Hey @Chadm ! I see this thread is a wee bit old, and you haven't posted up any progress posts, so I hope you haven't become discouraged about continuing your lightsaber. Maybe a bit of encouragement here will help you out!
It sounds like you have my Step No2 under control, that is to say "Gather up all your parts!".
My Step No1 is "Design your hilt." Whether you're using TCSS parts, or making your own, it is the first thing you should have in mind, and in hand! Some folks have a mess of parts that they've collected over the years and they simply combine different pieces a'-la-carte until they have a hilt design that they like. Me, I'm a newbie, I don't have any parts, and I don't have a machine shop in my basement/garage to make my own, so I used TCSS's SaberBuilder to figure out what pieces that they produce would work for me in regards to the hilt design that I had in mind.
Then came Step No2 "Gather up all your parts!". I bought all the hilt components, soundcard, speaker, LEDs, blade, blade tip, tubing, batteries, and wires that I would need to progress to the next step.
Step No3 "Design your chassis" starts for me with measuring and drawing (think blueprints)all the pieces that I have to work with and figuring out what their external and/or internal dimensions are so that I can determine what will fit where. I have made a stack-full of drawings as I try different methods of assembly as my chassis design continues to evolve.
As your chassis design evolves you'll find yourself needing a Step No4 "Get more parts!". For me this involves purchasing a whole bunch of buttons, connectors, resistors, protoboard, switches, tools, etc. that help me decide which parts would work in the chassis design and which ones won't. Sure. some datasheets are helpful, but there's nothing quite like having the parts in hand in order to understand exactly what you're dealing with.
So, now it's time to deal with all these parts, and that brings us to Step No5 "Assembly." Here's where the challenge of putting all these different parts together begins. And it'll show how well, or poorly, your design stages went. But, let's hope that your design was spot on and that your skill with a soldering iron is on point for all the electronics to work and that your 'Cram-Fu' is strong enough to get everything you want inside your lightsaber... well, inside it!
Don't be affraid to revisit any of these steps along the way as you figure out what works together to help you achieve your goal of a completed lightsaber! You might even add in additional steps like a 3.5 "Teach yourself how to learn Fusion360 and make a 3D chassis!" and really go for it!
Good Luck on your build!
p.s. Here's a few links that help me immensely!...
Basic How-To's:
Rob Petkau at TCSS...............
TheCustomSaberShop - YouTubeRob Petkau personal..............
Rob Petkau - YouTubeErv aka Irvin Plecter............
Erv Plecter - YouTubeNext Level Sabersmithing and ideas:
Slothfurnace aka Bradley Lewis.................
I'm going to need all the luck there is.Lethal Crystal aka Watchmaker Lam..............
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Lethal-Crystal-776009495784400/photos/ShtokCustomWorx aka ShtokyD aka Dmitry Shtok...
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ShtokCustomWorx/photos/You could also check out the cutaway lightsabers of:
HSWatts aka Howard S Watts.....................
https://www.deviantart.com/hswatts/gallery/35893457/cut-away-lightsabersand RO-Lightsabers aka Roland Palotai..........
http://ro-lightsaber.blogspot.com/Just in case you decide to add Step No3.5, this guy is AWESOME...
Lars Christensen (My Fusion360 Hero)...
https://www.youtube.com/user/cadcamstuff/videosStart here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5bc9c3S12gI hope this helps! Post up some pics if you're still around and have made any progress!