Electronic Crossguard Saber Scratchbuild

Kouri

New Member
I'd started this build back when the Force FX hilt was near-impossible to find at MSRP and the US Flamberge was the only ready-to-ship crossguard design. Figured I'd knock out a PVC crossguard for MegaCon.

Aaand then life hit.

Less than a week to go, so knocking this build out.

EDIT: Including a near-complete photo before going into the process:

wi8OKeol.jpg


Here's where things started. A single piece of 1" conduit running from bottom, through the coupler, through to the emitter end. Didn't want to split the pipe - I wanted at least the main blade to be duel ready. Here the thinner side blades were taken from a cheap knockoff Crossguard saber.
OaMoa3el.jpg



Slowly made time to detail the hilt. Carved a thick shroud for most of the emitter detailing. A thinner piece of shroud for the handle. Some machined bits for the pommel.
XFYeqXtl.jpg
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After a fair bit of back and forth, I sorted out a design that sacrifices some hilt strength to make room for a Hasbro Blade Builder Kylo Ren board and a quick-change 18650 battery. Main blade will be a Tri-Cree Red with Single Cree Red side blades.

gvr5DH0l.jpg


Bottom shroud slid off. Bottom window will *just* fit the BladeBuilder board. Darn thing's going to run the full-width of the pipe, so it'll be screwed in place. For anyone else wanting to use the board, I'd steer clear, since the only metal hilts it'll fit into are the larger 1 3/8" ID Force FX hilts. Bit of red bladestock's just to represent the in-pommel detailing I'll be working on later.

Top window will house the 18650 battery holder. No recharge port in this setup, since I want to be able to swap batteries quickly if the saber dies half-way through the day.

I'll be modifiying the design of the hilt with a thumbscrew that will secure the handle-shroud in place, covering the electronics.

And here's where the detailing wrapped up before electronics went in.. Machined a few bits to detail up the handle.
2mLVO84l.jpg


Here are the side LEDs being installed:
FAx7PLNl.jpg


Heatsink is a 3/4" copper endcap. 7/8" ID, 1" OD. Single-Cree Red star. 20mm lens and holder slide right in. C-clip made from some leftover bladestock. Clip stays pretty well on its own, but added a touch of hot glue to keep things locked in place.
RVDai7dl.jpg


Main LED is a Tri-Cree Red in an LED Supply heatsink.
yvsEOQgl.jpg


Hilt with most of the detailing complete and demo blades installed:
XRpaUnJl.jpg


Handle shell slid off exposing the electronics. Funny enough, battery winds up about where the canon power cell is located:
YfiCmbfl.jpg


And a quick shot of everything lit up:
xLsJm4ml.jpg


And a demo video with saber ignition and retraction:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFuwkzlsnjQ/

A few more details to glue on, then it's ready for paint.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Had sprayed a base coat of black earlier in the week. Spent last night on detailing:



Just need to glue on the red wire and make some day blades.

This shot was taken mid-paint, but shows off the circuit detailing I added to the rear window:

 
Updated this hilt with some unstable day blades:

WnXG3zul.jpg


Main blade is basically some 40" clear thinwall bladestock, hollowed pointed tip, 4-5' of cellophane diffuser, hot glue for texture, and painted with some red Duplicolor Metalcast.

Exhausts are essentially the same, swapping the blade material for some Gemmy Shooting Star (Icicle) christmas lights - or rather the leftover acrylic shells after the electronics are gutted.

VpkVcx8.jpg


ibft0Dg.jpg


I always love how convention dealer rooms are kept just dark enough to really make a tri-cree blade pop in photos.
 
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