TOPIC: 3D Printing Revan's Saber

Tight budget and Fallen's out of stock. What to do?

Fire up the 3D printer.

BUT WAIT. PRINTS AREN'T STRONG ENOUGH FOR AN ELECTRONIC LIGHTSABER HILT. WHAT'RE YOU DOING, KOURI?!

This design's basically going to be a really fancy shroud that fits over an aluminum tube, so I'll still have most of the durability and heat management of a standard aluminum hilt.

Anywho, onto the build - starting off with reference.



And after a bunch of modelling, I end up below. Biggest changes were beefing up the brass section of the emitter to print in one piece and smushing the pommel to function like the ones I designed for my last round of PVC sabers. (I'd wind up regretting this decision and re-designing the pommel)



And here are the parts sectioned off for printing:



Parts needed a bit of sanding on the ID, but eventually everything slid over the base tube:


Then I got to redesigning the pommel. Plan is to cut the bottom two rings off the hilt and integrate them into the pommel. Bulbous bit is pictured below:



Aaaand modified bits spread out:



To be continued...

DUUUUUUDE

That's all kinds of awesome.

Also all kinds of headaches. ^^;

Should be printing the new pommel tonight. Here's a render of how it'll hopefully look assembled:



Though realizing the AV switch is really limiting my install space to ~4". This thing's about Apprentice size. Roughly 1.3" (33mm) OD on the body, 1.4" (36mm) on the clamp, with a 1" (25mm) ID. Thinking of reprinting the switch section without the hole in the clamp, and just hiding a tactile switch in one of the black rings in the section above the clamp.

Jas-Ot wrote:
This right here.

Hi Kouri,

That is some real awesomeness there! My efforts at 3D modelling are slowly progressing but I really need a proper PC and not this old laptop to work on (i.e. a proper keyboard and 3 button mouse setup )

Keep up the good work!

For Tyeth

Kouri wrote:
4" is cutting it real tight in a 1" ID. For a stunt, it's fine, but anythng else is tough.

I've done plenty of PVC/PLA builds now and I find that 5" is the sweet spot for installs. I've designed a chassis for use with NBv4, 18650, and 20mm speaker.

Yeah, my own drawings pretty much agree with that 5" assessment, and moving to the tactile easily buys me another inch.

Just not sure if I want to use up one of my older Nanos or experiment with sticking this 3W Audio Amp on top of a Blade Builder board...

Jeez, that is really cool. Makes me want to get into 3d printing, I've already considered it for chassis but I feel like I'm not at the point where I can justify the investment of time and money.

Darth Squidious wrote:
I do an extensive amount of 3D printing for my lightsaber needs. Initially I did mainly chassis and blade plugs, but I eventually got into using it to make my own hilt designs with PVC.

This is my most recent creation. Almost ready for install!



Some of my past creations can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/vU2nT

Forgt to snap any photos, but the pommel parts are working as expected. Sound vents in the ribbed disc that attaches to the body, threaded recharge port on the very end bit. Also printed a new clamp section minus the 12mm hole.

In the mean time, here's a preview of the next Old Republic hilt I'll tackle after Revan:


(Can also confirm that Blade Builder boards won't cooperate with the little audio amp circuits I picked up.)

Cool, Bengel Morr's saber.

Kouri wrote: VZ?

Ah, I don't actually know the in-universe/in-game info on this hilt - I just know it as the hilt that Blur rendered onto their Jedi Knights in the first few cinematics. I've a buddy that's working on an Old Republic outfit and has a fondness for the TFU2-cinematic-inspired hilts, and since Blur basically used the same emitter for this hilt and the Starkiller, this seemed like a really good fit for his Jedi costume.

Anywho, back to Revan!

Here's the recharge port screwed into the pommel end-piece.



And the new pommel dry-fit onto the hilt:

Kouri wrote:
That specific one is mostly known as being Jedi Master Ven Zallow's. He's the guy fighting Darth Malgus in the "Decieved" trailer, and we see a closeup of this saber at the end on the ground. There's also an identical one in the "Sacrifice" trailer in white that Arcann presents to Valkorian which I believe is either Bengal Morr's as SFD said or Kao Cen Darach's (Satele Shan's master in the "Return" trailer); Thexan is presenting Ven Zallow's saber on the other side of the frame.

The More You Know!


Kouri wrote:
Ahhh, much better! Looking good!

Well I feel silly for not watching the "Deceived" trailer until the end - I missed that closeup and have been trying to de-toon the in-game model.

But yeah, I wound up catching the cinematics out-of-order, first noticing the hilt in "Return," and figured Blur was just using it as a standard-issue Knight hilt.

I was taking advantage that the Starkiller model was basically the Knight (Zallow) emitter with the Malgus switch/body/pommel, so I figured if I could at least get the emitter right based on other TFU2 Cinematic replicas, the rest would scale itself out. Now that I've got the CGI model close-ups, I see a few important tweaks I'll be making. Also, thanks for the "Sacrifice" mention - It'll give me a few more options for paint.

Yeah, many of the hilt designs in SWTOR wind up being carried by multiple people, much like the prequel trilogy. I forgot about Zallow carrying it, but it's been ages since I watched that cinematic. Bengel Morr is the final boss on Tython for the Jedi Knight class, both he and his apprentice carry that design of lightsaber.

As for the Revan, that recharge port in the pommel looks great.

How big is your 3D printer, Kouri?

So Kouri, what size aluminum tubing are you using as the core?

scifidude79 wrote:
200mm x 200mm (8" x 8") base, 300mm (12") high. I don't use nearly that much though, since I'm stuck breaking each of these sabers into sections to make complex parts printable.

Khang wrote:
Just some 1 1/8" OD tubing since it still leaves me with a wall thickness that still matches the machined recesses of other hilts. With the printed walls, I'm still looking at ~1.3" OD with space for indents in the print for detailing.

I figure I can use a beefier 1.25" OD tube if I want something that can take that hardest hits or if I want to score my own lines in the metal.

Kouri wrote:
1 1/8" is what I figured just looking at it. 1" ID or less?

Sticking with the 1" ID to keep install options open. Lets me use BladeBuilder boards for budget installs, or just about any other board as long as its battery and daughter-boards fit. CF would probably be tricky, but word is the next version will have a smaller footprint anywho.