My new Dark Initiate LE V4 came today and I am loving it.
But now I want to start one of the modifications I mentioned in an earlier thread. As the title says this a $5 simple crystal chamber. First let's talk about pommels. For this to fit properly in your saber, deeper Pommel will make the best choice as there is room for the LED board and the parts needed. I would recommend this any way since the pommel will give off accent light. Also the further up you can jam the battery box inside the better. I'm using a stunt saber with out sound so I may have more room. For me it's about 3 1/2".
Next the parts. I found these light saber candy suckers at the local grocery store a couple years ago for a $1 a piece. I looked them up and you can buy them everywhere online but my local get-all store still sells them near the collectibles and trading cards area if not on the candy aisle. They are newer but will work the same.
I was originally going to use the red saber but it was cracked. The first thing you want to do is remove the tube and crack the upper two pieces of the hilt from the lil pommel. It should be pretty easy to do with out breaking. Once that is done look at the silver painted hilt piece for an indented line that goes around the diameter. Use this as a guide to cut half the hilt off. Then grind it down on the bottom so it comes up to the flashlight lens pieces inside the hilt.
Next take the LED board out of the pommel and place it backwards In the plastic pommel upside down. This puts the LED lower in the hilt to allow for more stuff plus the light will come on automatically when the hilt is powered on, remove the chamber from the hilt and the button will release to turn it off for safety. Next drill a hole in the lens just big enough to hold your crystal tightly in place.
You will need some soldering skills next. Very carefully pry the guarded button out of your saber and solder two long leads to the wire leads that run to the big sabers LED then run them through the tube. From here you will need a couple diodes to drop the power to 3v. Now remove the clear LED from the board on and replace it with what ever color you desire the crystal to be. Now solder the leads to the LED switch board.
Now replace the board in the candy saber's pommel upside down and backwards and glue the hilt part with the lens on to the candy saber pommel. Also at some point the candy sabers pommel will need to be sanded down and repolished with high grit paper so it will fit in the ultra saber pommel. Not too much though you want it tight so it doesn't wiggle.
Now from here you can cut the candy sabers tube down tight enough that it's not touch the crystal but still fits the shaft of the ultra saber and glue if you like but let's talk about further customization.
The tube could be drilled and wires pulled out of the bottom tube to wrap around your crystal or make it look like a Mercury switch. If you have access to sheet metal and tin snips you can cut small pieces of steel and imbed them into the plastic to look like electrical or hard ware. Different colored wires soldered along side burnt up capicitors or what ever you have laying around will also add nice touches to the aesthetics. Just use your imagination and go wild.
That's my plan any way. Gonna try to go parts hunting in the next few days so I'll report back my progress with pics.
I would like some advice on diodes and power though. What kind of diode/s would I need to bring the current down to 3v or do they actually make 5v LEDs?
