Convert an MR Anakin Skywalker ROTS FX to a stunt; No kit

[QUI-GON JINN]

I did a bunch of these sabers last summer to sell and give away in the Summer Contests,  and I remember getting a few questions as to how I did the conversions without using a kit from TCSS.  I recently scored a relatively cheap Ani FX on ebay,  and will be gutting it for the soundboard,  as the blade was totally shot....dark spots everywhere!

After following the information in the TCSS conversion tutorial,  once you get it dismantled, and reach the point where the tutorial shows you how to remove the clash sensor from the bottom of the blade housing is where I'll be starting this tutorial.

Here's the parts after dis-assembly:
 
I'll have to remove the soundboard from the housing carefully....I'll need to re-use the housing later.  I'll show how I get the housing apart later,  though.
 
I left the wires on the switch a little long,  so I'll be able to strip and solder longer wires to them later.
 
Save those little pins you removed from the emitter piece....we'll need those later to reassemble the led housing into the blade socket.  In the right hand picture is the Luxeon Star heatsink from TCSS,  the lens holder and lens I'll be using for this saber.  The led is a Luxeon III Blue.  The lens is a 5 degree.  The other part in that picture is a piece of 1" thinwall blade stock.  It was cut to be about 3/4" long,  and was done with  a miter saw on one end,  and a tubing cutter on the other to roll the edge over as it was cut off.   The rolled edge will allow it to "snap" onto the led mounting screw heads to help secure it.  It still needs to be slightly modified to be ready to be used,  though.  This part acts as a spacer for the lens holder after it is installed in the next part:

This is the piece that locks the blade into place in the saber....we'll use this to house the lens,  led,  and heatsink assembly.

[QUI-GON JINN]

To use the polycarbonate blade piece to hold the lens holder on the led,  it will have to be modified to allow the wires for the led to pass under it:
 
Mark off where the wires will pass,  and use a cutting but on a rotary tool or a simple hand file to notch the polycarbonate blade spacer:
 
Now to solder wires to the led!  Check for wire length before soldering anything.  The red  (+) wires are what I like to use for the switch,  so I made sure that it was long enough to reach out of the soundboard housing's hole so I can solder the switch wire to it:
 
with both wires soldered to the led,  the blade piece/spacer can be snapped into place:

Add the lens holder and lens:
 
Next,  add some hot glue to prevent the lens and holder from simply falling out of the spacer:
 
Now that the led/heatsink assembly is finished,  it can be installed into the original blade lock sleeve:

To ensure that the switch wire will line up with the hole in the hilt,  I inserted the lock sleeve into the blade holder/emitter,  and marked it's location on the lock sleeve:

Insert the heatsink/led/lens assembly into the lock sleeve an align the red wire with the mark:

Then use some high-temp hot glue to secure the heatsink to the lock sleeve:
 
Insert the assembled locking sleeve into the blade socket (align the slot in the blade lock sleeve with the tab in the blade socket):

If the polycarbonate spacer was cut to the correct 3/4" length,  the led assembly should fit in the blade socket like so:

Looks good!  This should allow the soundboard housing to hold the heatsink/led assembly in place once the saber is re-assembled.

[QUI-GON JINN]

With the led assembly ready to go,  it's time to crack open the soundboard housing (literally! :D)  I'll use a pair of diagonal cutting pliers for this:
 
Line the cutters up directly where the seam is in the housing,  and squeeze:
   
Do the other side,  and the top will lift right off!  now you can remove the screws securing the sound board to the housing:
 
Unplug the battery interface:
 
I usually peel off the glue holding the wires to the board,  so I can remove the wires later,  but that's just me.  

Using the cutting pliers,  cut off the battery interface plug from the soundboard:
 
Be sure to leave the wires long enough on the plug side to be able to strip them and put heat shrink tubing on them.  The wires from the board are easily replaced later on.  We're done with the soundboard,  so put it in an anti-static bag and set it aside.

Now it's time to start wiring it back up:
 
Since this saber will retain the original 4.5volt battery pack,  I'll be using a 2 watt,  1 ohm resistor. I started out by pre-tinning the wires,  and sliding a piece of 1/16" heat shrink over the negative wire,  then soldered the two together:
 
I then shrunk the heat shrink tubing over the connection.

Now the other negative for the led can be soldered to the other end of the resistor:
 

We're at the half-way point in the wiring now!

Re-install the battery interface in the bottom half of the soundboard housing:

Add the top,  making certain that the red positive wires are long enough to reach out of the opening for the switch:
 
I used packaging tape cut into small strips to re-attach the two halves of the soundboard housing.  I also re-installed both of the pins that hold the blade locking sleeve in the blade socket:
 
Final assembly can begin!

[QUI-GON JINN]

Re-assembly of the hilt is basically just like doing a sound conversion,  but I'll cover it anyway:

Line up the locating tabs on the soundboard housing with the slots in the blade socket,  and re-tape it with a piece of masking tape,  like it originally had.  slide the assembly back into the hilt from the emitter end:

Make sure the switch wires are easy to get to,  and then pull them out of the opening.  I use mini needle nose pliers for that:

Now is a good time to check it,  so add the battery pack and the pommel cap:
 
Test it by touching the pre-tinned ends of the positive wires together:

Success!

Solder the switch wires to the positive leads from the battery pack and the led:
 
Shrink the heat shrink,  and install the switch box:
 

Re-install the gold plate on the switch box:

I used my hot glue gun to glue it back on....if it ever needs to be removed,  it just needs to be heated up with a hair dryer or heat gun,  and it'll come right off.

Re-install the bottom gold button plate:
 
and hot glue the button back on.

Install the top gold button plate,  and the button bezel:
 
Again,  a little hot glue in the bezel to hold the gold/copper button in place:

Almost finished!

Install the pins:
 

Only one thing remains:


Drilling and tapping for a blade retention screw:
 

I'll use an 8-32 x 3/8" button head cap screw for this,  along with a #8 lock washer:


Install the blade and tighten the screw:

Be careful not to over-tighten the screw....the threads are mostly drilled into the plastic blade holder,  and will strip out if over torqued.

Check out your new FX Anakin ROTS Stunt Saber:
 
To improve the blade, remove the foam from the led strip,  leave the diffuser,  and make sure the inside is clean.  Then follow this tutorial to add some polypropylene to even it out and brighten it up:
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=14080.0

[General Veers]

Qui Gon... Your a life saver!  I just ordered an FX Vader soundboard and it still had the housing and I'm all "AHHHHH"  because I didn't know how to get it out but now I don't have to worry and that makes me happy!

Nice stunt Anakin ROTS btw!