Alessandra's Custom Lightsaber

[alessandra]

So I've been toying with the idea of building my own custom lightsaber when I finish the three Luke sabers. While the Luke sabers will all be static, I plan on making my custom saber the saber I would cosplay with, so it would have an LED blade and all the goodies. So I was looking around the Internet for inspiration and I saw a saber that I absolutely love.

It's a "Genesis Custom Sabers" piece - "Amber Ring Jedi Saber". I don't know much about the creator, but I know I really like the saber and it's one of my favorite custom sabers that I've seen, so I thought I'd share it!

I want to build something similar, as this is mostly MHS parts, but I need to find a MHS-threaded Obi-Wan TPM pommel - if anyone has one for sale, PM me! EDIT: Hmm...I may have found someone with one over at TCSS forums. Anyhow, this thread will serve as my build thread, because I'll also be doing full electronics for the first time as well - I'm planning on a Plecter Labs Crystal Force 5 with all of the features - white light on clash, blaster deflection via an auxiliary button, etc... I'll probably use a LedEngin LED or maybe a Luxeon Rebel Star. I may even do a crystal chamber eventually.

Source link

 

[thegreatgalling]

Re: Really cool custom lightsaber

Wow! That is a beauty!

 

[ericwong]

Re: Genesis Custom Sabers' "Amber Ring Jedi Saber"

yes, a very unique lightsaber indeed. Good luck in your search!

 

[Tom Starkiller]

Wow!! That does look nice.

Good luck with your build.

 

[Reidydog]

A thing of total beauty!!

 

[alessandra]

So this may not be terribly enlightening for anyone, but here's my basic parts (please excuse the crudely drawn arrows). You can see in the one diagram where I would get brass powder-coating in the orange area.

Near the bottom here, you see some really neat "turbine" blade plugs. Here's a close-up of them installed on sloth's saber:

I'll also be getting the ribbed extension powder-coated in black like so:

And the "acerocket" MHS-thread Obi-Wan TPM pommel that I found from a member over at TCSS is already black coated like so (again, photo is sloth's):

 

[alessandra]

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on weathering aluminum with an oxidation treatment? Thanks!

 

[Darth Detroit]

Wet sand.
Aluminum is difficult to pull off a weathering job on unless you had it anodized or powder coated. Painting it and weathing just doesnt look convincing in person. It looks good in pics though.

 

[ARKM]

Aluminum is difficult to pull off a weathering job on unless you had it anodized or powder coated. Painting it and weathing just doesnt look convincing in person. It looks good in pics though.

I disagree. I have seen (in person) some really good aluminum weathering done with paint. I've done it myself and was very happy with the results. You just have to use the right paints and weathering techniques.

Anywho, painting is an option as is using a product called "Aluminum Black". There are plenty of tutorials on metal weathering on the net as well as in this forum. There are also some lightsaber specific weathering threads that can be found by searching the forums at TCSS, FX-Sabers and Saber Concepts.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Yeah Aluminum Black works really good. I've got one of Roman Empire's older ANH Obi Wan sabers that was weathered with it and it looks good. That is if you want to make it look dirty like the ANH Obi Wan saber.

 

[alessandra]

Thanks everyone! When I get all the parts together, I think I'll go ahead and try Birchwood Casey Super Blue, then knock it back down with some ultra-fine grain sandpaper, though I'll have to locate a lathe to keep the sandpaper marks consistent. If that proves too much work or too complicated, I'll try the Aluminium Black.

I really need to thank Sloth for his great build photos and documentation. What I want to do is basically get this look (which he did with Super Blue and sandpaper)...sort of a worn and used, but well-cared for look:

 

[vinci]

good job ! amazing pro

 

[cannibal869]

Just FYI - the guy that built that - Rob from Genesis Custom Sabers (aka Madcow) is really an awesome builder.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe he may have used one of the TCSS trim rings in place of the Obi "cubes". Also, his switches tend to be sort of a signature of his. Also, just FYI - getting that "ring" of LEDs wired up and functioning will be 1) a bit of a PITA and 2) very difficult to have functional without a Crystal Focus board.

Looks like you're on the right track so far though,
-C

 

[DARTH SABER]

I probably wouldnt go with fine sandpaper to knock back the Aluminum Black weathering. I would suggest steel wool.
Sandpaper tends to leave a scraped texture that looks like intentional weathering. Steel wool has a more natural feel. At least thats my preference.

 

[Jedifather]

VERY nice. Great job. I love how it has the look of various "found" parts/pieces, like a jedi would build a saber from,as oppossed to a symmetrical "machined" look.

 

[alessandra]

I just want to point out that the original pictures in the post are NOT of a saber that I built. I don't want to steal credit for someone else's work. The pictures in the first post are the inspiration for the saber I want to make, which admittedly will be very similar, because yes, they did do an amazing job on that saber. It also has a CF5 and all the bells and whistles so it was going for $1500. I can do it cheaper myself, even with the CF5, so I decided to replicate it with a few of my own customizations.

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Also, I ran across this - a Makoto any-color lightsaber blade. It uses three 5-level rotary knobs to control three modulated LEDs (RGB) to create any color. I am now sort of obsessed with this idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_iBHXX8Qg

Now if only I could cram the Makoto parts from this saber into the Madcow hilt...I really need to learn how to do more complex wiring...because that would be my dream lightsaber.

I'm already thinking - this is a huge project and I have no idea how to do it - but...

Option #1: I would use similar brass buttons to the original Madcow hilt on the bottom of the blade emitter rather than three rotary knobs. Three brass buttons total - one for red, one for green, and one for blue. One press would cycle through an intensity, for a total of five levels. 1-2-3-4-5-1...etc.... Eeeeeee!

Option #2: I would use a LedEngin 10W RGBA LED emitter with a 15-rotary switch version with a LedEngin 10W RGBA, like Matt Thorn's (of FX-Sabers forums). Also, he was kind enough to provide a wiring diagram. When it comes right down to it, three RGB knobs is a neat idea, but having one 15 position knob might make the most sense. I've also seen people playing around with 40W LedEngin RGBA LEDs...though I think they require cooling fans?

http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=26488.0

First steps first, waiting on the Acerocket MHS-threaded TPM Obi-Wan pommel, which is probably the rarest part of this saber.