Qui-gon Jinn's (Jay-gon Jinn's) PVC Sabers

[Schph Gochi]

Thanks for the info..

looks like I head to "electronics 101"...

lol...

where I sew, do leatherwork, plastics and you name it...
electronics....
not so much...

 ;D

[QUI-GON JINN]

Thanks for the info..

looks like I head to "electronics 101"...

lol...

where I sew, do leatherwork, plastics and you name it...
electronics....
not so much...

 ;D

Well,  then this will complete your training!   ;D

[The Highwayman]

Wow this topic is old... I'm so glad someone revived it. Very good pics Qui-gon. Gives me some ideas for Christmas presents... ;D ;) 8) 8)

[QUI-GON JINN]

I've had a few questions recently,  from here,  TCSS and also through youtube (believe it or not!!) on what holds the blade in place.  It uss a two-part system;  the first part being a threaded insert that looks like this:

These can be found at any full-line hardware store, and are sometimes found in with the furniture hardware.  I used the size for an 8-32 machine screw.  You'll notice that the insert is threaded on the outside as well as the inside.  The outside threads work just like a wood screw.  Drill a hole just smaller than the thread size,  and screw it into the pvc using the appropriate size hex wrench.
The screw will look like this:

All together,  the pieces fit like so:


Here's how it installs in the saber:

I screw the insert into the hilt first.  This is the reason I used a pvc coupler on this section of the hilt,  because the coupler gives the saber enough thickness for the threaded insert to fit and not stick out too far from the outside of the hilt,  or into the inside of the hilt.
If the insert seems to have too much resistance on it to screw into the hole,  try enlarging the hole with the next size larger drill bit.  If you try to force it in with too much force,  the insert could jam,  and split.
Here it is installed:

Now,  we'll just thread the screw into the insert:

Don't tighten the screw all the way in,  just get it started.  Screwing it down tight will prevent the blade for being inserted all the way.  Insert the blade:

See the indentation,  or divit on theblade?  that is where the screw contacts it and presses it against the other side of the blade socket in the hilt. 
DO NOT DRILL A HOLE IN BLADE!!!! 
It is unecessary,  and may damage the blade diffuser/and or film.

Next,  tighten the screw snug with the appropriate hex wrench (9/64th in this case):

Now,  you can have fun with your pvc saber:

[Lonewind]

Thanks so much for posting the details on this step!  I hope to build one of these as a father son project and your guidance is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Lonewind

[Master Durangus]

I'm with Lonewind, thanks so much Master Jinn! What's the name of the insert you used (like if I was looking for it in a hardware store)?

[QUI-GON JINN]

I'm with Lonewind, thanks so much Master Jinn! What's the name of the insert you used (like if I was looking for it in a hardware store)?

Uhh....it's called a threaded insert. ;)

[Master Durangus]

Oops >.> Sorry, I have a really bad tendency to overthink things, I thought that was the type it is but not the name. My Logic teacher even told me that I was overthinking Logic itself and needed to think more simply. One final question, how did you make the shroud?

And then another question or two. I was looking over your PVC Sabers once more, you said that an MR board would fit in there, would an economy Hasbro sound card work? If you drill some holes in the pommel end and place the speaker right there on top of the battery chamber that links up to the top LUX I...it should work?

[QUI-GON JINN]

As long as the Hasbro toy board is less than 1" wide,  then yes,  it'll fit just fine.  I actually built one that used an older Hasbro sound board,  but never posted pictures of it.  It can be seen on the left in this picutre,  though:


The best way to use a toy board in these is to use one from a toy saber that uses two '"C" batteries, as they can be powered by two "AAA"s as well.  If you build a pvc saber in the same style I did here,  then a AAA battery holder is pretty much all that will fit inside the pvc.  The best soundboard to look for is the one from a 1999 Qui-gon Jnn toy.  It's very small and will power a Lux I just fine when used with a micropuck driver.

That particular saber runs a soundboard from a 1995 Darth Vader toy saber.  It looked like this:

It's very large compared to some of the other soundboards, and that's why this saber turned out a bit longer than most of the other pvc sabers.

The saber turned out okay:

This piece of pvc was flared on the end so it could be glued to another length of tubing if I were using it to run cable as it was intended for.  That made attaching a pommel easy:
 
I simply drilled some holes in a circular pattern on the end of the endcap to greate speaker vents.  Once you remove the retention screw,  it slides right out to reveal the speaker and battery holder:
 

This saber was built just to see if I could do it,  so the wiring isn't up to my usual standard.  Normally,  I'd have hot glued the speaker to the end of the battery holder and used heat shrink tubing to create a wire harness for all of the wires,  but I skipped that just to get it working.  Here's how it sounds:

[Averjoe]

Hi Qui-gon. I know the thread is a bit old, but it seemed the best place to ask. How exactly do you construct the LED holder? I think that's the only part you haven't covered here. I have a few ideas of my own but I'd love to know how you do it.

