Electrum Wind - Initial thoughts/Disassembly (and quick disconnect coupler)

[James Casey]

So, Mace Windu, huh? Kind of a badass - Jedi Council member (even leader, at one point), one of the finest swordmen in the Jedi Order, the only Jedi ever to master Vaapad without falling to the dark side. Seems like the kind of guy who'd carry a particularly sweet lightsabre, right?

Yup.

This is the Electrum Wind, if not the first you've seen, then maybe the first in the UK (FIRST! *Cough*)


For comparison - Manticore, Dominix v2 and Menace with the Electrum Wind

It's very close in resemblance to Mace's hilt, a stunning mix of silver, black and 'electrum' gold.



It's an ornate hilt, with a lot going on - sometimes, as we shall see.



There are various options available when you buy the Electrum Wind, one of which is the rounded or raised 'chamfered' grips. As most seemed to be going for rounded grips when I ordered mine, I thought I'd be nice to you all and go for the chamfered grips



Both the pommel and emitter are MHS compatible pieces; Remove the emitter, and you can see the set screw poking through the hilt and holding the blade in place. Note that the emitter is only the golden part at the top of the emitter - it cannot hold a set screw, but could cap a multi-part emitter like the Menace, I think.



The black hashing is fascinating to me. There are a series of diagonal lines giving grip around the black section to the rear of the hilt, and also just above the pommel. This isn't plastic or rubber, rather (so far as I can tell!) this has been cut into the aluminium itself with the hashing anodised or powder coated. You may be able to see the slight overlap of the colouring where some of the lines meet the plain silver area.



So, this is the hilt with the emitter and pommel removed but... can we go deeper?

Yep.

Remove the set screw and covertec wheel (chunky hex key, common to various hilts) and the screws holding the grip section in place (very skinny hex key, unique in my experience to the Electrum Wind) and you can start removing other parts, too.

In fact, including the emitter and pommel the hilt is made up of 10 parts, and only 4 screws.



There's a lot of friction holding things in place, and having disassembled it once, I have a slight rattle due to the speed at which I put it back together. It'll take some getting used to, I imagine.




Indented on the rear to let you line up the screws

But this seems to be an infinitely adjustable hilt. I quite like it with everything removed, resulting in a simple, utilitarian appearance, but I suspect I'll be playing around with it for a while. Maybe just the grips and a Manticore emitter? The possibilities are there to explore, and I want to see what folks come up with!

*

The quick release coupler is awesome, simple as. Working like a Hozelok adapter (do you guys have that outside the UK?) you pull back on the outer section to pop the staff apart, or rejoin the two halves. Simple as that.



The staff isn't fixed the way it is with an adjustable coupler; It will twist in your hands, but it's a quick release coupler!



And, at last, my Menace staff is complete!

More to come on the Electrum Wind, of course, but I wanted to give folks my first thoughts, having got it today

[Lord Japarco]

Wow...great job. Thanks for the info and the pics. Points...

[BatMike90]

Thank you for the small coupler review. I will just stick with the adjustable.

[Benji]

Absolutely gorgous. The electrum wind is one slick saber... and seeing it disassembled got me excited.

Good little notes on the coupler. Think I saw a hose lock adapter advertised here before... Don't see it in stores much though. But the concept seems simmilar to an air hose fitting.

That menace staff... Now you have to do a video using it. 

[hazard502]

Whaaaaat?  Look at that baby taken apart!  It's interesting to me that the whole exterior can break down without interfering with the electronics - as compared to the Flamberge which requires some electronic surgery.  Epic MHS play time - thanks James for this in-depth sneak peek.  Points!

[JediXIX]

Indeed, thank you James, you know exactly how to satisfy our needs, lol   . . . points  


Lord C predicted this would have some similarities to how the Scorpion goes together . . . and there they are . . .


