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TOPIC: How cheaper is it to do it yourself ?

How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 3 weeks ago #72372

  • Tazendeuk
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Hello community !

My question is pretty straight forward, since it is in the title :) I was about to go for a very detailed list of questions from a newbie's point of view, but after spending around 4-5 hours today reading, searching and watching videos, I ended up being discouraged.
My collection currently holds exactly 1 saber so far :) I want to speed up the process a little bit, but of course money has to be an issue at some point, since my lovely Champion Reliant came to me for $450 after international shipping.

I assumed buying an empty hilt and then DIY would be a cheaper solution to achieve the same features as a champion, but after doing the maths, I ended up with a result close to the same amount, with a much higher amount of time, energy, risk and skills involved.

Did I miss something ? Is it supposed to be cheaper, or was my assumption wrong ?
How much would you say a saber ends up costing after installing sound and light to an empty hilt ?
Would you suggest to buy it empty and immeditely ship it to a custom master smith for electronics install ? I dont really know the premium they ask for labor costs yet, as they tend to be very discret about their prices (which I respect).

Going through this research has actually raised my interest for custom builds and my admiration for the level of competence and passion put into the little piece of steel i hold in my hand right now :) I'm afraid i am slowly getting hooked :p

Thanks in advance for your expertise and wisdom.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 3 weeks ago #72373

  • Jas-Ot
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It can be a little cheaper, but I would say it's more about being able to add or use higher end components that really make DIY attractive.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 3 weeks ago #72395

  • Tazendeuk
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Thank you very much sir.

Would you say updating a Warrior tier to a champion is easier than going directly from the empty hilt to light and sound ?
I am asking this because I assumed Warrior would include a chassis on which you just have to add a soundboard, but I think that it's also missing a battery and recharge port, and that you will have to take out the current board for another one anyway, which might in the end be even more complicated and less cost-efficient.

But how could the Warrior tier work without a battery and a recharge port ? That's what I can't understand from the parts list given on saberforge's description of the warrior tier.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 3 weeks ago #72399

  • KelbornX
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I would think it's easier to go from empty to Champion than Warrior to Champion.

The Warrior tier has a battery holder with wires going to the latching switch and LED. There is no recharge port* because you just pull the battery out of the holder and put it in a charger. So to upgrade from Warrior you'd need to re-wire everything with the soundboard, a new momentary switch, and the recharge port. Much simpler to just do that from the start or use the PnP kit.

SF does not use a chassis in their sabers. Champion and Hero boards are attached to the battery holder and wrapped in heatshrink.

*Bane and Vanquish are the only sabers that have RCPs as Warrior tier because of how everything is stuffed into the curved hilt
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 2 weeks ago #72403

  • SadiraOrphesu
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For a champion level saber the pricing breakdown goes like this. (all of these prices are before shipping and are in USD)
Completed Champion Saber: $400
Initiate Elite Hilt: $150
The Individual Electronics that Saberforge uses in their hilts and sells: $130 (This doesn't include the tools, wires, resistors, or a chassis if you want one)
The full PNP Champion Kit: $220

So basically buying the individual components through Saberforge saves you $120 but you assume all the risk in building it yourself as these parts are very delicate, and there are still other parts beyond what Saberforge sells you will need or might want. The plus side of this is, of course, the satisfaction of doing it yourself and adding your own personal touches to the hilt.

To buy the hilt and the PNP Kits saves you $30 but since it comes pre-wired it takes a lot of the risk out of putting it together yourself.

It might not save you much to do it yourself but it definitely makes the hilt more personal in my opinion.
Last Edit: 10 months 2 weeks ago by SadiraOrphesu.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 2 weeks ago #72406

  • KelbornX
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SadiraOrphesu wrote:
To buy the hilt and the PNP Kits saves you $30 but since it comes pre-wired it takes a lot of the risk out of putting it together yourself.

Only if you don't get a blade, then it's $250. The main savings on the Champion PnP kit is that it comes with quick connects and the "energy vibration" standard. You have to add $10 and $25, respectively, for those upgrades on a regular Champion install.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 2 weeks ago #72408

  • Jas-Ot
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Depending on where you source your parts and what you plan to build and how, you can save some money.

However I find that for any DIY build that it's very easy to inflate the costs over what your standard SF champion would run.

The main advantage IMO is a truly custom saber, and components thar could be beyond the SF champions capabilities.

The Sabercore2.0 is a decent board. It's overpriced IMO for its features but it is VERY durable and I have them in my dueling sabers just for that reason. For around the same price you could throw an NBv3 in a saber or a Spark2 and especially in the case of the spark2, those have capabilities that outshine the Sabercore2.0 boards. FOC, realistic blade effects, multiple fonts, just to name a few.

If you wanted to learn to build the Sabercore2.0 board wouldn't be a bad one to start with. It's got nice big pads for soldering, it's very straight forward and only has one channel so it simplifies things. Pico crumble would be another great one to start with.
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How cheaper is it to do it yourself ? 10 months 2 weeks ago #72417

  • Tazendeuk
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Thank you all very much for your help and advices !
I am really getting passionate about this and may start doing it as soon as I feel knowledgeable enough.
With communities like this one and YouTube tutorials, what a great time to be willing to learn a new discipline :)

I will keep you guys updated on my discoveries and worries, and soon also on my achievements !

Thank you all very much again :)
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