Disney Store Kylo Ren lightsaber mods

[thesualc]

My first concept to make the side emitters removable is to create basically a bolt and nut. The blue part would be the nut and orange the bolt. Theres a nice little space it could slide in front of the LED. I'm thinking of using a thumb screw to hold the "nut" in place and allow it to be removable. Then the bolt part would be attached the the blade on the side, which would be cut down. The image doesn't show the threads as I still need to model those. I don't own a 3d printer so I might have to upload this to shapeways in order to try it out. Let me know if you guys see any big flaws with this! Also the threads might leave a nice aesthetic when the blade is removed. Another though was to just let the thumb screw hold both in place but I'm not sure yet?

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

has anyone any ideas in terms of a louder speaker? im not one for watts and ohms and the like..

i went and got a 28mm 1w TCS wowspeaker and made a quick vid of the sound. its much more realistic though a havent made a sound chamber yet

 

[dmpsk8]

Nice work, major improvement!

 

[FluffyCatPoof]

So has anyone changed the tubing for something better if you have could you please let me know what you used. Thanks

 

[Defect]

So has anyone changed the tubing for something better if you have could you please let me know what you used. Thanks

You can buy lightsaber 'tubes' off many of the custom saber shops. I got mine for around $10 a piece (with tips). I'm using two for this project, one of them is getting cut up and tipped to use for the crossguard blades. You can drill a hole (I believe it was 5/8 inch, I'll check later) for the tube so that it can connect securely to the handle.

I'm making the LED strings now, and moving way too slow. Using 21 LED's per section. I'll make sure to post some pics when it's all done.

 

[FluffyCatPoof]

You can buy lightsaber 'tubes' off many of the custom saber shops. I got mine for around $10 a piece (with tips). I'm using two for this project, one of them is getting cut up and tipped to use for the crossguard blades. You can drill a hole (I believe it was 5/8 inch, I'll check later) for the tube so that it can connect securely to the handle.

I'm making the LED strings now, and moving way too slow. Using 21 LED's per section. I'll make sure to post some pics when it's all done.

thanks for the reply what website did you order the tubes and LEDS from

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

for my main blade I used a 1" OD polycarb tube from an old MR saber project. the side emitters would need to be modified to accommodate 1" tubes as they already are 1" in diameter, so I may to source some 3/4" tubing for the sides only

 

[Coolguy26]

hey I'm also trying to mod my disney store kylo ren lightsaber, how would you go about adding three new cree LEDs (for the main blade and cross guards) from TCCS and a brand new speaker to the lightsaber? while still keeping the functionality of the toy? do u think it is possible?

 

[Iggy]

Yes, there was a post on the Knights of Ren facebook group with photos detailing their build out. They added 3x 3W red LEDs instead of the string blades. I don't believe they have made bladeholders to hold different blades as of yet.

 

[CurtisNewton]

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4256/5w8mr7fk_jpg.htm
Thats how I build the blade

 

[hages]

Nice! $11 speaker though! Probably worth it....

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

the stock wiring was what my main concern is. my saber is almost complete, just waiting on the side emitter tubes to come in. for those I ordered plastic cigar tubes that are 52guage so that should be around 3/4inch and fit throught the emitter covers fine. guess well see.

whilst speaker shopping I noticed the 28mm that looks similar to the TCS speaker is 1.5 watts, I went with the 1 watt as to not drain too much power from the batteries and to avoid any capacitor/resistor issues on the circuitboard. I don't know too much about electronics but ive blown quite a few things in my time lol.

I made my stringblade using hampton's handcrafted sabers tutorial and used these https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-viewing-angle-flat-tipped-1200-mcd/279/1206/ after comparing them to all the other leds listed, these fit the bill in terms of bang for the buck, they don't drain as much power but are still the brightest. I used 96 in the main blade and 9 in each side blade but you may need more, my main is 36inches and the sides 4inches, the polycarb tubes from TCCS are 40inches iirc.

for wiring the main blade, the brown wire is the positive, the rest are negatives which complete the circuit. I connected the negatives together which all attribute power to the long string, and since the green is the last to light up I connected that via splicing to the two black negatives from the side leds. this moves current from the main black to the sides which will make the sides as bright as the main. if you do not do this, the sides will be dim and barely visible!

