Minicam Custom Lightsaber build

Despite my best efforts to sell my kid on the PVC saber-- even with the sweet paint job, he wasn't going for it. He knows the coolness of heavy metal, greeblie covered goodness in his hands.


Looking at my stash o' flash(guns), I realized I could probably do something with these "mini" c-cell flashes for him. I was just going to raid them for parts-- but one in particular, the Minicam, is actually in really good shape and kinda cool.


The more I look at it the more I like it.




Like others who’ve worked with minicams I’ve noticed that it’s just long enough to ALMOST be there. I think the one Peep Williams is working over is similar to mine. In fact, in going back to check his out I realize had the same approach as to how to place the clamp.


TRIVIA TIME! Did you know the ONLY lightsaber built off a flashgun in the PT was based off the Minicam? If you come to this forum, you probably did… for some weird reason, Even Piell (the one-eyed dude that looked like the result of Yoda banging a human dwarf) held the honor of having this lightsaber. The design was pretty uninspired— dropped a peg in for an emitter, dropped the circuit board into the clamp, used the cut off end of the flash frame in the flash clamp, and a Yoda-style four-grip section. Or rather, maybe Yoda’s is an Even Piell style since apparently this came first.


I’m really curious how this random Jedi gets the one classically made lightsaber. I feel like some saberfan on the production design team made it for his kid before he got the job, and when they saw they had a little person in the part was like OH I GOT THE PERFECT THING!


ANYWAY— sorry. Rambling.


The last thing I want to do is pay respect to the PT so I’ll be sure to go into a completely different direction.


I tend to think up little stories or scenarios for my custom props. It just sort of guides my thought process for fun.


The story for this one: It’s the Jedi purge. Darth Vader and the Empire are hunting down every last Jedi. One particular Jedi, who’s been on the run for some time, worries his luck is about up. Also, he has a son. He’s been training the son (don’t say “youngling” ever, EVER) to be a Jedi. And even though his son isn’t ready for it— it’s time he learns to fight to protect himself. He and his father build a lightsaber for him.


So OT style, but scaled down. Instead of just shrinking everything, some elements are the same as any other saber— grip, activation box, etc. The size of it is meant for a smaller hand, but the basic proportion should be similar to other sabers. So it's not SHORT per se, the ratio of hand to saber is just scaled to a kid's hands... if that makes any sense.


Here it is with a Graflex for reference--




To get the proportions right I’ll need to add a little length on the emitter end. I could just find a straight tube to extend it-- but my kid LOVES the Graflex. I mean-- who doesn't. It's inherent-- we all know it's the coolest. So I want to give him something similar. The lines of the body are cut away at a cool angle to expose the emitter, and there's some good knob/button action, and some random greeblies.

I have these two older Mendelsohn flashes that are the same size as the minicam:



These are like greeblie galore. After about a half hour these two flashes netted me all this junk...





...and from the reflector one came with-- a great bulb socket. Those always make for great emitters.



Now, I'm going to bed-- next step is to figure out how to build the body up more, and how to make a home for this emitter.

Great to see another person tackling the Minicam flash! I've actually mostly finished mine, and I had NO IDEA about the minicam saber in the PT's. Funny enough, I independently used the cut off flash frame in the little clamp bit just like they did on that weird pirate yoda Jedi's saber. Heh.

The only thing I still need to finish up is the emitter section, I'm not quite happy with how plain it is. And I also fudged up the end cap on the bottom while trying to drill a hole for a D-Ring. So I guess I'll have to deal with that.

I have another spare Minicam flash that looks EXACTLY like yours, with the red/blue toggle on the endcap. My current one has a metal/black toggle.

Interested to see what you do with your bulb socket, I have one laying around too from some unnamed flash I had.









Not trying to hijack your thread! Good luck to you I am watching closely!

Highjack away! That's super cool! Did you chop a third one off and add it to the first? It looks great-- keeps the lines very smooth. I was thinking of doing the same-- but I only have one minicam so I think I may butcher one of the Mendelsohn's to make up length... not sure how I'll join them just yet.

I'm jealous of your very perfect cut lines-- how dod you join them? It looks awesome.

