Disney Store Kylo Ren lightsaber mods

I ended up using an XACTO knife to cut them in half. Now I got to figure out how to take the top ring off...

Edit: Butterknife did the trick

Hey Defect, when you say a butterknife did the trick, where exactly on the hilt did you apply pressure? First time trying to disassemble this thing and that top ring seems nearly impossible to get around without breaking. Also, do you have to break off/cut the side emitters before attempting the top ring or does it not matter?
 
The emitter and side emitters are not connected. The reason the side emitters are so hard to get off is because they have a groove that fits into the blades that locks them in. I ended up using a heat gun on the blades until they were soft enough to warp and twist out of the groove in the emitters.
 
Did you seal up the whole thing so you cant get to the batteries? That's another reason I gutted mine, dont want to deal with exploding batteries later.

The only battery area that I filled in was the screw hole for the battery compartment. All other battery compartment seams are open.

To ensure I could get back in there if necessary, I ended up using a tiny bit of drywall mud over the screw. I then sealed the mud with thinned pva glue. This way, I can dig in and replace the batteries if there's a problem, but I don't have to look at that big screw. The work to touch up that area would only take 90min. Thought this was the best middle ground between fully sealing the compartment and leaving the screw exposed.

All other areas were filled with body filler, permanently.
 
The emitter and side emitters are not connected. The reason the side emitters are so hard to get off is because they have a groove that fits into the blades that locks them in. I ended up using a heat gun on the blades until they were soft enough to warp and twist out of the groove in the emitters.

Alright, thanks. May try that heat idea then.

Btw, awesome job on that saber, dmpsk8. Looks incredible.
 
Hey Defect, when you say a butterknife did the trick, where exactly on the hilt did you apply pressure? First time trying to disassemble this thing and that top ring seems nearly impossible to get around without breaking. Also, do you have to break off/cut the side emitters before attempting the top ring or does it not matter?

I leveraged the two cross guards and used the butter knife to pry the top ring off. Struggled a bit, as it is glued. Once I heard a few loud POPs, it came off really easy. A few slight marks to the underside of the ring...

But that's my own fault...and rage from having to slice off the crossguard covers. (I cut them in half, and it looks pretty clean)


I will upload photos of the internals later, but want to know how any of you were able to replace the LED strip with single LED or custom LED ladder lights. The connector to the default LED switch has 4 wires...and I suck with electronics. I can solder like a pro, but am heavily reliant on diagrams.

Can anyone show me the options to replace the main blade LEDs?
 
You can just cut off all but 1 LED on the blade strip and recess it into the emitter a bit, it will still work.
 
Finished the cutouts and interior detail, time to seal it up and start sculpting out the new emitter and filling holes.
image.jpegimage.jpegimage.jpeg
 
I am replacing the red blades with high quality ones from various custom lightsaber sites, forgot which ones I decided on (photos in the future). Cutting the LED ladder would not work for me, as a single LED is not strong enough to power the whole blade (I would need a 5w+ unit from a custom shop). I've ordered 100 5mm Red LED's, I hope to replace the stock red-orange ones with something more red. Going to try a 50-60 unit LED string.

Here's what I meant for the LED connector. I think I figured it out.

NylyMqW.jpg


The brown wire is the positive lead (I believe), the red wire is for the first 6 LED's, the orange wire is for 7-12, etc etc. Evidence (not proof) below:



You can barely see it on the PCB, but the wires drop off at intervals of six. Here is LED 18, going from 2 pcb traces (right) down to 1 (left).

VhdZBKr.jpg




Here is the crossguard cover that I had to slice with an XACTO knife to get off. I'm going to try to fill and maybe lightly sand when I reassemble. Leaving this here for documentation purposes. Another user earlier in the thread mentioned using a heat gun to soften the plastic.

CtUdFQR.jpg
 
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Here is the crossguard cover that I had to slice with an XACTO knife to get off. I'm going to try to fill and maybe lightly sand when I reassemble. Leaving this here for documentation purposes. Another user earlier in the thread mentioned using a heat gun to soften the plastic.

Good work! With a little cleanup and sanding it will be unnoticeable.
 
dmpsk8 Man, that looks good! I'm gonna definitely do this now, it looks like a fun side project. I would use the red transparent wire i used on my force fx though, I think its more accurate. Is the one on the disney solid plastic?

KRS 2.jpgKRS 4.jpgKRS 3.jpgKRS 6.jpg
 
I leveraged the two cross guards and used the butter knife to pry the top ring off. Struggled a bit, as it is glued. Once I heard a few loud POPs, it came off really easy. A few slight marks to the underside of the ring...

But that's my own fault...and rage from having to slice off the crossguard covers. (I cut them in half, and it looks pretty clean)


I will upload photos of the internals later, but want to know how any of you were able to replace the LED strip with single LED or custom LED ladder lights. The connector to the default LED switch has 4 wires...and I suck with electronics. I can solder like a pro, but am heavily reliant on diagrams.

Can anyone show me the options to replace the main blade LEDs?

Thanks for getting back to me.

One last question. I am sure anyone working on this thing can answer this, but is the top ring only glued on or is there a groove/anchor helping secure it to the saber as well?

EDIT: Nevermind. I just answered my own question by simply doing the same thing Defect did. It's just glued on. No anchors. I used the back side of a butter knife, wedged it between the bottom of the ring and a side emitter and it popped right off. Thanks again, Defect.
 
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Using Dr Talyn's heat suggestion for the side emitters and Defect's leverage idea for the top ring, I managed to get the top ring and side emitters off without causing any damage to either them or the saber itself. Both were relatively easy procedures to boot. Thanks go out to both of you.

I know a lot of you are well beyond this point, but I thought I'd post a pic of the side emitters for future reference:

KR side emitters.jpg
 
What's the easiest way to remove the side blades without a heat gun?

A couple posts up I have a picture of one that I sliced with an XACTO knife. I did a sloppy job but I am confident that it can be cleaned up on reassembly. I'm fitting thicker blades so I needed it to expand permanently anyways.

Edit: previous page...didnt know this would roll over
 
dmpsk8 Man, that looks good! I'm gonna definitely do this now, it looks like a fun side project. I would use the red transparent wire i used on my force fx though, I think its more accurate. Is the one on the disney solid plastic?

Yep, the Disney one is solid. That transparent wire looks fantastic, nice find.
 

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