 

[Iggy]

the stock wiring was what my main concern is. my saber is almost complete, just waiting on the side emitter tubes to come in. for those I ordered plastic cigar tubes that are 52guage so that should be around 3/4inch and fit throught the emitter covers fine. guess well see.

whilst speaker shopping I noticed the 28mm that looks similar to the TCS speaker is 1.5 watts, I went with the 1 watt as to not drain too much power from the batteries and to avoid any capacitor/resistor issues on the circuitboard. I don't know too much about electronics but ive blown quite a few things in my time lol.

I made my stringblade using hampton's handcrafted sabers tutorial and used these https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-viewing-angle-flat-tipped-1200-mcd/279/1206/ after comparing them to all the other leds listed, these fit the bill in terms of bang for the buck, they don't drain as much power but are still the brightest. I used 96 in the main blade and 9 in each side blade but you may need more, my main is 36inches and the sides 4inches, the polycarb tubes from TCCS are 40inches iirc.

for wiring the main blade, the brown wire is the positive, the rest are negatives which complete the circuit. I connected the negatives together which all attribute power to the long string, and since the green is the last to light up I connected that via splicing to the two black negatives from the side leds. this moves current from the main black to the sides which will make the sides as bright as the main. if you do not do this, the sides will be dim and barely visible!

Nice setup! Do you have a video of the string blade?
I have thought about building my own stringblade for this as well, just haven't done one yet.

Oh and did you resistor any of your string parts?

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

i have only pictures which ill get to uploading eventually, i plan to make a second one and document everything on video when its done as a tutorial. i didnt resist anything, i went under the assumption since it was built with the stock stringblade from the factory the circuitboard already had the resistance necessary however to balance out the additional load from the added leds i removed the vibration motor and the yellow-orange wires that connect to the blade for the lockup effect, and also the longer heavier new blade would probably just be making the lockup sound the whole time anyway. the lockup detection works by a metal post which is charged that when the toy blade bends the rod touches a grounded ring around the post. with this you could theoretically install an external momentary button to keep the lockup but i found it unnecessary so i just removed the wires. the swing and clash sounds still work and those are made by an accelerometer that comes standard on the circuitboard so no need to mod the board at all!

 

[bells0]

Hullo all!

For replacing the stock main blade with a new longer acrylic tube to make the correct looking length - what's the best way of getting the light to reach the end of the extra length? - does diffusion paper work, rolled inside??

I'm not advanced enough to take apart things, so have got a 900mm 26mm tube that slides snugly over the existing. Just need to be able to get the light emitting out of this addition in length. I will hot glue and paint with red glass paint to look unstable.

 

[jtothegriff]

If you're handy enough, I would also solder on a nice orange/red wide-angled led to the end of the led chain along with the diffusion paper. 130 degrees or so might do the trick? I'm not familiar with the length of the Disney blade as opposed to the 36"-42"-4*" blades bought at TCSS or wherever; the wider the angle obviously the more coverage up the blade.

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

there are endcaps with a small mirror in the inside but idk how effective they are at bounding the wide angle of the flashlight style blade back through the diffusion material. the stuff they used with those were like a transparent frosted film that was rolled several times to achieve the effect, but is recommend taking the extra time and making a stringblade, if you solder a copper wire ever 5th or so led itll help transfer power throughout the entire length and look better. I didn't on mine and the leds towards the hilt are brighter, but I did that on purpose, on camera the brightness make it look thicker at the hilt, achieving a minimal "cone" effect like kylos.

 

[CurtisNewton]

Is there someone who tries to solder two LED Stripes?

 

[DizzyStrmtroopr]

do you mean like the side emitters/multiple blades?

 

[CurtisNewton]

I bought two disney sabers. Just to have a lightweight moded hilt for the belt, AND a second one with moded blades.
What I wanted to do is to attach the two LED Stripes to each other.
Thought it would be easy... But the way to do it like I dit on the pic seems to be wrong.