crystal chamber securing crystal

[UrbanAnubis]

hi everyone

i'm doing my first serious (re)build of an ASP hilt with a plecter prizm 5.5, goth chassis pieces, custom designed and printed chassis pieces (thanks to the weird configuration of the ASP pieces lol) and a neopixel blade from tcss. i've machined a crystal chamber to fit into the 1" id windowed coupler section. i originally held the crystal in place with pressure between the top and bottom that is common in many chambers. this worked well as it allowed me to wire smd leds on small circular pcbs inside the tube posts above and below the chamber for awesome illumination. however, with the rebuild (yeah i guess i should technically call this a rebuild or upgrade of the saber) i would like to have the crystal secured by just the bottom post so that i can swap out the top portion with a new machined focusing lens holder. i was wondering if anyone has any experience with designing their crystal chamber like this with the crystal held in at just the bottom side. one of my biggest restrictions is the size that i'm working in. normally in something like mhs or a graflex id have a wider diameter to work in giving me more options. id love to hear from everyone. ill try and post some pictures to help as a visual aid to what im working with.

the saber before i took it back apart to begin the upgrades and changes. the chamber sits in that windowed coupler section.


the first version of the crystal chamber.


during the rebuild process, positioned so you can see how the crystal would be clamped between two posts to hold it in place.


closer view of the bottom section i plan on keeping in.


the post 'components' that i procured from Lowes lamp department and modified with a rotary tool. also one of the two aluminum hub pieces in the background that everything is mounted on.

[UrbanAnubis]

here are some more pictures/info regarding the crystal chamber rebuild.


a rough sketch of a blueprint without dimensions for the focusing lens holder i plan to make and swap out in place of the top aluminum hub.


the lens that will go into the lens holder. salvaged from an old film camera (i believe) many years ago. it conveniently just so happened to be the perfect size to already snap into the brass radiator fins that i have, but i need to make something much better to hold it than that lol.


the new crystals that i obtained for use with chamber version 2.0. the right one is the one i currently plan on using. it has carbon inclusions in it and i'm going for a sort of dark core corrupted crystal look. see below!


here's what that crystal looks like just sitting in the chamber being illuminated by my SF gladius. Wicked!

[SirRawThunderMan]

Well, a simple thing I've done before has been to increase the size of the crystal by applying some clear heat shrink to a part of the crystal that will be hidden by the chamber, so that the crystal is held in place by a friction fit. And that tends to be sturdy enough for medium duelling, I've found.


That, or you could just cast the base of the crystal in some clear casting resin (not 2-part epoxy, that stuff tends to dry opaque), in a cylindrical mould that would fit the inner diameter of that brass lamp post of yours and use the cast part to hold the crystal down.

My $0.02.

[UrbanAnubis]

That, or you could just cast the base of the crystal in some clear casting resin (not 2-part epoxy, that stuff tends to dry opaque), in a cylindrical mould that would fit the inner diameter of that brass lamp post of yours and use the cast part to hold the crystal down.

My $0.02.

that's actually not a bad idea! i already have the resin and several cylindrical molds that i could set the crystal on top of while it cures. that coupled with one more added half measure might work. i was thinking about cutting out a brass ring that has six prongs on it to sit underneath the crystal as well. that would just leave a method of securing that resin base into the lamp post part. i would prefer not to glue anything in case of disassembly that might be needed. i would also pretty much only get one shot at getting that resin/crystal fusion right lol.

[Jediseth]

I usually if needed trim a small piece of clear plastic hose / tubing and put it in the part so the crystal doesn’t rattle. The type of rubber/ plastic works great. Then it’s just pressure fit. I’ve never had an issue with it coming loose.

[UrbanAnubis]

I usually if needed trim a small piece of clear plastic hose / tubing and put it in the part so the crystal doesn’t rattle. The type of rubber/ plastic works great. Then it’s just pressure fit. I’ve never had an issue with it coming loose.

this would be a great idea if i was using a crystal that is smaller in diameter than the lamp tube part that acts as the post. the crystal i am going to use for this build is actually wider than the widest diameter of the tube section. therefore it will have to sit 'on top' of the post. i think i am going to give SirRawThunderMan's idea a try.


i used some gauge pins to take precise measurements of the tubes inner diameters for use in finding cylindrical objects to make a mold for the resin. once i get that made its just a matter of rigging a support structure to hold the crystal upright in perfect final position on top of the curing resin.