QUI-GON JINN's Chrome Saber 39 (CS-39) Build

[QUI-GON JINN]

Began wiring for this one today:

I started by adding the female JST connector to the recharge port.  I'm not sure how well this will work since the battery pack has a longer pigtail on it that I'd like...it'll leave a lot of wire that will have to go somewhere when the battery pack is installed.  We'll see how it goes.
 
I attached the ground wires to the battery ground on the recharge port:

I attached the ground tab from the RICE port to the battery ground as well as what will be the ground for the Pex.

I moved on to the switched ground and added two wires:
 
The two gray wires are the switched grounds...one will go to the board,  the other is for the aux button.  The reds are all positives,  of course.  One for the board,  one for the Pex.  The other is the input wire from the battery pack on the JST connector.

I wired up the rest of the RICE port next:
 
I used a light blue wire for the RXD tab,  and a purple wire for the TXD tab.  These will get connected to the RICE pads on the bottom of the PC 2.0.

The finished (for now,  it may need tweaking later) recharge and RICE port wiring:


Next up was the main activation switch:
 
I used white wire for those,  like usual,  and also added a black stripe on one to mark it as the ground....either one can go to the ground pad,  the board doesn't care which is which with a momentary switch,  but I like to make the distinction anyway.  I then added the leads for the led in the switch...this does matter which is positive and negative,  so I used an orange wire for the positive,  and a dark green for the ground:
 

To finish the switch wiring,  I added a dark blue lead to one tab on the aux button:
 
The other tab will get the second,  shorter gray wire from the switched ground on the recharge port during final assembly.

Next,  I needed to prep the board:
 
I pre-tinned all of the pads,  including the ones for the smd resistors for the accent led's.  I'm not sure if I'll use the second led or not,  but I added the resistor anyway:
 

I guess the next order of business is the led:
 
That is currently a DX RGB on the heatsink for this one,  but I doubt I'll be using it.  I still haven't decided what to use yet....the switch is going to be the green dot style I have wired up.  I also have on hand:
- GGG Tri-Rebel
- RGB Tri-Rebel
- RGGB Ledengin

Looks like the blade will be green,  but the question is,  which led should I use for that?  or should the blade be violet?

[RoHan Solo]

How about the RGGB led engin wired for green blade and a purple FOC? Or you could reverse that... purple blade with green FOC might look nice too.

Big fan of the control box setup on this and I dig how you're using the PVC pipe to mount the recharge & RICE ports. I also had to say how much I LOVE the shroud on this one. The lower section grips look great and I do love a sharply angled shroud  ;D

Man, I love your build logs. This saber is going to look incredible. With any luck and a timely injection of funds I would love to make this my first...  :D Out of curiosity, how long is the hilt, pommel to emitter?

[Johannes Huber]

Definitely agree with Rohan Solo, your build logs are great reading (and a great resource for learning from).

Really like how you used the emitter shape and the shroud with the various cuts in it to "break out" of the cylindrical silhouette that sabers start with. Really nice design.

[Machinimax]

I looked at that PC and thought it was a CF at first. Haha, I can see that happening to me a lot more in the future now!!  ;D

But so far, so awesome!!!

[The_Night]

i definately like the looks of this one. probly one of my faves by you.

i think the RGB tri-rebel with the RG for a gold/ amber blade and a blueish white FoC would look good on this one

[Free Thinker]

I think this one suits a green blade and a purple FOC. A violet blade would also be very cool, but to me this one says 'consular saber'. Whichever way you decide to go though, it's still a great looking saber. :)

[QUI-GON JINN]

Green blade for sure on this one,  but a purple FoC will likely not show up as purple once it mixes with the green,  it 'll probably be more along the lines of yellow or orange,  being it'd be using the R+B+GG dies on the ledengin or the Tri-Rebel RGB.  anyway,  it doesn't matter,  since I'll be using the custom Tri-Rebel that is GGW,  with white for the FoC.  I'm going with the Rebel since it can draw less current and help with runtime and still maintain a bright blade.

Here's what got done last week before my trip to Chicago last weekend.

I started final assembly of the rear half of the hilt:
 
That may look like a lot of wires,  but it's not all of them yet.  Each is color-coded so soldering to the board should be a breeze,  providing I can remember what each color wire goes to.  ;)

I had to wire the switches up prior to installation:
 
Since the ground for the aux button is already attached to the switched ground on the recharge port,  I'll have to fish it out and solder it to the switch before installing the control box:
 
I soldered the ground to the switch, and installed the control box:


Now this is all of the wires,  except for two:
 
I still need to route a pair of wires for the speaker:
 
I guessed at the length needed,  and made up a harness,  then threaded it through the hilt:
 
This should be long enough to allow the speaker mount to be removed and set aside for battery pack access.  The speaker mount has plenty of room to fit in this saber,  so no need for me to make one out of a ring of pvc like had to for CS-X when I redid that saber a few months ago.
 
