UPDATE (Apr. 25, 2014) - here is the complete 2014 Saberz lineup!Hi everyone,
Today I'm going to tell you about Apollyon, my idea of one heck of a dueling saber. Moreover, the first prototype Apollyon has already been made, and images of that first Apollyon saber are further down in this thread. It WILL become a reality, so just keep your eyes peeled. And now, without further ado, here are all the details about this wicked little hilt.
THE VISIONApollyon is my vision of the ultimate lightsaber. What does that mean to ME? First of all, it's got to be capable of producing multiple blade colors. That means either Igniter or the newer Plecter boards. But just as importantly, it has to be completely simple, durable, and duel-worthy. If you take a look at the stunt sabers from the prequels, you'll see how simple they are. They're uncomplicated, unfettered by greeblies to snag the hand, and above all, they're THIN! The thickest diameter you usually see on those puppies is about 1.3 inches for the main bodies, much thinner than the 1.5 that you see in most sabers these days.
Of course, making a saber skinny has its own challenges. The primary difficulty is that as the saber gets skinnier, there's less and less room for electronics. Fortunately, there are brilliant people helping to make some wickedly powerful electronics in ever-smaller packages.
APOLLYON IS HEREHere is the final design, which is deceivingly simple. The front end is a custom blade holder, with a very long thin neck. This piece is wonderful to hold, spin, and duel with. There's currently nothing on the market like this. But being thin isn't enough; ideally, your hand wants a thin neck WITH a bit of a guard/tsuba on top, which helps keep the saber in hand while spinning it. Ideally, your hand wants to grip AT the balance point, typically just behind the emitter. Apollyon delivers exactly that - it's a small-diameter grip, WITH a guard to keep your hand in place, AND it's right behind the emitter at the saber's balance point.
Moving down the saber, the main body has a diameter of about 1.34". This main body is called the "Z-Core Module," which I'll talk more about in a moment. Inside the Module is enough room for a CF6, Petit Crouton, or an Igniter Mini, plus a single 18650 li-ion cell, two 12mm AV switches with accent LEDs, a recharge port, and reverse sound.
Another challenge with such a small-diameter saber body is the extent of cram-fu necessary to make everything work. Apollyon has an answer for that too. I designed the center section to be removable, making it easier to wire the saber up in the first place, but also to provide access to diagnose any problems, make changes if necessary, etc. A couple of screws keep it in place, which are recessed into the saber body so that the heads don't poke out. It helps maintain a nice smooth saber body with the screws in. And unlike other switch plates, this one sits perfectly flush with the saber when installed, maintaining the ultra smooth profile and duel-worthiness that is at the heart of Apollyon's design philosophy.
The design of the switch access also makes it possible to put the Igniter Mini all the way against the pommel end of the saber. Remove the pommel and you have instant access to the SD card, making it very easy to change your config files. That's half the fun of the Igniter in the first place, so I wanted to make sure it was convenient. Now, since the SD card is the last thing next to the pommel, it wasn't going to work to have a speaker there as well. So Apollyon has reverse sound. The speaker is further in to the saber body, and sound comes out of the decorative holes next to the AV switches.
The last piece I haven't mentioned is the custom heat sink, which is brass, pre-drilled with six wire holes, and works together with the body/emitter to keep the LED and optic in place without any adhesive or additional hardware. And of course, now you want to SEE what this baby looks like. I haven't finished my first installation yet, so what you're looking at here is just the empty saber, which consists of the body, emitter, pommel, switch plate, and the custom heat sink.
PICTURES INTRODUCING THE Z-CORE SYSTEM (ZCS)Perhaps the best part about Apollyon is that it's not a standalone project. As a consequence of its small-diameter design, we can easily add shrouds or other details on top of the central core of the saber, and wind up with a still thin and still very awesome saber. And by design, the pommel end and emitter end of the saber thread off, allowing for an easy exchange of parts. The body of the saber is called the Module, and it contains all the electronics. You just thread on your parts and accessories, and off you go.
For those of you sabersmiths who want to use ZCS,
the entire standard is available right here, completely free. If you use it, please let me know! I'd love to see others taking advantage of the standard, and make myself available to help out if necessary.
Z-Core is going to be a completely free and open standard. All the details about ZCS will be published in their entirety. This includes the threading size and pitch, thread depth, boss height, dimensions of the heatsink, etc. All these details will be freely available to any sabersmith who wants to develop ZCS parts.
The plan right now is first to create Apollyon, and soon thereafter expand the ZCS line with additional emitters, pommels, and shrouds. Then with just the one Z-Core unit from Apollyon, you could add a different ZCS parts to create a dozen or more new sabers. And because of the power of Igniter, each saber can have a unique identity defined by its color and soundfont.
Of course, it would be difficult to give you an idea what the power of ZCS is without showing you an example. I have a design already which will be our next project after Apollyon. It's called Oracle, and it uses the exact same core as Apollyon. In other words, you could take your complete Apollyon saber, swap out the emitter/pommel/shrouds, and you've got a working Oracle. Absolutely no rewiring or additional fuss necessary. All you need is an allen wrench to swap out the parts (some use screws, others just screw on/off). More details will be available in the future. For now, here are the first renders of Oracle:
ORACLE DETAILS/QUESTIONSApollyon and the rest of the Saberz lineup are exactly what I wanted them to be.These things feel great in the hand, and I can't wait for others to check them out as well. There are still some little tweaks I'll be doing to the design, but you're basically looking at the final product. Here are some answers to questions I imagine will be common:
What's the price?
Pricing is still being determined -- the original thinking was that we're probably looking at $200 to $250 for a complete empty saber body kit, including the custom heat sink and all fasteners. Oracle kits might be a little higher, since they have additional shrouds that Apollyon doesn't have. And of course, Stunt Saberz and
Prizm Saberz will be more expensive.
When will these be ready?
UPDATE - Looking like late March 2014. Will you sell complete working sabers?
YES - these will be sold in several ways. Empty hilts, Stunt versions (light, but no sound), and full-on
Prizm Saberz. Again, I expect to begin selling by the end of March 2014.
Will there be a preorder? Can I secure a spot in a run?
No. I'm going to make these all up front, and then sell them when I have actual product ready to ship. I might do multiple runs if they're popular enough, but there will be NO preorders for anything, and no way to save a spot. If you want one, you just have to watch for any threads I start containing the words "Apollyon," "Oracle," "Z-Core," or "ZCS."
What electronics are compatible with ZCS sabers?
ZCS Modules were designed specifically for the brand new
Prizm board (Plecter Labs Petit Crouton v3.0, Prizm edition). They have also been tested working with the Crystal Focus or standard Petit Crouton, or Naigon's Igniter Mini or Spark boards. The Modules will hold any of these boards, along with a single 18650 li-ion battery, plus two 12mm AV switches and a recharge port. The Modules will accept one of the new TCSS mini speakers, and I am going to be stocking similar speakers as well.
UPDATE (January 21, 2014) -- I wanted to show off the newest developments in Saberz lineup! Some of these hilts are still in development, but for the most part, these are the designs that I'll be selling by the end of March 2014. From left to right, you're looking at the Artex, Kapulus, Oracle, Voltera, and of course, Apollyon. In this picture, all the Saberz are all shown with a single-button switch plate using a 16mm latching AV switch. Of course, 2-button switch plates are also available. If you buy a Prizm Saber, you will get the 2-button plate by default.