Lightsaber advice.

[Verity Cosplay]

Yeah. Hot glue belongs in ONLY one place on a saber. And that is a dab at the back of the speaker to relieve stress on the speaker wire.

Glueing a pixel to a crystal is also an acceptable use of hot glue.

aside from that. Hot glue belongs NOWHERE in an installed saber.

(I mount/bed boards with Sugru)

(and yes, both saberforge and Ultrasabers installs are pretty scary)

 

[Joek3rr]

I'd have to mirror the NO SUPPORT for SaberForge as well...

There are MANY sabersmiths out there.. maybe poke around on the FX-Sabers.com forum for a bit..

My personal recommendation would be to STAY away from VadersVault.. regardless of how good their pictures of their overpriced 'work' look.. they are crooks/thieves/scammers, and would hate for anyone else to get ripped off by them. (spit)..

Vader's Vault? Granted I have only one lightsaber from them, but I have had good experience with them. And I have heard good things about them.

 

[Runner]

I got my Neo Pixel from Genesis Custom Sabers and can vouch for them. Top notch service and communications. He's been around forever.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

I got my Neo Pixel from Genesis Custom Sabers and can vouch for them. Top notch service and communications. He's been around forever.

yeah. Rob definitely knows what he's doing.

 

[Joek3rr]

Thanks for the enlightenment. As much as I like their designs I might just put that project off. I'm now shopping among online custom makers with NEOPixel/Proffieboard lightsabers. I've been looking at Korbanth, Vader's Vault (with Plecter), Dark Force Custom, Electrum Sabercrafts, Genesis Custom Sabers .... Does anyone have makers to recommend?

So if your not going to get a saber built. And if your wanting to build your own. Here's some things to remember.

Higher end Plecter boards need two switches. Lower boards like NV v4 and Pico Crumble only need one switch.

Secondly if you want to build your own lightsaber, make sure you check out The Custom Saber Shop. They have their Modular Hilt System, and they'll make custom parts.

Thirdly check out Gothic 3-Designs on shapeways. I love his chassis designs.

 

[Joek3rr]

yeah. Rob definitely knows what he's doing.

I dream of owning one of his lightsabers......

 

[Ron]

I have to agree whole heartedly with all of the great advice so far. I've been on the Neopixel bandwagon for a while now. With the exception of runtime, it beats in-hilt setups in every way and depending on how well your blade is constructed, it can even stand up to some degree of heavy dueling. My favorite feature about Neopixel though? The price. Thanks to the Proffie board, gone are the days of paying well over a $100 for a premium sound board. However, you end up spending that difference on the cost of the blade. Good news is Neo blades, just like standard blades, can be swapped between various hilts that also have Neo connectors.

I also agree to stay away from Saberforge. Even setting ethical reasons aside, their lightsabers are sloppily installed. The designs of the hilts are not bad, albeit inaccurate. However the machining quality is not great. Their hilts tend to have sharp edges which can cut you while swinging them around.

Best thing to do is like Verity Cosplay said and buy an empty hilt and install it yourself or contract a reputable installer. If I could give some advice from my own experience, it's don't be afraid to spend a little extra on your lightsaber especially if it's only going to be that one. Get a nice hilt, a nice board, a nice chassis (probably Goth3), and a good blade. The first fx saber I bought was a Saberforge Prodigal Son (before they soured everyone) and even though it was affordable and a rare good experience buying from them, it just left me wanting way more.

If you like the style of the Dissident, check out Darth Alice over at the Rebel Armory. Katana style hilts are his specialty.

 

[vader45]

I'd have to mirror the NO SUPPORT for SaberForge as well...

There are MANY sabersmiths out there.. maybe poke around on the FX-Sabers.com forum for a bit..

My personal recommendation would be to STAY away from VadersVault.. regardless of how good their pictures of their overpriced 'work' look.. they are crooks/thieves/scammers, and would hate for anyone else to get ripped off by them. (spit)..

I second the Vader's Vault comment. They are very pricey for NEOpixel and take several months to deliver. I ordered and received my saber from Korbanth well after my friend ordered his from Vader's Vault and he is still waiting. Something ain't right.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

Yeah. The DOWN side to my approach of empty hilts tho... is getting time to install them. I tend to get more and more ambitious with every install I do. As a side effect I am slower to install. So at this point I have like 8 empties needing installs! Hahahahah.

oops.

the rabbit hole just gets deeper. I am knee deep in designing a chassis for my Lukyanov Creepy Uncle so i can install that one!

and of course... I had to get fancy with it... pogo pins... EVERYWHERE

if it works tho... it's gonna be EPIC.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

I second the Vader's Vault comment. They are very pricey for NEOpixel and take several months to deliver. I ordered and received my saber from Korbanth well after my friend ordered his from Vader's Vault and he is still waiting. Something ain't right.

i gotta ask though. How much hot glue is in there? I had a friend recently open an install and it was riddled with hot glue.

(the board was glued to a keystone holder with hot glue)

 

[vader45]

I second the Vader's Vault comment. They are very pricey for NEOpixel and take several months to deliver. I ordered and received my saber from Korbanth well after my friend ordered his from Vader's Vault and he is still waiting. Something ain't right.

Are you referring to the Korbanth? I have 2, inhilt and Neo, there is no hot glue in either.

 

[vader45]

Regarding the battery life, yeah the battery is drained faster because of the multiple LEDs running off of it and the music that can be played. The more features you use the more power it needs, basic physics. But if you conserve it right, ie, no music or fancy RGB blades and not constantly turning it on it fairs just fine at a day's worth of conventioning.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

Are you referring to the Korbanth? I have 2, inhilt and Neo, there is no hot glue in either.

yes. Glad to knows yours didn't. My friend's did.

 

[vader45]

yes. Glad to knows yours didn't. My friend's did.

That's very strange.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

Regarding the battery life, yeah the battery is drained faster because of the multiple LEDs running off of it and the music that can be played. The more features you use the more power it needs, basic physics. But if you conserve it right, ie, no music or fancy RGB blades and not constantly turning it on it fairs just fine at a day's worth of conventioning.

You can also set up styles that use lower power RGB setups. Like instead of full blast red... (255,0,0) you can do something like (150,0,0) and save a lot of power that way too.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

That's very strange.

no joke. Take a look:

 

[vader45]

You can also set up styles that use lower power RGB setups. Like instead of full blast red... (255,0,0) you can do something like (150,0,0) and save a lot of power that way too.

Very true.

The brightness and smooth scrolling combined with smooth swing is enough to wow people at cons. I think the rainbow and similar blades are pointless even though my Korbanth came with them. Next order I'm asking to skip those.

 

[vader45]

no joke. Take a look:

View attachment 1256902

Wow mine are much cleaner. Must be from a previous installer Randy hired.

 

[Joek3rr]

I second the Vader's Vault comment. They are very pricey for NEOpixel and take several months to deliver. I ordered and received my saber from Korbanth well after my friend ordered his from Vader's Vault and he is still waiting. Something ain't right.

I don't know, $530 for a VV Fury, but $686 for GCS Ascend.

 

[Verity Cosplay]

Very true.

The brightness and smooth scrolling combined with smooth swing is enough to wow people at cons. I think the rainbow and similar blades are pointless even though my Korbanth came with them. Next order I'm asking to skip those.

haha. Yeah rainbow blade is stupid. Not my thing. But unstable kylo is awesome.

also just WAIT for the next Proffie release. Blade angle got added to complement swing speed for responsive blade styles.

It is gonna make localized lockup out of this world. Fett263 demonstrated it recently on his channel.