There's not enough room for the v4 speaker mount,  but I think I can modify this mount to use the mega bass speaker.  I also have on hand a couple of the new TCSS Premium speaker that I could try out in this one,  but I think this one would benefit from the extra "oomff" the mega bass can deliver.

[RoHan Solo]

Mega super ultra wow.

Not sure why I'm getting so excited by a bunch of pictures of wiring, but there you have it.  ;D I really am loving the look of this saber.

[jedi_federer]

Hey Qui-Gon,
I have to say that your build logs are awesome. They are both informative and give inspiration to all of us on how we can do our builds. I think that it is really cool that you make these build logs open to the public. I have a few questions about the build, firstly how did you make it black, did you powder coat it? Also, are you going to use some sort of PVC chassis inside of the saber house the components? Lastly what type of speakers  and batteries are you going to use?

[QUI-GON JINN]

Hey Qui-Gon,
I have to say that your build logs are awesome. They are both informative and give inspiration to all of us on how we can do our builds. I think that it is really cool that you make these build logs open to the public. I have a few questions about the build, firstly how did you make it black, did you powder coat it? Also, are you going to use some sort of PVC chassis inside of the saber house the components? Lastly what type of speakers  and batteries are you going to use?

I got nothin' to hide.  ;)

I painted the black finish with an enamel spray paint then baked it in an old toaster oven at 350 degrees for 2 hours.  That hardens the paint as it dries and makes for not only a more durable finish,  but a more even coat.  no PVC necessary for this one,  it's getting a half chassis like all the rest of mine do.  You can see it in the last two pictures in my last post.  It's the two white tubes sticking out of the hilt.  The sound board will be attached to those using 3m double sided foam mounting tape and possibly a piece of clear plastic sheet like I used on CS-15's rebuild.  Batteries will be a Li-Ion 14500 7.4v pack from TCSS.  This is all covered in the topic,  btw.  ;)

now I need to go start up the soldering station and see if I can get a few of those wires attached.   ;D

[QUI-GON JINN]

Got the board all wired up last night,  and tested it....this saber is freakin' LOUD.  Finished up the wiring for the board this morning and tested the RICE port.  I have pictures and a couple of vids uploading to the photobucket album as I type.  Will post them later.

All I'm waiting on now is the Tri-Rebel GGW and I can button this one up.  ;)

[QUI-GON JINN]

As mentioned earlier,  here's a few pictures and videos of what I managed to get finished yesterday morning.

I modified the TCSS speaker mount v2 to fit the mega bass speaker:
 
I removed most of the back side of the speaker mount,  and notched it for the wire contacts so they would clear the mount.  I pulled the wires through a bit and soldered them to the speaker:

Then snapped the speaker in place:

There is just enough slack in the wires to set it aside for battery pack access:

I inserted the kill plug to ensure there was no current to the recharge port:


After that, I made the connections on the board so I could test the R.I.C.E. hook up:
 
Everything is attached here,  except, the PEx for Foc:


I then modified an old Seoul P4 led and TCSS heatsink with the opposite connector for the main blade:
 
I pulled the kill key and was surprised by the volume,  so I shot a short video:


The led worked just fine:
 

I then borrowed the blade holder from BS-2,  a sinktube adapter,  a blade stub and assembled them all for testing the R.I.C.E. program for PC 2.0,  then made a short video covering it's use:


All that is left to do for this one is make up the actual led for it,  the blade and tweak the SD card using R.I.C.E..  Oh,  and in case anyone was wondering,  this saber is spoken for already,  so no Trade Federation for this one. ;)

[jedi_federer]

It is looking really awesome.
And thankyou for your speedy reply to all my questions.

[RoHan Solo]

It is looking really awesome.

It sure is.  :D

[QUI-GON JINN]

Thanks guys.  I got a little bit of work done Thursday before heading off to to the real job:

I decided to add the PEx even though I am currently do not have the correct resistor for this set up. I'll need to get some ordered  Friday.  I'll make an attempt to put the resistor for the FoC on the led itself,  that way if another is ever swapped in,  that may have different power requirements,  the resistor won't have to be changed on the PEx.

After adding the wires,  I wrapped the PEx in heat shrink to prevent shorting on the PC or the seidewalls of the hilt,  and "strapped" it to the board and chassis with some PVC heat shrink:

I then added the plug for the FoC led:
 
With that ready,  I added the ribbed extension:


All it needs now is the correct resistor for the FoC and the Tri-Rebel GGW.  Oh,  and the blade.  ;)