Guys, guys. We already ruined Canon prices. Will we finally drive up Minicam prices too Too many awesome sabers!

It's actually a little slave/single cell extension I got in a lot. I've got a piece of threaded rod going through the whole thing.

I see-- so you drilled up through the guts? Cause I can see via the ports it still has its innards.

I need bigger tools. This totally justifies blowing the kids college fund at home depot.

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veektohr said:

Guys, guys. We already ruined Canon prices. Will we finally drive up Minicam prices too Too many awesome sabers!

Click to expand...

Soon as I pulled mine out of the box I checked ebay to see its value given how good of shape it was in-- didn't see any listed. Are they rare, or is there just a lull?

The last Canon X I saw was BIN $250 or something like that :wacko Minicams are still around $30, though... Except for the one I messaged a seller about parting one out from a larger lot who decided to never respond to me, but list it starting at $80. Womp womp...

Yikes! Better get in now!

Productive morning!

After adjusting the clamp to a better position I added an edge card...



Which was pretty much just stalling before I faced this emitter end. I had a plan, but it was ambitious for me, he with no metal-working experience. Okay, maybe not THAT ambitious... The plan is to take this Mendelson flashbody that I gutted and use the end of it as a shroud.



Which works out great because after removing the original bulb holder from the socket unit there was a handy screw right in the center. I took it out, put my favored emitter/bulb holder in place, and put the screw back in. If I set the whole right back into the flashbody where it belongs it should fit perfect.



But I do want it to show with a Graflex-like style, so I need to cut out an interesting shape. So I taped it up, did some measuring, draw a shape, and went to work with the Dremel cutter. Right about here is where I was sure I was in over my head-- as metal shavings fly. Is it me, or is the Dremel made to spin things directly into your face?



Post cutty cut cut time....



What's great is that this bolt/button is very OT retro and it happens to be what secures the unit in the housing.



Here's the end result with a little filing to clean up the edges. I am pleased!



Now to attach it to the rest. This magical bolt/rod system Peep is talking about confounds me!

Nice work on trimming that emitter! First time? Can't tell

First time doing this-- yes. But I've done similar stuff so I think I had a little leg up.

Here's a bad picture of how I did the threaded rod bit. It really isn't the best solution I don't think. But you can probably get the idea from this.

you just blew my mind!

Haha I like your son reminds me of something I would do when I was younger! Great job btw

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You've circularly inspired me to add a bit to my emitter end. Here's what I came up with. Sorry I sort of stole your idea of using the bulb holder in the emitter.



I'm quite pleased with it! Your emitter end/extension is looking great! I actually apparently have the exact same flash that you used it looks like. Its in the background of the picture above.

Yup! That's it!

And I'm pretty sure custom saber building has a pretty high level of shared ideas and inspiration.

Time to wrap this one up!

Since my fashioned emitter/shroud has a different finish than the Minicam I think connecting them directly would look odd-- plus that wouldn't quite have the proportional length I want it to have. So it seemed like a neck connector made most sense...





I hate it when threads show-- that always takes me to a the hardware store and not a galaxy far, far away-- so I covered those with some o-rings. Overall, I am really happy with the length and shape. I set the emitter so that the activation box/clamp was at 3:00, ANH style.

Speaking ANH style-- t-track. Had to compromise here. The kid wanted no grip, I wanted it up the full length, we agreed on a short treatment-- which as it turns out looks pretty cool I think. Gives the hint of some nice pommel action without really giving it bulk.




I was going to paint that button on the bottom, but the kid requested I leave it so he could easily switch back and forth between good guy and bad guy.

Finally-- filled in the open ports with greeblies, screws, and wires for detail and covered the logos on the clamp rings with chrome tape.





And I think it's done!



It's a little a narrow and small in an adult hand-- but would work in a pinch. And I don't think its much smaller than a lot of machined sabers. I personally prefer the bulk of a D-cell...



... but it fits perfect in the hands of the kid:

Came out great! Pommel almost looks like a browning booster. Could always add a few more tracks to capitalize on that vibe... If you can get it out of your kids hands


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I got some more t-track on order-- but I was thinking the same thing. I started working on a Graflite and decided to save the endcap with a similar treatment and used everything I had up.