Saber Forum

I've decided to start this thread from the end result of spinning, I will upgrade my saber sooner than I planned which is fine with me. 

Before I get started, I only spin inside the house or at work where there is carpet or in my backyard where there is grass and soft ground.

Sabers that get spun a lot (flow art), tend to get beat up quite a bit due to smacking yourself, the ceiling, wall, objects, the cat, and dropping it.  First thing to go are the cheaply made stuff like the battery case but before proceeding further, let's talk about the patient at hand.

My Dark Initiate V4 is my very first UltraSabers and lightsaber. It's what got me both started on my collection as well as spinning although I prefer the Aeon and Dominix V4 versions better but I have sound in mine and rather not beat them up.  It holds a special place in my heart and will always do.  I'll never get rid of this saber.  On to pictures

My Dark Initiate the day that I pulled it out of the box

(http://image.ibb.co/kvg2qT/IMG-1580-small.jpg)

(http://image.ibb.co/hwSaAT/IMG-1579-small.jpg)

It sat there with me spinning it here and there until I got really serious with spinning last month.

First to get damaged was my battery case.  It cracked on two different points, I glued it back together, replaced the batteries, and then Velcro the case horizontally and vertically so that there's no movement in the hilt.  When I'm learning new moves, I tend to drop the saber more often than usual and the casualty this time was.....(drum rolls.........)........... you guessed it! The battery case, I didn't know until it was time to replaced the batteries again.  Everything was intact until I removed the all of the Velcro and this is what happens

(http://image.ibb.co/hNtJEq/IMG-3499.jpg)

So I snipped off the rest of the battery case which leaves me with just the AV switch and the LED within the hilt.  I then spun for another week to 2 weeks and started to learn some new moves which I started dropping it again.  This time, the AV switch got damaged

(http://image.ibb.co/cJUdfV/AV-2.jpg)

(http://image.ibb.co/mA7mZq/AV1.jpg)

I tried to fix the AV switch, but it appears that it's stuck so I had to pry it out which I didn't care about the face of the switch cover itself, it's going to get replaced since the switch is broken.

(http://image.ibb.co/fPR27A/Broken-AV.jpg)

Here's the AV switch shroud and curved piece. The thin wire like piece is a piece of the AV shroud that just fell out (I used a plastic tool so that wasn't me)

(http://image.ibb.co/gp3tEq/AV-piece.jpg)

Luckily, the glue was pulled from the hilt so all I had to do was push the LED and the rest of the wiring through the emitter's end

(http://image.ibb.co/hUa6Zq/Completely-removed.jpg)

Up close view of the electronics for those of you that has never taken one apart before

(http://image.ibb.co/cbyh7A/Electronics.jpg)

Look at the glue!

(http://image.ibb.co/ctwDEq/Look-at-that-glue.jpg)

Back together again

(http://image.ibb.co/n7cdEq/IMG-3547.jpg)

I took Deca's idea and used electrical tape to cover the AV switch hole since it has a bit of a sharp edge until new parts come in for me to install.  This is how it looks now

(http://image.ibb.co/eOsZnA/IMG-3549.jpg)

Spinning it to test. Feels good

! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ktl7keVBk0#)

Stay tune for the build of my Dark Initiate as soon as all parts come in.

This is why it’s a select few who follow in the footsteps of Darth Cephalus and I 😆

So true, Sam, so true. Lol. I don't mind it, gives me sabers to work on and it adds character to the saber and make me get off my lazy behind to actually rebuild the thing like I planned to anyhow.   

But yes, there's a select few that will follow in both of your foot steps.  It's actually quite rewarding in my opinion

So, what parts are you waiting for? You didn’t say.

My bad, 3D printer chassis, 18650 battery, and now I'm thinking about updating it to a Tri-Cree LED instead

Checked my Gmail and had a shoutout!! Thought I'd stop by and say thankz 4 the reconition homie!! Electrical tape is firm with 1 wrap,  and just getz stronger with each pass!!  I use tape 4 quite a few thingz on my saberz!! LgtSydPt 4 Da Spotlight!!

With the different battery set up are you going to use a buckpuck or changing the resistors?

I'm already planning on the LED on my new Initiate V5, or maybe even gutting it for the parts for another hint. Then doing something else with it.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing it.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Looking forward to the build, Infinit. :)


I sliced one of my fingers a little once on one of those edges. Drew blood and everything. Though, in context, I will say that I was trying to get the rest of the glue out of the hole, so I was running my finger around the hole area and had the tip of my finger inside the hole when it happened. So, I'm not sure you'd slice yourself on it, but it would likely be uncomfortable.

You're welcome, Deca.  When I took apart my Dark Ini, I found out quickly that I had to cover the switch hole and remembered you using electrical tape so I tried it and was able to spin the saber without issue.  Have a point back


Hey tx, I'm thinking about throwing in a Tri-Cree and want to go with SRD so I will throw in a Buckpuck into the mix since I want to the saber to utilize the right amount of color from a charge.

I say do it if you're going to tear it down and do some custom work or gut it, go for it man. 


Thanks SFD!  I've been wanting to update this saber for quite some time but never really kicked it off.  Luckily or unluckily, I use it as one of my go to for spinning so it gets beat up quite a bit.  Spinning it is only making me actually upgrade it. Will update you guys


Ew, that doesn't sound like it's fun at all. I put the blade back after removing all the electronics and tried spinning with it as is as felt the edges of the switch hole and knew that if I didn't cover it, I would likely cut myself eventually.  Especially now that I'm doing tosses with the saber and lots of hand passes, I rather not toy around with it exposed

Thanks for checking out my thread everyone, will update you guys as soon as parts get in and I start building it. Points to all

Good stuff Infinit. :)

Jump in the fire my friend. :)

+1

Thanks Rapine.  I’m looking forward it putting it back together. Have another point

And this is why I don't spin with my high end hilts. I've replaced a couple battery packs. One was actually pretty funny as I forgot to put the pommel back on my Prophecy and the battery pack literally flew across the yard and exploded on the sidewalk, thankfully it didn't affect the LED or switch and just broke at the solder joints.

Good luck with your rebuild and know you'll keep us updated as you go.

Thanks DB. Geez, glad nothing happened and that was an honest mistake.  These things happens to the best of us

Well, that could have happened with the switch, even without spinning it. And, the battery holders are very thin and flimsy plastic. I personally like the Keystone 18650 holders. They're thick and sturdy.

Fair enough but this was result of the saber dropping and the switch getting damaged, I heard it.

Teaser of test fitting new electronics.  No, it's not going to be pink although I thought about that


(http://i.ibb.co/ysjrDdj/E2-AA6-A46-2-B73-4225-A7-CB-0-AF2-DA032-BFB.jpg)

A pink saber would be super cool! Maybe a future project...

Agreed. It's on my list to do

The first thing I do whenever I get a stunt saber is tightly wrap the entire battery assembly in electrical tape. While is doesn't prevent rattling on its own, it DOES however prevent the battery case from taking any damage. The velcro strap does a good enough job of stopping later movement but of course doesn't stop vertical movement. To reduce (or at least reduce the impact of) vertical jostling I like to put a blade plug stuffed with paper towel inside the pommel (given a hollow pommel, if its a solid pommel then just stuff the paper towel. Haven't had issues with the button yet though so I'll find a solution to that when it becomes an issue.