TOPIC: Distressed Exhalted Hero Edition 12w

Finally received my first lightsaber today

Box was a bit squashed on the end, but everything inside seemed to be ok. The only issue right out of the box was with one of the threads being wedged at an angle. After I was able to finally get it out, it seems that it happened due to a fairly deep chamber into which male part can screw all the way in past any threads and thus wobble around. I imagine during shipping it went all the way in and then wedged itself at an angle. Would be good if either female threads would go all the way down or male thread part was longer.

After a quick fix up with two pairs of pliers...

After some abuse from sandpaper and acid bath and sandpaper again...

After polishing on a wheel...

Over everything seem to be made quite well.

Threads are a bit too loose when not glued down, but that should be fixed when they are glued (will need to figure out what to use for that, for now I used some plumbers tape and bit of super glue...).

The blade itself wobbles in the socket. Tape helped a bit, but it's not solid still, even though it takes some doing to seat it in with the tape.

There were few scratches on the hilt here and there, although since I used sandpaper on it right away, was not an issue for me, but if you are looking for perfect finish out of the box, you may be a bit disappointed. And those ridged on the hilt were rather sharp before I filed them down a bit, actually cut myself with something on the hilt at some point lol.

Really dig that subtle and distressed weathering you have going on there. As a fellow owner of the Exhalted, it's always great to see another one!

I bet you thought you'd ordered the Bane by mistake when you took it out of the box! Haha.

Glad you sorted it out though, and you've done a nice job on the weathering. I especially like the scrape marks around the base of the hilt where it would rub against your belt.

Thanks for sharing!

For Tyeth

Thanks guys. I really like how it came out, especially that those ridges are nice and rounded off now, feels much better hehe.

Btw anyone knows how to take out all of the electronics exactly?

I can take bottom part off that holds battery and sound card, but it doesn't really come off, at least not without much force, which I do not want to apply Imagine wires from that run to all the buttons and LED and I'm not sure how long they are.

May I ask what procedure you used to apply the acid for the weathering?

Table salt + copper sulfate + water. Not really an acid, but it will react with certain metals quite well and without strong acid fumes or something like muriatic acid.

What parts I could remove from the hilt, I just dipped in the solution for a while, rest I just did a wash with a paper towel soaked in solution.

If it can react long enough it will eat away at the metal surface and form non uniform texture, but that can take a little while. So you may want to pep the surface a bit with some dents, scratches etc. Those will remain darker after clean up.

Awesome, thanks!

just that first picture terrifies me about ordering one of these

Project_v3 wrote: It does create some anxiety about the thin-neck style, doesn't it? But they look so good.

I would not stress over it. The thin-neck design is certified for full speed sparring/dueling just as most other models are. I have one, and I can tell you from experience that it can take the stress. My son and I have gone at it hard, and it shows no signs of weakness or failure. I am sure things like what is pictured above happen from time to time, but if it does you are covered under warranty to have it repaired. Somehow, I don't think you will have to do that though.

That would only happen if threads are not glued together. Again, the female part is not threaded all the way down, so the male piece can go down past the whatever threads there are and then become loose deeper inside, at which point it can get stuck as it did in that picture. I feel there should be either threads all the way down or some stopper, but again this is only an issue if you ask for threads to not be glued together.

Would be too afraid to do any of that myself.

Great job.

What was your turnaround time?

10 weeks or so.

Looks good! I prefer no weathering on this hilt, but pretty much everything looks good on it!