I'm intrigued about the black textured area's even more now . . . to see the upper part black on inside seems it has been anodised or coated then part machined away to reveal the silver again, but the lower piece above the pommel is gold (including the inside) / silver AND black in one piece ? . . . From your pics it looks like the covertec HAS to be in place (or a similar screw of some type) or that lower piece would freely move around ? . . . And the other pieces are held in place by the screws holding the grips at the bottom and blade at the top . . . I'm also more intrigued how the gold switch parts are held in place ? . . . there seems to be a gap underneath them making it look like they have been attached some how ? . . .

Either way . . . . Excellent pics James . . . . it really is a beautiful hilt . . . .  


EDIT . . . ohh . . . and . . . technically the emitter piece could be used as a pommel maybe ? ? ?

[RedMileJedi]

Love the in-depth review and all the pictures!

Cheers!

(does this make us Electrum brothers now?  )

[B1ondeange1]

Glad I'm not the only one to order the quick coupler with my electrum wind order

Awesome to see it broken down, thanks

[Lord Japarco]

So, the emitter wont work with another saber, or it will, but only for display, since you don't have a retention screw... Well, you can still try other emitters on the electrum wind body, and you will also have two retention screws to give more stability to the blade...

[Benji]

Indeed, thank you James, you know exactly how to satisfy our needs, lol  . . . points 


Lord C predicted this would have some similarities to how the Scorpion goes together . . . and there they are . . .


I'm intrigued about the black textured area's even more now . . . to see the upper part black on inside seems it has been anodised or coated then part machined away to reveal the silver again, but the lower piece above the pommel is gold (including the inside) / silver AND black in one piece ? . . . From your pics it looks like the covertec HAS to be in place (or a similar screw of some type) or that lower piece would freely move around ? . . . And the other pieces are held in place by the screws holding the grips at the bottom and blade at the top . . . I'm also more intrigued how the gold switch parts are held in place ? . . . there seems to be a gap underneath them making it look like they have been attached some how ? . . .

Either way . . . . Excellent pics James . . . . it really is a beautiful hilt . . . . 


EDIT . . . ohh . . . and . . . technically the emitter piece could be used as a pommel maybe ? ? ?

The black textured areas intrigue me as well. I have a guess that it's a slightly larger diameter alluminum tube that's been spun on a lathe with a special tool to create the texture. Then it would have the precise section cut from it to make the arc that fits the switch area. Annodized black. It's then carefully ground in certain places to get the silver parts.

But that's just me speculating.

So, the emitter wont work with another saber, or it will, but only for display, since you don't have a retention screw... Well, you can still try other emitters on the electrum wind body, and you will also have two retention screws to give more stability to the blade...

Hmm... depending on how thick the metal on that emitter is, you might be able to find a screw with a certain thread spacing and drill a few of them through a couple of the tiny windows spaced around the emitter. That would possibly work, but might marr the finish on the inside of the little window holes.

[scifidude79]

Sweet review, James.  Point, of course.  Seeing yours in pieces answers a lot of questions, so I probably won't have to disassemble mine when I get it today.  (may wait till next week for that )

The quick release coupler looks sweet.  I ordered one of those too, but it hasn't shipped yet.

[hazard502]

It looks like anything between the parts that are held in one place by blade set screw and the covertec wheel screw will then be snuggly fixed in place by the grip shroud which is adjustable along the back channel on the main body for a proper pressure fit of all the parts above it.

What amount of time it would've taken to figure out how to put this together and have everything machined right is impressive.

[Deep]

Just want to make sure all users are aware that disassembling the entire saber as James has done here and then being unable to properly re-assemble it is not covered under warranty.  We do not recommend disassembling your saber this way if you are not certain that you can re-assemble it properly. 

[sedstiskyfaller]

Awesome, James! Thanks for putting it up against some other sabers for the length comparison.

I am more impressed the more I see this saber and your disassembly showcases the engineering it took to make the design come to life. Had no idea it was a base tube all the way through. Great review as always    +1

[MavRick]

  Great review as always James!     Very well covered. That is an awesome saber.    Light side point to you my friend! It appears that our friends at Ultra Sabers has out done them selves once again.