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Author Topic: Tridcloud Ani WIP  (Read 3743 times)

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Offline CHEWBACCA

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Tridcloud Ani WIP
« on: April 13, 2013, 10:30:28 AM »
I was working on my lathe for a customers saber and decided to work some parts for my Ani in with it :).

I was disappointed how the metal between the grips would stick up with the sound chassis in so I wanted to rework things.

I decided to cut the chassis right behind the side groove (so it wouldn't mess up the outward appearance) and make a new piece for the rear that would allow me to glue the grips and metal strips down so they would not come up and also allow me to remove the pommel to access the SD card.

I will be using 2x17500 batteries which will give me a good run time but also room to fit the board on top of the battery.
Probably a CF5 or a CF6 without color extender.
Undecided if I should make the box LEDs light up or not.  I am leaning toward not because its a movie saber BUT it would look cool to have them lit.


On with the pics.  Click pics for larger images.

 


Here are all the components laid out on the table:




Here is more of the same but looking down the tube I machined:




Here is the tube inserted.  The covertec screw holds it in:




Looking down the tube into the saber:




Outside of the saber with all the components installed and the covertec wheel screwed on to hold the tube and pommel on:




Recharge port installed (no sound holes yet)




Here is the speaker pod.  It is a 7/8th blade machined out to fit the speaker.  Once I glue the speaker in I will cut out one side of the blade holder to fit the recharge port wires past:




And finally here is the speaker pod in the pommel:




There are a couple of things I will be changing.  I am going to redo the pommel and make the arm that attaches to the screw thicker.  I machined it really thin before cutting it out because I thought I needed it to be so it would fit.  It should fit between the battery and board without needing to be so thin so I will be machining a new pommel.  I am also going to space the speaker a little farther away.  I originally did it the way I did because I needed the room to fit the battery and board but since then I cut the slot in the chassis to give me more room by pushing the battery up.  This gives me a little more room so I can give a little bit more space between the recharge port an speaker.


I will be working on it a little more after I finish a couple of commissions.  I still need to cut down the side LEDs to see how flat I can get them and then machine an LED module to go in there.

I will update it as I go along.  I hope this gives some others ideas on doing their own conversion and to perhaps even come up with a better design after seeing how I have it laid out.

« Last Edit: April 13, 2013, 10:34:24 AM by MH »


Offline Goodman

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Re: Tridcloud Ani WIP
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2013, 01:51:05 PM »
Excellent reworking, MH --I salute you and your Mod-fu skills!
**I AM RETIRED from saber commission building**

Offline CHEWBACCA

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Re: Tridcloud Ani WIP
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2013, 08:27:11 AM »
While trying to figure out the heatsink for this I decided to change things up and just use the solid core completely.

I drilled the LED side down to just before the accent LEDs with a 3/4 bit and then used an end mill to get a flat bottom for the LED.  I bored it out as much as I could without getting into the outer groove so the LED and lens could fit without much modification (still needed a little).  Then I had to make a decision to either use a 3/4 blade and not get into the groove OR go to 7/8th and go into the groove.  I decided it was worth it and opened up the end of the saber to 7/8th for a blade.  I chose 7/8th because IMO it is more accurate than a 1" on such a small saber.  In order to keep if from being visible on the outside I only went 7/8th" deep which is plenty of depth for this particular saber (put a blade in it and whacked a tree just to see if it would stay in lol).  Then I drilled the center hole for the LED wires (using a tri-cree bbw that has the center hole).  For the other end I drilled it all the way up to almost the LED mount I machined (just under the accent LED holes) using a 3/4" bit which is the largest I wanted to go to keep from cutting into the side groove.

The screw was too short to use for blade retention so I drilled and tapped it for a 4/40 screw to lengthen it.

I also drilled and tapped the outer shell under the emitter shroud with a small set screw to hold the tube sturdy.

All that is left to do is mill a groove in the tube to give me the battery clearance for the 17500 battery (it will look like the sound core I did except the cut will go further up), finish the new pommel and then I can polish it and begin the install.

Here are the pics...click them for larger images.















more to come in following days and weeks.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2013, 08:30:58 AM by MH »


Offline EXAR KUN

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Re: Tridcloud Ani WIP
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2013, 08:53:27 AM »
Very interesting, Michael.

I've been examining my hilt trying to figure out how I'm going to do the install for it. This is a somewhat complicated hilt.
It is cool to see you and some others do it first and show the 'how to's'.

For mine, I think I will use the CFLS because not only do I like string blades, but I think it may actually make the install a tiny bit easier (maybe not easier but different?) because I won't need an LED in the emitter or a heatsink or anything... just some extra wires or a plug for the blade assembly to connect to.

Good luck with this I'm sure yours will come out great because you are very talented.

Edit: I see in your first post you mention possibly wanting lights for the button strip.
See if you think my idea is any good: Get a bargraph in all blue or blue and white or something from Darthvix and mount underneath the black box in the hilt tube.
Drill a channel through the box in the center coming close to the two screws. I believe at least 5 of the seven LEDs in the bargraph will now shine through to the button LEDs. The light bouncing up the channel and around the empty bulbs (provided with the hilt) will illuminate the bulbs.
Using the top and bottom bulbs as the buttons by mounting the switches in the box on top of the screw heads that are holding the box down.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2013, 09:01:13 AM by SpaceWindu »



Offline CHEWBACCA

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Re: Tridcloud Ani WIP
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2013, 09:34:08 AM »

Edit: I see in your first post you mention possibly wanting lights for the button strip.
See if you think my idea is any good: Get a bargraph in all blue or blue and white or something from Darthvix and mount underneath the black box in the hilt tube.
Drill a channel through the box in the center coming close to the two screws. I believe at least 5 of the seven LEDs in the bargraph will now shine through to the button LEDs. The light bouncing up the channel and around the empty bulbs (provided with the hilt) will illuminate the bulbs.
Using the top and bottom bulbs as the buttons by mounting the switches in the box on top of the screw heads that are holding the box down.

actually that is a lot more complicated than need be.  The LEDs are functional so no need to put a bargraph under them.  I can just light each individual LED.  If they are not blue (I havent even tested yet) I can purchase some blue ones for it.  For the buttons I got some really small blue lit tactile switches (Industrial action used them on a build).  Should work pretty well.

I am going to go ahead and light them and put a switch on them to turn them off if I do not like them on.

Thanks for the comments and good luck on yours as well.


 

retrousse