TK style sabers (warning)

[pandatrooper[TK]]

Just wanted to post this as a warning to those that may be interested in a certain TK style saber, available on Ebay and on the sellers site:

 

http://www.saberforge.com/index.php?page=view_albumℑ=44

 

 

In a nutshell, if you're looking for a higher caliber saber and are planning on ordering from Saber forge - I would advise against it.

 

There's a rash of negative feedback on FX sabers forums and the Custom Saber shop forums. Unfortunately, I ended up buying a saber from him a while back before I found out more info on his products. I got it in a reasonable amount of time, but there are serious issues with it.

 

In a nutshell:

- communication is rather slow / non-existent (seller was a prominent member on the various saber forums, but has dropped out of sight due to deals gone wrong / products failing / failed promises to fix things

- hilts are "OK" quality wise (a common issue is that the inside is dirty / oily, with metals shavings intact (like the part came fresh out of a machine shop without any clean up), and there are also some rough lathe marks

- the electronics installation is dodgy - at best

- wires are held in with solder and tape, no heat shrink, etc.. for stability

- there is no electronics sled, everything is just "stuffed inside" the hilt

- both battery holders broke off the board during the second battery change (and I'm super gentle with this stuff!)

- the sound board only lasts about 10 minutes at full charge (it's been discovered that if you're not running 6V consistently, the sound board drops into a constant loop swoosh sound and becomes useless.)

- only fresh AAA alkalines work for 10 mins, Rechargeable batteries do not offer enough voltage

- the LED is glued in, somewhat fragile with glue (TCSS LED’s are held in with 2 nylon bolts on an aluminum heat sink for comparison)

- the switches are non guarded / momentary, so your hands tend to make it go on / off a little too easily

- the blade is sanded on the outside, the inside has no film (bright top and bottom, but not the middle)

- the blade itself is slightly larger than 1" and does not fit into standard 1" blade holders / hilts

- the blade is 32" long, a bit short for my taste.

 

His soundboards (Saber Sound) are very glitchy, and only work with a minimum 6V of constant current. You can’t achieve this with regular batteries, they only last for a few minutes, then the board goes crazy and makes repeated “swoosh” sounds. Most people that got these boards experienced this.

 

If you're looking to spend $100 or less and want an LED blade with no sound and so-so machining, then it’s a "buyer beware" purchase. Looks good on a shelf and turning on the blade for friends, but lots of sabers do that (including FX / Hasbro). Personally, I would avoid this seller! I have settled my issues with him and I don’t intend to buy from him again.

 

If you're looking for something sturdy for dueling, higher quality machining, or something that lasts - look elsewhere. I have since ordered other parts from The Custom Saber shop and they are AWESOME in comparison. Couldn't recommend TCSS more, they are that good.

 

I'm not a saber expert, but I've become a lot more knowledgeable after taking various sabers apart and rebuilding them, along with building my own from TCSS parts.

 

I just wanted fellow FISD troopers to know, to save their money / learn from my mistakes.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

I've been wanting to go "Force Sensitive" for a long time now... can you provide the best sources for a hilt and parts to

: " I see that you've constructed another lightsabre, you're skills are complete. "

make a trooper happy?

[pandatrooper[TK]]

If you want a great custom saber that you can build on your own, the one stop shop is the Custom Saber shop.

 

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/

 

They carry each saber part in pieces (called the modular hilt system MHS), professionally machined. Then you pick the parts, and you can assemble it yourself! They even have a flash tool for playing with various pieces before you buy them

 

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/mhsbuilder/

 

They can powdercoat the parts in various colors, and they sell the hilt electronics as well as kits or in pieces. They also sell LED conversion kits for the various Hasbro / MR sabers (metal ones). For service charge, they can do some custom work as well. The do not sell complete or build sabers for you.

 

It's a whole nother world to delve into, but there are many tutorials on the forums to walk you through each step

 

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/ (see tutorials at the bottom)

 

Great service from honest sellers that have been around for a long time.

 

If you want affordable dueling sabers (no sound) for messing around with (and don't want to drop your new fancy aluminum hilt), check out Ultra sabers

 

http://www.ultrasabers.com/