No clue if this is the right place

[tshirtnjeanz]

Hey guys... pretty cool forum! I have no idea if I'm in teh right place or not but thought I'd give it a shot since you guys are into weapons. I am a wushu performer and am designing a martial arts show and really like the idea of teh light saber concept applied to other weapons, such as a staff, 3 section staff, nine section whip, etc..... this would be for a stage show and I think the lights from a distance would really set it off.... so my questions:
1) a good primer on builds.... I'm kind of ignorant on electronics but very willing to learn, just not sure where to start given the plethora of options....
2) power sources pros and cons
3) materials.... LED, fiber optics, EL wire?
4) durability..... these bad boys will take some abuse

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

[The_Night]

i cant link you topics on here because it's an US forum. but google custom lightsaber tutorial and youll get plenty of info on two forums other than this one.

power sources depend on what you're using. i generally recommend Li-on. probly not for your first build though as it is more difficult to do. other than Li-on alkalines would be reccommended. its much better for usability and wiring, but you'll be giving less power to the LED/ less battery life. still not bad though.

materials, you can make the hilt out of PVC for your first builds. Aluminum is the normal material used by manufacturers, but unless you've got a lather your limited to MHS parts from TCSS and US. other than the hilt you will need:
-Power source (adressed above)
-Switch (latching or momentary, make sure you know which you need)
-LED (usually P4 or Luxeon Rebel Star for first builds. both at TCSS)
-Optics (lens and holder, at TCSS)
*You can also get one of the MLS units that US sells and it will have an LED and a reflector (works the same as lens and holder). the MLS is a bit more, but they're about the same.
-Blade (I recommend US blades)

If you want sound you will need
-Speaker (if you use alkaline batteries than you can get one of the speaker/batt holder combos from US or TCSS)
-Speaker Mount
-Sound Board (you can take one from the toy lightsabers or the force FX sabers. I would do one or two without sound first. Then do one or two with cheaper boards before moving to the PC or the Obsidian.)
*Again know what switch you will need. Non-Sound sabers (aka Stunt Saber) needs a latching switch, the Force FX boards need latching as well. Econo and Obsidian need Momentary. PC can use either, but needs momentary for the aux button.

If you follow the setup above your sabers should be plenty durable. me and my martial arts friends go at it with these, the only things we've ever broken are the blades.

[Jason02750]

in short, yes you have come to the right place. If you order a hilt from here you'll get the most realistic and the best grade of electronic setup. Ultra has outdone hasbero in that and uses an excesively powerful led. The powersource is usualy simple AAs and they last for a boody long time. Ultra has an excelent veriety for light and flexable or just plain unforgiving blades. If you get a metal hilt, it should be able to take all the abuse you can throw at it unless it's iron. Last I knew, Ultra's hilts where balanced right so yah, he's got you covered.