TOPIC: My Ronin MK3 has arrived.

Dauntless 7 wrote: Use the same content description that SF used when the package was inbound to you. It's usually flashlight/toy prop or something along those lines. Its value to you and the cost to you to have it replaced in the event it goes missing, which will be the retail value of the content. You may need to apply the currency conversion as the outbound dec. forms are native to your domestic currency. As above or use text as you've referenced ie 'lightsaber toy'. Check the 'returned merchandise' category. Insuring it is at your discretion and your placement of trust in the outgoing Postal System and inbound receiving Postal System. I'd suggest Tracking (for your own peace of mind) and Signature on delivery (for additional peace of mind) as SF wont send you an acknowledgment confirming its receipt. Paying for the extras will inevitably add to Postage expenditure and any extra insurance will influence the final cost as well. The extra insurance amount usually has to equal the declared marked content value.

OvrcAHst, you are a very helpful fellow... The rest of us were just using this thread to make homoerotic Top Gun references and as an excuse to talk like a pirate.

It's apparent that we feel D7's pain

Victoria is actually not that far from SF, and me for that matter, it sucks that you have to go to so much trouble to send something 5/6 hours away.

Pesky borders.

I just sent the saber back in a shoe box via Canada Post. This may be helpful information for those of us who live beyond the northern border. The cost for 5 business day delivery, tracking/signature and $300 insurance ( should likely have gone with $400 Cdn. ) was $40.00. So not inexpensive but expecting that it might even be more. Indicated that it was a toy lightsaber as the SF customs form did not call it a LED flashlight, etc. but by the saber model name. Also that it was being returned for warranty/repair.

So will see what happens and hopefully get my working saber back in a few weeks.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out.

That's not horrendous I suppose...


...best of luck D7. I truly hope everything goes smoothly for you.

My saber parcel arrived safely at SF. Wish me good luck that the repair is done correctly and that the tsuba is switched out. Thanks for all your help fellas.

Good luck!

Wow sounds like quite the hassle, hope everything works out and you get your healthy ronin soon, D7.

Hi everyone. Just picked up my repaired Ronin. Replaced the recharge port as wires caught on quick connect. Checked why the quick disconnect LED was not coming out. New LED installed that has the black not the silver housing. Will leave this saber with the deep red as the indigo one has the silver housing and I don't want any wires getting damaged. Actually I really like the red color and av switch ring is the same. Had purchased a 26" red day blade with my order.

Finally the saber legion tsuba was switched for the rising sun version which I like better but both are good for different reasons. This tsuba design will be more complimentary for an upcoming outer hilt customization if the Mk3 knurled surface will let me dremel without making a mess. If not then this saber is going to look really battle worn lol.

Right now the saber is being recharged properly.

More pics and a review to come later. For Canadians whom may have to mail back a warranty saber... expect an additional $13 customs fee for processing of the returning package.

Thanks so much to all who helped and joined me during the whole adventure and the return of my saber. Let the slashing and bashing soon begin.

Happy to hear you got it back!

Thanks ! Am glad to get it back and hopefully repaired. Have a question(s) though. Were the wires caught on the QD somehow or what exactly does " quick connect " mean or refer to ? Also the RP charger light is yellow. Should I expect it to go to another color or no color at all once the saber is fully charged ?

Hi Dauntless7,

Great news on getting your hilt back! I will keep my fingers crossed that it now serves you long and well.

A Quick Connect is the little red Deans connectors used by SF to allow you to swap out your LED for a different coloured one. Possibly the LED wire slipped down far enough into the hilt so that it somehow snagged on something and during transit the saber got jostled and the LED wire stretched unnaturally and got damaged on the little connector. I won't speculate on the charger but I thought the Champion/SaberCore2 and Hero chargers had a Red/Amber coloured LED for charging which turns Green when fully charged.

Hope to see some pictures in the future,

For Tyeth

Dauntless 7 wrote:
The original recharge port was probably installed between the LED wires by mistake, which cause them to get hung up and prevent the LED module from coming out since there'd be no slack.

