Saber Smithing - What's Colour would you have and why?

steamboat28 wrote:

Roddan_Andreus wrote: I am studying aikido, and I think that once I get enough kenjutsu (sword technique) under my belt, I will make my own saber to commemorate. or perhaps I will make one to commemorate when I get knighted? Oh, the possibilities!

I'ma just leave this right here.

Sweet as i have been learning form one in the park with a wooden stick - baller!

My New Saber Plan!

Ok so after 4 months of planning taking in all the advice i have been given i have a new idea for my saber smithing.

I have just bought a master replicas anakin skywalker saber for £50. I am going to convert this saber learning key points of how to hell you wire up the lights. once this is done i will start creating a new set of inners and power supply. Using parts i by from custom saber store for easy to find tutorials and what not.

Once i have changed the sound board lights speaker batterys etc i will then create some sweet batlle warn details and make it look old used and as if many saber battles have been fought. Then i will make a cool box for the hilt to go in and sell it on.

I will use the cash to reinvest in my new saber components and start a new build on a custom made hilt.

i think that all make sesne - either way my saber will be her eon friday - OMG!!!! shzzooom shzzzzom pssssssst!!!!!!!!!

Visro Windu wrote: My New Saber Plan!I am going to convert this saber learning key points of how to hell you wire up the lights. once this is done i will start creating a new set of inners and power supply. Using parts i by from custom saber store for easy to find tutorials and what not.

That's a fair bit of money to be tinkering with, imo. Wouldn't it be easier to watch the tutorials and build your dream saber from the ground up, or is there some kind of financial difficulty in that?

Once i have changed the sound board lights speaker batterys etc i will then create some sweet batlle warn details and make it look old used and as if many saber battles have been fought. Then i will make a cool box for the hilt to go in and sell it on.

That also seems like a lot of work, compared to just crafting it from scratch, but I could be wrong. Also, have you considered doing the battle-worn detailing first, and then carefully inserting your electronics, or at this point will you still be working with the saber you mentioned earlier.

I will use the cash to reinvest in my new saber components and start a new build on a custom made hilt.

If it were me (and you're not, so you're free to ignore this), I'd start by choosing the electronics I wanted, and getting dimensions on them (or ordering them first), and then composing the custom hilt, and start from there, because that seems like the best use of my personal time and resources. That said, I don't know you, or your learning style, so I can't say which of our ways is "better".

OMG!!!! shzzooom shzzzzom pssssssst!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE SOUND EFFECTS!

steamboat28

dude i have picked everything from the internal parts to the tools - the micro chips sound boards etc buttons colours hilt blade all ready to order from various places - but! yes it is expensive and i have never used a soldering iron before so using it on a $150 crystal force chip and making a pig ear of it does not appeal to me, Neither does waiting a year before i can start due to funds. If i have the cash i would still not do it the way you suggested due to the cost of the parts and the likely hood of me soldering the wrong thing s to something. Plus i often find tinkering with things that are expendable can some times hold more fruits than simply jumping right on in there.

BUT i understand what you are saying -

I DONT RATE ULTRA SABERS I DONT RATE MOST OF THE SABERs YOU CAN BUY ONLINE THIS IS THE MINIMUM STANDARDS I WILL BE TRYING TO ACHIEVE : http://genesiscustomsabers.com/ AS THESE ARE THE best sabers on the planet bare non!

I will post all the info i have this weekend - i willl gather it up now and we can see how much of a headache i am making for myself.

dun dun dun saber schooling yay i like to make learn woot!

So I only have had one wire colour, never soldered anything before ever and still didn't wire anything wrong on my first built. Now, yes, it was expensive, but I assume I can get every cent back with interest if I were to sell my lightsaber. I know I wouldn't get that from converting an MR and neither will you and its not like the 50$ MR boards are any more expendable than the 65$ low-budget custom boards such as the Crystal Shard or the Nano Biscotte. The power inputs and outputs of custom boards are provided by the manufacturer while there are only approximations for the licensed replicas. The custom boards, if you break them, the manufacturer will repair if they can be repared and will charge you considerably little compared to the expense of a new hasbro board should you fry the one that came with your saber.

No, of course you aren't secure in the handiwork yet to dare trying yourself on a Crystal Focus or Igniter board, but if you did gather any information during the past four months as you claim you will know that there are low budget alternatives with more information and support.

It shall also be noted that if you say "Anakin Saber" I have no idea what you are talking about. There are two prequel trilogy versions of that lightsaber, and if you take the lore the two versions of Luke's saber from ANH and ESB can also be added to the number of versions and as if that were not enough, no run of those saber replicas is like any previous so to know the production year is perhaps helpful, too, if you want to draw an appropriate wiring diagram and yes, you will draw those irrespective of what driver board you use and it is only through careful drawing and accurate replication in reality that you will not fry your board whichever you may choose.

Long story short, there is nothing you will learn from converting a saber other than how to convert that particular saber to the one particular setup you are converting it to. If you want to practice hardware work, grab yourself some scrap metal and a dremel and start cutting shapes. If you want to practice soldering, grab yourself some broken computer piece and solder some wires to the pins. By the time you are done with that your skill will be pretty much as good as it will ever need to be to manufacture lightsabers. There is no knowledge or skill to be gained from what you seem to plan that couldn't be gained otherwise and a good portion of it will be things you really won't need again.

As for madcow's sabers.. It is arguable whether they are the best on the market and I would contest that LDM's, VV's and JQ's are at least on par with him with Jay-Gon's custom builts following closely and I'm missing out a lot of sabersmiths I know little of because their work doesn't appeal to me personally. And on that note I must add that Madcow, too, has habits I personally don't appreciate, such as mounting the speaker in the removable pommel with little to no resonance chamber and only occastionally a dedicated connector (enormous stress on the wires is my gripe with that), but rest assured that you will not get anywhere close to that standard on your second or third built and be it only because he has access to proper machining equipment. Speaking of proper machining equipment, the one thing one cannot badmouth about Ultra is his hilts, however awful a job he does inside.

Anyway, main point remains, don't deceive yourself and don't cower from a challenge. The market is more appreciative of custom sabers so if you worry about funds, go for something that will at least cover your expenses after you're done.

A year or so ago I bought an Ultrasaber, a black-hilted, orange-double-bladed saber. I pretty much always imagined I would have an orange blade, way back in 97 in role-playing online. Unfortunately I ended up selling the saber because I needed the money. Unless I move to New York city and join NewYorkJedi, I probably won't be buying another.

Building a lightsaber has been a personal project to me lately too, and in light of the fact that Jedi sabers are supposed to be personally significant weapons, I decided to adorn mine with some symbols and colours that represent my personal spiritual path. On the bottom, I painted the buddhist dharma wheel to symbolize my affinity with buddhist philosophy. The body of the saber hilt was built from a chrome drain pipe, and a shower head, with rubber washers and electrical tape making up the grip. Since I identify as a consular, I see my blade being green, and am actually working on a light up green blade (accomplished with a flashlight embedded in the handle).

Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think!




May the Force be with you all!

Sorry, my computer glitched and I double-posted!

Hum... I really do prefer my sword... ;x with a sharp blade... that can slash things lol

I would go for ultraviolet. It can highlight light colors.

Psyc20