1 1/4" and MHS Hybrid Saber "Mini-Run"

[QUI-GON JINN]

I received a box from TCSS this morning in the mail:


Blade holders/emitters for the first four:


Led's for them:
 
Also shown above are the pommels....three style 4's and one style 3v1 that had previously damaged threads that I managed to clean up and repair. Also seen there and in a few other pics are the three aluminum body tubes and the one heavy gauge chrome plated brass tube.

Speakers for these first ones are the old bargain basement 2w bass styles from TCSS.....these are my last three,  so the fourth one will have to have another type or the more expensive version now sold there:
 

Batteries:

These first four will all be rechargeable and use the above 18650 Tenergy 3.7v, 2600mAh cells with protection pcb's also shown there.  Recharge ports will likely be in the pommels, so there will not be a need to open the sabers up for anything,  except maybe changing the blade led out for another heatsink module.  These will all have QD plugs on the main led's.

blade parts:
 

Last but not least,  a 10" Double female threaded connector,  and two 3" Double female threaded connectors:
 
These will be cut into pieces and will serve as the threaded ends and the switch mount bodies on the hilts. I may be able to get enough parts out of the 10" extension for a total of seven sabers,  but would have to order more pommels,  blade holders and maybe another 3" extension to do them....more on that later,  though.

I have ordered myself a tool that should also allow me to counter bore the switch holes,  so they will not require the mounting bezel and will hopefully look just like the prototype shown previously,  which will also be getting worked on during this "Mini-run."

The cutting and hacking shall commence tomorrow morning!

[Fat Ewok]

Oh wow that sounds nice! Can I get put down on number 2? :) I'm probably locking down on finals and I MIGHT not get the chance to post on the official thread. :(

[QUI-GON JINN]

Oh wow that sounds nice! Can I get put down on number 2? :) I'm probably locking down on finals and I MIGHT not get the chance to post on the official thread. :(

Not yet,  no.  I will be letting the person I am building three of these for get to choose which three they want.  The one that is left over will get sold after that,  and right now,  i have no idea which one that will be.

[QUI-GON JINN]

I managed to get quite a bit of work done on the hilts yesterday....I could have had them done and ready for elelctronics,  but unfortunately, i ran into a little snag with the MHS parts I ordered to serve as the pommel and blade holder adapters and the switch body tubes.  The i.D. of the MHS wouldn't slide over any of the 1 1/4" tubes I had on hand,  whether they were standard 1 1/4" sink tubes or the 1 1/4" aluminum tubes I have,  (they usually fit right over them with no problem) so I had to order some 1 1/4" cylinder hones from McMaster-Carr to help with that.  

In the mean time,  I managed to get the hilt pieces for the first three finished by adding scoring lines to simulate grips with my tubing cutter,  and after some sanding of the hilt pieces to eliminate the raised edges the cutter caused along the scoring lines,  some of the MHS end pieces I cut would fit,  so now I can at least add the blade holders.

Pictures to be added to this post once I take some.   ;)

Pictures:
 

 



 

 

[QUI-GON JINN]

Tuesday night after work,  I prepped the three MR FX boards that the first three will use by removing the header plug and soldering a bridge across the negatives while also adding a JST female connector to the main led outputs:
 
This works quite well if you're limited on space in your hilt,  or if the board you bought didn't come with the plug and clash sensor.  ;)

I also added a lighthound keychain flashlight pcb to convert the momentary action of the buttons I'll be using on these to latching action:
 
I rewired the power and speaker leads as well,  moving those from the top of the board to the bottom:


Here's two of the boards ready to go:
 
The third one awaiting finishing:


The remains of the three flashlights  ;D :


These are the batteries the first three will be using:
 
The plan is to wire these all up to the boards and recharge ports then slide all of the electronics into each saber as they get completed.

I also received a new tool in the mail Tuesday afternoon,  and I tried it out before heading to work this afternoon:
 
What does it do,  you ask?  Why,  it cuts a counter bore for the av switches to fit flush in the MHS parts:

It is an end mill that I picked up on ebay so I wouldn't have to keep paying Tim at TCSS to perform the service for me so I can put the holes wherever I need to.  It cut through the aluminum like butter.

The switches fit like so:
 

Next up, wiring up the batteries to the pcb's and sound boards,  then hopefully,  if another box of tools arrive,  assembling the hilt pieces and drilling/milling the switch holes in the hilts.

[QUI-GON JINN]

lots of time spent today sanding and sanding and sanding on the insides of these MHS parts because the I.D.'s were just a bit too large  to slip over the 1 1/4" tubes easily....I also sanded on the tubes a bit more as well.  This took quite a bit of time to do,  so I doubt I'll be doing a run of these anytime soon,  unless I can get some better fitting body tubes.  Maybe the 1 1/4" cylinder hones I have on order will make that step easier,  so we'll see.  Here's what I finished up today....

The first semi-completed hilt:
 
I say semi-completed at this point as it still has some drilling and tapping to be done,  which I'll show later.

This first got a nice scratch on the rear grips when I was fitting the switch body:
 
I may try sanding it out a bit more later.

