Ultra Sabers experience

I'll weigh in.....
While I did purchase a saber from them, it arrived as advertised and without issues. I didn't have to deal with customer service.
I like my saber and it still works as new--but mine has no sound, as I added my own.

Now--I do not stand behind recasters, thieves or anyone else that scams or treats customers bad--especially fellow RPFers.
I usually buy my saber supplies from the Custom Saber Shop, so my US experience was a one-off for an Obi TPM.

HermesBlackstar said:

I'll weigh in.....
While I did purchase a saber from them, it arrived as advertised and without issues. I didn't have to deal with customer service.
I like my saber and it still works as new--but mine has no sound, as I added my own.

Now--I do not stand behind recasters, thieves or anyone else that scams or treats customers bad--especially fellow RPFers.
I usually buy my saber supplies from the Custom Saber Shop, so my US experience was a one-off for an Obi TPM.

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You got very lucky Hermes. I have had multiple of them on my desk for repair and had to literally replace the entire guts of more than 30 of them. As well, there are certain models with severe structural flaws. The lens assembly they used to use, and still do for their cheapest units, I had approximately 22-23 of them where the hot glue melted that held the hex nut onto the LED (a very improper electronic assembly), and the LED blew itself out. I've seen crossed, unheatshrinked wiring, unprotected lithium ions that were overcharged to over 4.5V (I actually watched one explode in front of me shortly after I removed it during repair). A raven blade holder that flew out of the saber with the blade like a zelda sword.. A "MHS Compatible" consular that wasn't compatible with EITHER of the MHS heatsinks.

The heatsinks dislodging from the LEDs were only the beginning of that problem. So many saber owners love swinging the sabers around without the blade in them, and I've seen it to the point where this hotglue has gotten around the outer parts of the blade, gluing the blade in. If this issue occurs while someone is swinging the saber around wtihout a blade, or with a very loose blade, that hot glue can easily spray on someone and cause third degree burns. (LEDs can easily reach 300 degrees C especially improperly heatsinked).

The Raven that I repaired was by far the worst off. They bought the saber at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA. It was sold to them at around 80% off the price of buying the equivalent unit. The Blade Holder was improperly held into the saber (one set screw is not enough to hold something that takes that much impact into a device.) The LED was being powered by a flashlight driver meant to take no more than 3.7V (and it was being driven by 7.4). The LI-Ion batts that came with the saber (and they didn't give them a charger, and they were lead to believe it used AAs) were overcharged to approx 4.56+ Volts. I was advised by experts on LI-Ion that had they flown back to NYC, those batteries would have exploded. I may not be able to prove it, but, I do think it was a malicious attempt to hurt someone. Luckily they didn't trust the 80% off, or ultrasabers due to my warning, and called me up shortly after the convention to examine the unit. I removed the batteries and watched one of them explode shortly after (thank god it wasn't near me, I had smartly put it somewhere any damage could be contained.) Still, on purpose or negligence? Still would have been a severe injury caused by that.

LMAO They shut down saberforum registration. YAY!

Really glad to see you guys talking about this and warning guys like me about this... I personally have been looking at sabers for later, but my plan was to by from The Custom Saber shop anyway for their Darth Vader conversion kit.
Thanks again.... reading things like this makes me upset...

I know I haven't posted much here over the past few years it's because I'm a full-time job a full-time single dad but my screen name is Who I am in my hobby I collect build sabers of every kind and I'm here to tell you that this company's crap I've dealt with Harris before in person and he's a total jerk

He literally tried to kill two of my friends because they showed him the sabers I built them. NO joke. He gave them a US Raven at 80% less than its sale price at dragoncon. He didn't tell them it was running two overcharged unprotected lithium ion batteries, nor did he tell them it was rechargeable. They were smart enough not to take a plane, and to bring it to me immediately upon returning to new york. One of the two overcharged batteries was overcharged enough to be ready to explode, and did so right in front of me, not minutes before I put it somewhere where it could do so safely. Had they gotten on a plane rather than driven to/from dragon con, there is no doubt in my mind that those batteries would have exploded on the plane and could easily have killed them.

All because he saw two sabers I built that were brighter than any ultrasaber ever produced.

Anyway, he's in a lot of trouble, just got an e-mail back from one of the companies i tipped off to his copyright violations. They're investigating.

Phoenix225 said:

Alex also has no problem violating copyright laws. Their new thundercats saber? Yeah, they don't have the licensing for that. The Malgus saber? Yeah, I just actually sent the links to that over to Bioware. I'm tired of watching this guy get away with it.

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Just to play Devils advocate, but do any of the sabersmiths on the FXSabers forum have permission to use actual sounds from the movies or to copy designs direct from the movie. That's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Remember, I used to be a Moderator there.
Just sayin...

Technically, no, however there are things within the 501st and Rebel Legion that allow for this to be done. (Disney/Lucas allows for costumes and props to be made in order for the fan groups to do their work). As for the sounds, they were distributed open source by ben burtt and lucas. Any remixes of those sounds are the property of the sound mixer (as they are over a certain percent different)

However, Ultrasabers has done things that are outside the realm of this allowance. They are breaking copyrights of companies that aren't covered under the 501st, RL and other Lucas approved groups, the thundercats saber is the perfect example of this, It's copyrights and trademarks are owned by Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers and Rankin Bass. Lucasfilm can look away like they do at star wars designs, but Ultra has now gone outside of star wars... Dangerous territory for them.

As well Lucasfilm does have a history of cracking down on those prop makers who make props that are 'unsafe'. Ultrasabers is the KING of that.

