Saber Forum

I was curious as to whether you guys at ultrasabers were planning on making a quick connect/disconnect for saber staffs so that you can switch to/from duel-wielding quickly and confuse or surprise your apponant?

It's certainly an interesting idea, we'll see if they implement it.  I would say from a technical point of view it's a little tough to do - you'd need something strong enough to hold the sabers together, yet controllable so you can break them apart at will.  The only thing I can think of is some kind of electromagnet.  Seems like anything that robust would be expensive...

Don't lose heart though!  If it can be done Ultrasabers will surely give it a try ;)

Definitely an interesting idea.  Nero and I have the exact same thought process...  Thought electro magnet was not my first idea.  I was considering some kind of pommel that had vents on the sides instead of the bottoms and had interlocking pieces so you could just twist the wrist to combine or break apart.

I'll be honest, Ultra has DEFINITELY considered this before.  Jeez he's been at this for how long?  I don't even know but I'll bet he's thought of this before.

Who know's what we'll see next!  ::Imagine my face as a sly grin that hints at mischief and knowledge... Like Yoda and Obi-wan laughing together::

Aw I'm a little crazy.

Cheers.

I thought of magnets too first but to withstand the rigors of battle and spinning it might fall off unexpectedly.  and a magnet that strong would screw up any electronics inside.


damn i type or think too slow, i was typing that exact idea then you beat me to it.  >:( i was thinking of a sort of twist on twist on grove kinda pommel.  where a quarter twist will secure them and a quarter twist will release them.  but you'd have to make a custom pommel/coupler system because most of the staffs are set for screw on pommels or MHS parts.  The MHS route would see new MHS pommels compatible with the twist on/off coupler.

the other idea would be some sort of latch release system with a modification made to the hilt to include a release button.

good idea, but to actually make, dont know how they would handle that.

I think the best would be to combine those two ideas, ImpKnight. A twist together type pommel setup would allow both sabers to still use MHS pommels, you just make the latching pommels MHS threaded, and then add a latch-release button lock mechanism in one of the pommels. Of course, something that complex would certainly be more expensive than your average pommel or connector. I'd imagine that might keep it out of production, at least at this point. Certainly a great concept though!

Also, on the note of magnets.... I seem to remember another company (Parks?) once offered sabers with magnetic couplers. Never owned one though, and never knew anyone who did, so I have NO idea if they worked well or not, and with their prices I wouldn't be anxious to find out. lol [Point: Ultrasabers XD]

My kayak paddles fit very well together, wobble only very, very slightly, and come apart as fast as a button push.

Problems:

1) They wobble, even if only very, very slightly.
2) They slot into each other a good five inches.
3) It's very obvious which end is male/female.
4) The button mechanism is not "simple".

Ultrasabers are sturdy in large part because they are not "fiddly". This idea, while cool, sounds fiddly to me.

look up "ryan vs Brandon 2" on youtube and you'll see what i'm talking about. I think a simple twist locking method could work...

I suspect this system is similar to teh kayak paddles you mentioned, but on a snow rake I once had, the pole portion was made of two small diameter aluminum metal poles that slotted together, one inside the other.  One end of one tube had two holes cut into it and the other tube had two buttons (that were inexpensively made) that when pressed would move inward.  The pole with buttons would fit inside the pole with the holes, and once the buttons met the holes they would extend out and lock the two poles together.  to separate the two poles you just had to depress the two buttons and pull the poles apart.  The only wobbleing I noticed was the shear length of the two poles when linked together, which was about 16 feet.

Like I said these were fairly cheap but the principle might be the same, and with the added thickness of the aluminum tubes that makes up the hilt it might possibly work???

i say the botttom of a pommel is a neodimaian magnet. Those are super strong.

What about a possible ribbed male end on one blade and matching female end on the other? (enter spontaneous dirty joke here) Potentially attached with a clip??

lol I know android phones not metal products

Well here's my 2 cents. My thought would be a male/female connector that would go along with the male/male connector. So one saber gets the male/male connector as a pommel and the other gets the male/female. Adds probably another inch to the double blade though and would still take a few seconds to unscrew but thats all I got :P

Nah, To easy.  ;D

Ultra did make a quick-disconnect staff  in 2009. I think there were only two made? one was sold on ebay and one at the ultra store.It was an elder staff with a hinge twist mechanism where your would push the hilts together and twist making them to come apart. If you wanted to attach them you did the same thing but twisted in the opposite direction. I remember there was a video showing it in action and it was pretty fast from going from a staff to two sabers. I  can't seem to find it so i think it was removed or lost somewhere in the internet.My guess as to why Ultra never went through with the quick-disconnect staff was because one it was too costly to make/find parts to build  the coupler and two it was pretty ugly :P. As for other coupler methods several sabersmiths have made sabers with quick-disconnect couplers over the years thing is they are still pretty bulky and two they have to be custom made so they're expensive as well. The only sabersmith that has  made a successful coupler in terms of size and function is parks. They used a strong magnetic coupler, thing is with such a powerful magnet you can't add sound and two even of you wanted add sound it would be hard.Since parks are design as non-sound sabers they don't even offer sound at all. Plus they have weak blades with leds in them, but wait you still want the quick-disconnect staff even though it will never have sound and can't take tough dueling? Good now just fork over $700 big ones and you can have you nice looking non-sound staff that you can't duel with, but looks pretty sweet when you take it apart. Your pals will be filled with envy! :D
  I'am sure Ultra will try a to make a quick-disconnect  coupler again seeing his most recent sabers and how complex they are now compared to how they were then gives me hope. Never the less here a some pictures of the elder staff proto to feed your little bellies.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/blackzero93/IMG_2930.jpg (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/blackzero93/IMG_2930.jpg)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/blackzero93/IMG_2931.jpg (http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/blackzero93/IMG_2931.jpg)

They'd have to be GIGANTIC for this application. They are very, very strong in parallel with their pull, but with levers this big they'd snap apart on the perpendicular hit. I use them for my nerd models and as long as they're in plane, they're a weld. But even slight pressure on the bias with a lever and, "pop", off they come.

This does not start to address the above problem of a magnet powerful enough to work for this near any electronics you may have in the hilt.

All of this is of course if you actually want to use the thing, if it's just for swinging around and looking cool then they might work fine.

hey the OP said quick not easy ...man this thread is going downhill in my mind  :P

Stay on target...

The most interesting thing said before is that Big Boss gave us an example of it having been attempted by Ultra before.  This again makes me believe that some day in the future US might provide such a product.  Until that time we have what we have!

As always Ultra is definitly an ambitious man with alot of knowledge. Im sure hell find a way.