[QUI-GON JINN]

Well, it was sort of covered on page 1 when I posted these pictures:


But I'll add this pic too:

This is the same thing Ultrasabers used to do with their old line of Initiates.  The led,  a Luxeon I star,  is encased inside a 1"-3/4" long piece of 1" diameter polycarbonate tube. This can be cut from the end of the blade stock.  I used a tubing cutter to cut it off,  and tightened it enough as I was cutting the polycarbonate tubing to ensure I had a rolled edge on one side.  That prevents the led from falling through the polycarbonate pice.  The lens gets snapped into the holder,  and the holder and the led were hot glued in place.  Be sure to use high-temp hot glue to do this.  The assembly then is held in place between the body of the activation switch and the blade when it's inserted.

[Averjoe]

Ah, now I see. Well, actually I saw before, I just didn't realize what I was looking at until you explained it. Makes perfect sense now. Thank you Qui-gon. :)

[QUI-GON JINN]

Okay,  some people have claimed that this isn't really a tutorial,  and it technically wasn't intended to be,  to be honest....but I recently built one of these and took pictures,  tutorial-style so I could post them  So, here we go....here's what you need to start with for a very basic PVC lightsaber:


Those are the basic parts I've used in the past....it is built using a 10" long piece of 1" electrical conduit pvc.  It's called 1",  because it has a 1" inside diameter,  which is perfectly suited to the polycarbonate tubes we use to make blades from.  The outside diameter is about 1 1/4",  and works great for those with smaller hands,  like children.  (The intended target for these is actually kids.....) I will now detail some of the parts used. 

Here's the first piece:

This is a 1" pvc coupler.  It is used to glue to sections of PVC together,  but we'll be using it as part of the saber's emitter.

The next piece:

This is a PVC end cap.  This is used to cap off a PVC pipe.  I found this one in the pvc plumbing pipe section at my local hardware store.  We can use white,  because the hilt will get painted later on.

This is the LED I'll be using in these:

Since they are geared toward kids,  not adults,  and would want to avoid any potential eye damage should the blades get removed,  it is a Luxeon I red.  See that little white thing next to it?  That's the lens and lens holder....it will focus the light from the led up into the blade,  causing it to light up.  We'll cover that later,  though. 

Here's the led driver:

This is called a Micropuck.  similar to a buckpuck,  this one is geared towards driving a 350ma led like the Luxeon I led (Rebel and CRee XPE Single stars work great as well).  It only requires 3 volts to light the led.  This will allow the use of a 2-AAA battery holder to power the led,  like this:

Now,  if a person wanted to skip the Micropuck,  as it adds about $10 to the cost of the saber,  one could make the hilt long enough to fit in a 3-AA battery holder and use the appropriate resistor.  You'll have to figure that out for yourself,  though,  since different colors require different resistors. ;) Or, you could use a single Li-Ion rechargeable cell to power the saber as well,  in a single AA holder, or make it fully rechargeable with an 18650 rechargeable cell and use appropriate resistors.

The blade retention screw threaded insert:
[sorry, lost the picture of this piece...thanks photobucket!  ]
These are found in the hardware store in the furniture hardware section.  It is threaded on the outside like a wood screw,  but has internal 8-32 machine screw threads.

The blade retention screw,  and #8 lock washer with the threaded insert:
[same as above, no picture]

Not shown individually,  but also in the first picture:
-The switch....a simple push button on/off latching switch...which can be found at The Custom Saber shop, along with many of the electronics components...any kind will work,  really.
-A piece of 1" polycarbonate tubing...about 3/4" to 1" long cut from the blade stock tubing....this will house the led,  lens and lens holder.  More on that later. 

There are some tools that will be required to complete this build....a drill (I'll be using a drill press) and a couple of drill bits (3/8",  15/64" and #29),  an 8-32 tap and handle,  a tubing cutter (large enough to cut 1 1/2" tubing),  Hex wrenches (5/32",  5/64",  and 3/32"),  a soldering iron and solder,  a rotary tool with accessories (Dremel or other brand,  I have a Craftsman) and a saw of some sort to cut the pvc pipe with,  like a hacksaw (I will be using a compound miter saw).

We'll start construction using the rotary tool with an 80 grit sanding drum to remove the divider edge in the middle of the 1" pvc coupler:




Grind it until it's flat,  working with the direction the sanding drum is spinning.  It should look like this when done:


It will fit on the emitter end of the saber here:


To give it some style,  I am going to cut it to match the angle on the main hilt tube:


I set the saw blade to 45degrees:


and cut it:



That'll work....just need to de-burr it....I used the sanding drum on the rotary tool for that,  too.

Moving on....here's the finished coupler:


Now,  using a second coupler,  I hammered the cut coupler onto the hilt tube:


I hammered it down about 3/4":


Here's a preview of the basic hilt shape:


Now,  to make it look a bit more like a saber hilt,  we'll add some fake grips with the large tubing cutter:


Fit it onto the hilt like so:


Tighten it just enough to have a snug fit,  and slowly turn the hilt in the cutter to leave a simple scored line:


Using a ruler,  I marked out where I wanted the lines to be with a black sharpie marker:


And then scored the lines:


The hilt now has grips:


I also laid out some towards the front of the saber,  too.  The large area in between the marks is where the switch will go.