Here is a major example of that negligence. Third Degree Burns can be sustained easily within 10 seconds of exposure at 180-190 Degrees Fahrenheit = 82-88 Degrees Celcius. The melting temperature of low temp hot glue (most commonly available and what US uses): 60-80 Celcius or 140-176 Degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature a Luxeon III LED reaches at full power in 5 minutes: 300 Degrees Celcius or 572 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Ultrasabers consistently uses this glue to adhere hex nuts (as heatsinks) and other objects to LEDs, mostly in their lower end sabers (They don't always use their new MLS unit, and even when they do, there's hot glue adhering some part of it to the LED).

Due to this, I have seen hot glue spatter from Ultra Sabers Sabers in the blades, and even blades heavily glued into the sabers. A lot of people play with these without the blades IN the sabers. Lets assume GENEROUSLY that the glue dissipates about 1/4 of the heat. (its probably more like 1/10th). That's still 225 degrees C or 392 Degrees F of hot material coming out of the end of the saber. And on top of it it is not liquid and it sticks to things, so there's no getting it off of you once it hits you. You are GUARANTEED to get life threatening third degree burns or WORSE when these sabers fail.

Before I banned myself from FXSabers when the sound font website took off there was serious talk about the amount of screen used talk being added to sabers because it would attract too much attention. Fonts have to be approved by the Mods before they are put up for sale. Yes, they are making money off something that is available free from the web, and used without permission to make money. Lucas would love to hear about that, don't ya think? That's also why as an example, you just can't pop on a website an openly buy trooper armor. Back door deals to keep the eye of Lucas off them. FXSabers smiths have been skating on thin ice for years, and the Mods know it.

Oh, I looked at the Ultra site, it doesn't say Thundercats anywhere. Sure, the design is there. Copied designs are everywhere. The only reason they don't get shut down is attention is not drawn to them. Those who take it upon themselves to point out things like this are drawing unwanted attention to the hobby as a whole.

As for hot glue and hex nuts, can't comment on that. I've had three Ultra sabers, a cheapy stunt and two others. None had hot glue and none had hex nut heatsinks.

well if the owner tries to kill people or maim me with life threatening hot glue burns i'm sure to stay away lol

If anyone is also playing with a high powered Luxeon type saber with the blade off they could go blind as well! Why would anyone be swinging a saber around, turned on, with no blade?

modelcitizen said:

well if the owner tries to kill people or maim me with life threatening hot glue burns i'm sure to stay away lol

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Robiwon said:

If anyone is also playing with a high powered Luxeon type saber with the blade off they could go blind as well! Why would anyone be swinging a saber around, turned on, with no blade?

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Hot glue is not normally life threatening, however anything heated up to 300 degrees celcius is more dangerous than when used properly. And B, how many people do you see using these sabers with no blades? I have to yell at people every time im around the jedi groups i hang with. It happens at least 4 times a meeting.

As for the sounds, the reason they don't get attention brought to them is because they've been remixed and modified. Because the CF/PC requires that the sounds be mixed with the hum, and that the hum be a loop, the modification is made that modifies these sounds more than 10% different than the original, therefore creating what the government considers "a whole new sound". This applies to the igniter as well as the hum has to be looped, AND the sounds have to be put through low pass filters and end up more than 10% different.

AS for US, no, it doesn't say thundercats, BUT the logos they use are trademarked, so is the hilt. Displaying the Nike logo on a non-nike product would be the same as saying it was a Nike product.

Yep, and again as an example, making a custom machined Obi TPM saber is still an Obi TPM saber. The reason Lucas stopped using Flashguns for sabers was so that the designs could be trademarked. If you want to point fingers at someone copying a design you have to point fingers at everyone. How do you justify crying foul on Ultra for making a Thundercat sword and notify the copyright holders of such and not notify Disney for all the copied saber designs from the new trilogy?

Robiwon said:

Yep, and again as an example, making a custom machined Obi TPM saber is still an Obi TPM saber. The reason Lucas stopped using Flashguns for sabers was so that the designs could be trademarked. If you want to point fingers at someone copying a design you have to point fingers at everyone. How do you justify crying foul on Ultra for making a Thundercat sword and notify the copyright holders of such and not notify Disney for all the copied saber designs from the new trilogy?

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As i said in the other post, disney/lucas looks the other way when it comes to these props. It has to do with them licensing the 501st and Rebel Legion. Warner Brothers, however does not. I justify crying foul on Ultra though, because they're ultra, you use the weapons they give you against them. They show no remorse when it comes to making dangerous products.

Phoenix225 said:

As i said in the other post, disney/lucas looks the other way when it comes to these props. It has to do with them licensing the 501st and Rebel Legion. Warner Brothers, however does not.

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Lucas may have looked the other way, not so sure Disney will. They've booted costumed visitors from their parks and that's been well documented.

Robiwon said:

Lucas may have looked the other way, not so sure Disney will. They've booted costumed visitors from their parks and that's been well documented.

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This is true for most of the part, but have you ever been to Star Wars weekends at Disney? There are tons of costumed fans there, and I'm really hoping to finish my 501st Vader to wear there (doubtful though.... with the money it cost, I probably won't be finished with it until Fall).

Robiwon said:

Lucas may have looked the other way, not so sure Disney will. They've booted costumed visitors from their parks and that's been well documented.

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Thats a security risk though, different animal.

Phoenix225 said:

Thats a security risk though, different animal.

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As annoyonf as it can be, yes, that is true. It is only for protection, not because Disney is cruel and strict about fans dressing up. If that were the case, there wouldn't be nearly as many Kingdom Hearts cosplayers. So I doubt Disney will care much about things like the 501st and custom made sabers. After all, the 501st is always in their parade at Star Wars weekends.