I moved from that one to the second one,  and it went a bit smoother:
 

I finished up the switch body for the third one and moved on to the speaker grilles and speaker mounts:


The first three,  nearly complete:
 

I drilled and tapped each hilt for a 10-32 x 1/4" stainless steel set screw and then also added covertec buttons to secure the now loose-fitting pommel mounts:


I then added the recharge ports to the speaker grilles to check the fit:
 
If I were to to any more of these,  I'd rather use the TCSS pommel insert fr recharge ports to eliminate the need for the nuts on the recharge ports.

I'm going to begin wiring up these three tomorrow.  I'd like to have the fourth one finished next weekend as well,  but I'm not sure if that will happen or not.

[QUI-GON JINN]

I managed to get the first three all done Sunday afternoon/evening,  well almost done...I'm still waiting on a package from DX with some RGB led's and another one with the chargers for these,  but the soundboards and batteries are all installed,  and all cutting and drilling is done:


 

Saber #3:
 


This saber features an MR FX Anakin ROTS sound board,  will have a color mixed DX RGB led for Tru-Purple^tm (once it shows up  ::)) and is powered by a single 18650 3.7v 2600mAh Li-Ion protected cell.

Saber #2:
 

 
This saber runs an MR FX  Anakin ROTS soundboard,  Soul P4 red led, and is powered by a 3.7v, 2600mAh Li-Ion protected cell.

Saber #1:
 

 
This saber runs an MR FX Anakin ROTS sound board,  a Seoul P4 blue,  and is also powered by a 3.7v 2600mAh Li-Ion protected cell.

 

 

An as for Saber #4,  here it is:


 


I still need to make an adapter for the blade holder on this one.  I have no plans for electronics in this one yet,  as it will be sold on the forums later,  most likely the week after Christmas.  It may get a Tri-Rebel,  CSv1 w/FoC^tm and of course,  be powered by a single 3.7v 2600mAh Li-Ion protected cell.

These sabers took quite a bit more work to construct than I anticipated,  but if some tools I have on order work out,  I may still do 4 or 6 more.  I do not have any aluminum tubing left to make them out of a base tube of aluminum,  but I do have a few other interesting 1 1/4" pieces to use for those.  ;)

[mkadvil]

still expecting all these to run in the $300+ range?

[QUI-GON JINN]

still expecting all these to run in the $300+ range?

Yes,  but I'm still not sure if I'll take on a small run of these or not.  If I had a lathe,  I'd do it for sure,  but with the MHS extensions not fitting over the 1 1/4" tubes like they used to,  these took A LOT of work on the drill sanding the pieces by hand to open up the i.d. of the MHS parts,  and to lower the O.D. of the aluminum tubes.

[QUI-GON JINN]

Finished parts for Prototype #4 this afternoon:
 
Don't like that emitter for this style of saber.....I guess I'll have to pick up a few of the style 16 for this and the other four I have parts to build,  since that is leading the poll.

I could use these parts for something more like this as well:


I finally got my package from DealExtreme this morning as well....I ordered some of the RGB led's waaay back in November and thirty days later,  they arrive.  So,  I removed the green led from Prototype #3 and replaced it with a color-mixed RGB instead:
 
Much better,  and more along the lines of what the owner probably wanted.

[Sidd]

For give my ignorance but are the main part of the bodies 1 1/4 inch sink tubes?  If so thats completely brilliant the way you are building them.


Gives me some devious ideas for the future

[DarthRaevus]

Oh I don't know QG, I think the tapered emitter sort of works well with the tapered pommel...But I think it is missing something style wise, you're right.

Maybe a shroud on the emitter?  More work than you're looking to do, I know, but just some feedback.

[QUI-GON JINN]

For give my ignorance but are the main part of the bodies 1 1/4 inch sink tubes?  If so thats completely brilliant the way you are building them.


Gives me some devious ideas for the future

No,  these are built around aluminum tubing that is  1 1/4" in o.d.  The MHS parts have had to be seriously sanded on their I.D.'s in order for them to slide over the tubing,  as well as the tubes, otherwise the MHS pieces do not fit.

EDIT:
Well,  this last one here is built around a 20ga. 1 1/4" sinktube,  and I may use the rest of the brass towel bar I used for a 1 1/4" brass saber a few years ago I have for making another one as well.

Oh I don't know QG, I think the tapered emitter sort of works well with the tapered pommel...But I think it is missing something style wise, you're right.

Maybe a shroud on the emitter?  More work than you're looking to do, I know, but just some feedback.

I've tried putting shrouds on those blade holders before,  and they just look....off...to me that way.  I shortened the main hilt tube for this one,  and that seemed to help it a bit.

[Forcestruck]

These are all great but that brass one is simply awesome!

[QUI-GON JINN]

Did some more work to the brass one:
 

 
I borrowed the style 9 Blade holder from the chrome prototype, and I think it looks better on this one,  but I still prefer the style 5 I had on there earlier that I borrowed from BS-2.  I'll get another BH for this saber,  most likely one of the "neck styles."  The style 9 will go one another style I have in mind and will post after Christmas.  ;)

There's just a few problems with the main tube....it is scratched and is actually made from steel and coated with a brass coloring,  which is worn through in some spots:
 
I have a green P4 wired up for it,  but beyond that,  I have no plans for electronics at the moment.  I do have a CS that could go in this one,  along with a Li-ion recharge set up.  I'll add it to the topic in the Trade federation in case any one is interested in it.