Plecter Boards use RICE, so I do not know what he even tried there. Second, He was trying to use the Prizm Software RICE later on, and not had installed the Rice cable drivers, so of course it would not work, but again that was my fault he believed.
Rui M Leal Saber - YouTubeI just wanted to post this here, so that fellow saber sellers do not deal with this buyer, Rui M Leal. You can clearly see from the photos, etc that it was working when sent, between Rui practically destroying the hilt out of rage, and customs unscrewing the pommel unknowingly, Rui wants to send me back a Paper Weight, that is most likely scratched, dented, CF might even be ruined, wires ripped out, 50 Hours of work dumped down the drain.
Now Rui is Threatening me, practically black mailing me and from this point I will stop communications with him, I will reply to him with this post, and then I am finished, and if I were you, I would stay away from him. I have refunded him his $350, he has now a total of $1667-$350 invested, and if he chooses to continue to rip apart a working saber, that is his to do as he wishes. If I were anyone, I would not deal with this person. I have sold numerous sabers, from new saber buyers to experienced buyers such as Cavjo. I will continue to support the community through buying @ TCSS, supporting saber runs such as Wats SkinnyFlex, TPM Obi, etc but I do not wish anyone to get burned dealing with Rui.
Rui is just a person that I should and WILL NEVER DEAL WITH AGAIN.
Sorry for the long post, and thank you to all who read.
EDIT: March 1st 5:51pm Rui continues to send emails.
Please be advised when reading Rui M Leal reply, he has posted at this time no proof with photos, etc to collaborate what he is saying.