The Return Of The Jedi Luke Skywalker Lightsaber - Part Seven - Control Box Top and Finish

This video shows the saber almost complete, and showing off a special feature. Next up, drilling and threading for the 3-48 screws that will hold the top copper plate on to the control box. First charge! Nothing's shorting out or smoking, looking good! Ready for presentation! I am missing the two small brass screws under the LEDs, and the LEDs themselves in the control box. I'll add these after Christmas. Dec 24, 2010 - Finally presentable. Will revisit the control box LEDs and paint the button after the holiday. The blade is brighter than any saber I have ever seen, I am completely satsified! This has been almost two months of the hardest work I have done in a long time to get it ready for Christmas. My third saber, and I am still learning so much. Compared to my first crystal chamber, it was a lot more difficult to get all that detail into a one inch diameter space instead of a one and a half inch. The springloaded chamber mechanism and lock also provided a giant challenge. And here we have all three Luke sabers. This vid shows the saber with removable blade attached. This vid shows the spring loaded chamber mechanism, and the non bladed emitter neck installed. Minor update, got the saber in for some minor maintenance and a checkup, adding the LEDs in the control box and painting the activation button. Here's a shot of the two switches and pololu switchboard (wrapped in electrical tape) Here I need to add a way to keep my three setscrews that hold the crystal chamber steady. After almost a month of use, these backed out a bit and tended to wobble the chamber slightly. Also pictured is the cram fu of getting the battery pack and soundcard inside. Here's the setup for the triangle LEDs on the control box. I have to have different value resistors here so they both light up more or less evenly. Milled out a slot in the bottom of the control box top to allow the new wiring to fit with the pololu board. Now I am waiting for the red loctite I applied to the setscrews that hold the chamber base together to cure. Here I am running an extra set of wires from the positive lead of the LED strings and the negative lead of channel 1. This will power my control box LEDs. You can also see the buffer spring I have on the lock support rod. This keeps the chamber from slapping open too hard, and eases it into position.