Kouri's Kylo Ren - 2017 Revision

[Kouri]

Quick shot of last year's setup:



And the old thread: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=30971.0

This year I'm re-visiting the costume for more accuracy. Broader coat shoulders, new belt, more accurate saber.

Just about wrapped up machining on the hilt, so moving onto paint and electronics:



And just popped a new belt buckle off the 3D printer.



Mad dash to get everything sorted in a couple of weeks for Tampa Bay Comic Con at the end of this month.

[Lady Agana Kath]

Looks fantastic! Point

[Dauntless Seven]

Wicked !  Can't wait to see the finished version.  For whatever reason, I am a huge fan of cross guard light sabers.

point 

[Kouri]

Thanks a bunch!

JB Weld is curing on the hilt components, but I just about wrapped up the electronics. Just completed the new battery sled with 18650 holder and audio jack, so here are the saber guts wired into a portable amplifier:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqpwTAgX84/

Beyond that, the soundboard's been rewired to allow full power to all LEDs. Sadly, pumping 4000mA through the board seems to cause some feedback in the audio circuit (not in the above video since the LEDs aren't wired), but I'll just chalk it up to the whine of a cracked kyber crystal.

[Therion Jinn]

Sounds like things are coming along nicely

[Kouri]

Point for pun.

And for anyone interested in the guts, here's a shot of the hacked board:




And the custom-printed battery sled:



The printed portion of the sled is purposely a bit wider than the original parts on either end to make up for the extra space after removing the internal plastic sleeve that was originally inside the body.

[Kouri]

Connected all the wires and gave the hilt a coat of black primer:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgN2CEK2_Rc" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgN2CEK2_Rc</a>

Just need to make a slight adjustment to the battery sled for a more solid connection.

New fabric bits should be in the mail tomorrow, so I'll have some costume updates by the weekend.

[Lady Agana Kath]

The saber is awesome! Did you color the blades red yourself or buy them somewhere?

[Kouri]

They're made from transparent red polycarboante stock I bought elsewhere - though they're only test-blades I'm using until I adjust my unstable blades to fit. I'll be re-using last  year's blades:

[Lady Agana Kath]

Those unstable blades are sick

[Samhain138]

You're going to sell me this one too, right?  Riiiiight? 😉

[Dauntless Seven]

You're going to sell me this one too, right?  Riiiiight? 😉

Back away from this lightsaber... farther away... even more... lol  

[Kouri]

Gonna focus on getting my own use out of this hilt before I worry about who gets to play with it later, hah.

(Have some DS Points for the banter though)

Major update is most of the parts are now primed in flat black.



Also tackled a minor issue. I mis-measured and wound up printing the battery sled a bit too short to make proper contact with the soundboard - some clashes shut the saber off. It's a quick and easy fix though. Drew up a 1mm spacer that plugs into the base of the sled and shims everything into a solid connection.







That last close-up of the sled shows off the shiny silver audio jack that allows sound to feed into my portable amplifier. To the lower right of the jack is one of three channels I cut into this piece to allow sound to vent - the plan is to fill in the original sound holes in the pommel for a bit more accuracy.

Plan for this weekend is to wrap up paint on the hilt and belt accessories. Sewing all next week.

[Dauntless Seven]

Looks so good.  I would really appreciate it if at some time you ( or someone else ) would start a thread that provides information about owning a 3D printer and how to use it to create these awesome saber and cosplay parts.  Is this a machine thingy/supplies that most members could afford to own would be one of my questions. 

[Kouri]

Dunno about starting a thread, but this should cover the basics. Also, I'm really sorry if any of this comes off as rude - I don't mean it that way, but I feel it's important to be straightforward before someone spends a couple hundred dollars on a paper-weight. Anywho~

Ask yourself these questions:

1) Are you able (or willing to learn) to 3D model parts for manufacture?  It's fairly different from modelling for animation or art.

2) Are you willing and able to perform maintenance on a machine? The tech isn't really at the same level as say an inkjet printer, so, especially on a cheap machine, you'll be looking at re-calibrating, tightening screws, replacing worn printheads, and even replacing burnt out electronics.

3) Do you realize and accept that printed parts won't come out with the finish of an injection molded part? Take a look at the buckle in the OP or squint at the ring I just printed - you'll see lines of various sizes that're artifacts of the printing process - basically the machine squirts layered rings of plastic like trying to build an entire cake with only a frosting pipe.

4) Are you willing to spend ~$900 on a quality machine or $700 on a quality kit? Or, at the very least, are you willing and able to troubleshoot/workaround the problems of a cheap $200 chinese kit on a weekly/daily basis?

If you can't readily answer "yes" to all four questions, then owning a printer really isn't for you.

If you want to dip your feet in design, you can find a piece of modelling software and upload your file to a printing service like Shapeways. Thingiverse lets you upload files and choose a third party to do the printing. There are a few others I'm failing to remember.

And no, it's not possible to 3D-print a duel-worthy saber. Doesn't matter what printer. Doesn't matter what material. It's not happening. Little accessories - maybe a shroud? Sure. But not a hilt. Belt-hanger? Sure. Light up for display? Ehhh, yeah. But take it into a fight against a proper hilt and it'll snap within three hits.