Now it's time to drill for the threaded insert that will house the blade retention screw:

I set it up in the drill press and used the 15/64th" drill bit to drill a hole for the threaded insert to screw into:



I then used the 5/32 hex wrench to install it:



Then I screwed the 8-32 1/2" socket head cap screw into the insert:


When fully tightened,  it will keep the blade secure.  It reaches just far enough into the blade socket to put pressure on the blade's opposite sidewall and hold it in:


With that,  the hilt work is basically complete.  Now is the time to paint it if you so desire.  There are pictures in the thread already that showed how to do that,  you'll have to go back and read that for yourself,  though.

Now for the electronics!  I'll start by making the 1" x 3/4" polyC led housing:

Using the tubing cutter,  I cut off the piece from the end of the blade that will go into the saber.  I made sure to tighten the cutter tight enough to "roll" the edge of the cut to prevent the led from falling through:


Now to solder the wires to the led:

Make sure you pre-tin the wires first,  it makes this much easier.  Pre-tinning means getting some solder on the bare wire before you attempt to solder it to the led.  The green wire in this case is the negative lead,  and the orange is the positive.  This matches the outputs of the Micropuck driver.

Now, fit the lens holder over the led like so:




Then feed the wires through the polyC housing we made earlier:



Now,  to hold it all together,  I'll use some high-temp hot glue.  This will hold the lens holder inside the polyC housing.  High-temp hot glue will not melt with what little heat theses Luxeon I led's give off,  and should also hold up with a Luxeon III.  If a Luxeon III gets hot enough to melt this glue,  something's wrong with your wiring!


We'll put the tip of the glue gun right up to the hole in the led's base:


Make sure it's full of glue:


Now your led assembly is finished:



The polycarbonate housing for the led will also serve as the blade stop for the blade when it's inserted in the hilt.  This kills two birds with one stone

[QUI-GON JINN]

Now we need to drill the hole for the switch.  This will require the 3/8" drill bit mentioned at the start of my last post:


Here's the finished hole,  and the switch:

This is much easier to do if you use a switch like the one sold in the store at TCSS.  The nut is on the OUTSIDE so you can tighten it easier.

I slid the switch up into the saber and using my index finger on my left hand,  pushed it up through the hole:


I then installed the nut:


The next thing I'll do is drill and tap for the end cap retention screw.  Install the cap on the end of the hilt to ensure your holes will line up. I'll drill this using a simple cordless drill and the #29 bit for 8-32 threads:

This will give me the right size hole to use an 8-32 tap to make the threads for the retention screw.

I don't like tapping through two separate pieces,  and to make the cap easier to put on and remove,  I drilled the hole in the cap out with a larger drill bit, an 11/64th";


I than tapped the threads in the hilt using my tap handle and the 8-32 tap:


The pvc cap will fit on like so:


Now I can install the screw:


Okay,  so NOW all of the hilt work is complete.  If you plan to paint the hilt,  remove all of the screws,  and paint it.  I have painted these in the past using Krylon's Fusion Hammered Finish spray paint. It's made for pvc lawn furniture,  and works quite well on these hilts:


I usually hang them up to paint them,  and do it in a well-ventilated area, like a garage:


Once the hilt is dry, we can finish off the wiring.  This is pretty basic,  and will look something like this:


The red and black wires from the battery pack basically get soldered to the red and black wires on the buck puck.  Red being positive,  black being negative.  The switch needs to go in one of those circuits.  I chose the positive side of the circuit.

The connections are all soldered:

and then heat shrink wrapped.

To fit this all in the hilt,  I needed to bend the wires into this shape,  making sure that the switch's flat side is facing towards the emitter.  this is because the switch will act as a stop for the led assembly,  and when the blade is inserted,  will hold the led assembly in place:


This will get inserted into the hilt through the blade socket,  starting with the battery pack:


Holding the switch,  I fed the wires in:


This is where it gets a bit tricky....the switch needs to go in so that the button is lined up with the hole we drilled for it earlier,  and the back,  or flat side is facing the emitter:


Once it's pointing up,  push it into the hilt slowly:




Until it reaches the hole:


Now,  get a screw driver that is at least 8" long:


Pull the battery pack out.  Insert the screw driver into the bottom of the saber,  going around the battery pack,  and push the switch up through the hole:


Install the switch nut:


Make sure the led is seated inside the blade socket by pushing on it until it stops up against the switch:


Install two AAA batteries,  and test it:


Install the blade:

(I know,  it's not red,  it's amber,  I changed my mind when I was working on it.....sue me.)
See how I make the blades here: Luxeon type LED Blade Assembly Tutorial- (at least, how I do it!)


Congratulations!  You've taken your first steps into a larger world!  Now you can defend the galaxy,  or conquer it with your brand new,  shiny,  pvc saber!

[Master Durangus]

:o :o In time....we shall all call you Master.... Wow, that's incredibly helpful...I'll definitely be using this thread for future projects. Thanks QGJ!