Quick connect and quick disconnect are the same thing. One's a SF term, one's wrong (oops, I mean US lol).

The charger should light green before you plug it into the saber, an orange/red while it's plugged in and charging, and then go green again when it's charged. Likely has a bad red LED in it giving you a yellow instead of orange.

Thanks fellas. Ha ha KelbornX... but for the record nothing much was connecting or disconnecting lol. I'm too chicken to remove the red LED because it is settled so deep in to the emitter. So I suppose that means that the indigo qc will be used for another saber.

Hey Ty ( or anyone ) . So do you have any ideas regarding what I should attempt to carve into this saber ? No leather wraps or greeblies... want to keep it lean and mean.

Thought I was getting color blind. If the charger light is viewed from the side it looks yellow to a light amber but definitely red if looked at from the top. Being a SF almost newbie again is just no fun.

That coarser sounding Crimson board is not bad at all. I had concerns if I would like the sound of it but it seems to go well with this saber and especially with that deep red LED. Just have to be patient with the saber fully charging up then look out neighbors and things that go bump in the night ( like me ).

It's good to hear you got that saber back and it's working properly now, D7. Those fees you Canadians pay, though.

Hi D7,
Dauntless 7 wrote:
I thought you could turn this beauty into the big brother of (or mother of, if you're feeling in a maternal mood!) your SP-Stalker hilt. A few ideas sprang to mind. You could use the gold paint you have to highlight the raised parts of the knurling (depending on how deep and wide the grooves are) so you had gold diamonds separated by black pinstripes. Or maybe you could use the gold (or the silver) at the joints/choke points. The zebra style pattern on the rings of SP-Stalker (the four rings below the switch section) should be possible to recreate by carving some of the knurling blocks away and rounding off others.

And for the Tsuba, if you had a solid faced one you could engrave an image of a panther and it's claw posed similar to these tiger based tsubas I found online (I did look for panther tsuba but tigers came up instead!)





For the Rising Sun Tsuba you could paint the centre design gold and have a silver outer rim (no not that Outer Rim!)
And your Panther could still have it's tail hanging from the pommel (the pommel could be gold too to match the chokes and joints)
Any way I hope this might spark some other ideas, this was just what popped in my head having seen your work!

kind regards,
For Tyeth

Yes! I'm so happy for you. Hopefully this time everything is working perfect.

Thanks Ty for all your helpful customization ideas and photos. The knurled surface and 3 parts to this saber is causing quite a challenge. There are times when I won't be using the extension piece and likely will mostly be keeping the saber at 12" instead of 16" and yes Darth Squid-Kraken size does matter lol.

So I have a tentative plan but won't share yet as it might be a no go since I haven't yet test dremeled the surface. If I can somehow pull this off without totally losing it... as having to go different directions than my original visual thoughts. Running wolves now out and will have to customize each section individually and then hopefully tie the elements and theme together. Am looking forward to the challenge but may have expectations way beyond my carving/engraving skill level on this rougher patterned surface. Yikes nervous just thinking about it !!

Hi Dauntless 7,

No problem, having had a closer look at the knurling it doesn't appear as deep as I thought so scratching out sections might (I say might) be a bit easier than I thought.

I will try and think of some other options for you in case but you did just mention Wolves...maybe a theme based on these new Force Wolves?

I'll keep watching your progress,
For Tyeth

I've got my own Mk3 coming in the mail this weekend, so I'll look it over and see if I can't offer some ideas.

Thanks so much Kouri. My Ronin is weathered with the rising sun tsuba and metal kk. Will leave the qc on the deep red LED. Actually I'm no longer sure that it is deep red. The technician could have replaced with the regular red instead as there seems to be an orangey cast. Not going to attempt to remove it to see what's marked on the housing as the present shade is strong and bright. Kind of matches the av ring. My present concern with using such tiny dremel burrs is that they could potentially get stuck in the knurled pattern even though it's not deep.

Hope that you will enjoy your saber and am very interested in your custom plans.