The basic conversion, keeping the shell of the FFX blade is $99 plus the cost of shipping the saber to US, ~$15-20. Keep in mind though that that FFX blade has no diffusion material by itself once the led string has been gutted from it. I'd spend the extra $20-30 on getting a heavy-grade blade added to it. It'll look better and last longer than the FFX blade by itself. So, up to $150. But then it's a fully duelable saber with a removable blade and sound. So, woo.
Took some of my sabers out to the Fireworks at Niawanda Park last night. Some of the kids really got a kick out of them. My friend Matt wanted to play around with his DSLR camera and we got this awesome shot: [image=http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264122_2047598743084_1037898058_2349801_3223429_n.jpg]
Ugggh... the addiction.... Just worked out a deal for a new saber and I'm waiting on final word from the vendor. I've been planning this for months and I can finally pull the trigger on this...
I might have something new to show for next week... I got a shipping number this week, and after contacting the builder, he was going to ship it out today...i hope...
quote]The basic conversion, keeping the shell of the FFX blade is $99 plus the cost of shipping the saber to US, ~$15-20. Keep in mind though that that FFX blade has no diffusion material by itself once the led string has been gutted from it. I'd spend the extra $20-30 on getting a heavy-grade blade added to it. It'll look better and last longer than the FFX blade by itself. So, up to $150. But then it's a fully duelable saber with a removable blade and sound. So, woo.[/quote] As I learned from Karen's misfortune, the MR/Hasbro blades are not very tough. When the tip of her saber was broken off, it took a small chunk of the blade with it. I could be mistaken, but I believe the blades on the FFX sabers are acrylic, just by the way it broke. I would hate to see one shatter and hurt someone. I would spend a little extra and get a different blade, or better yet, order the materials from TCSS (poly tube and blade tip) and I'll give you some blade film to diffuse it. Not sure if you are still interested in doing this or not Chris, but I thought this would be helpful information for anyone else looking to convert FFX sabers, or a caution to those dualing with FFX sabers. Jon
If we're going to be going the homemade blade route, there's a small tip I picked up from Ultrasabers when placing the group orders. The FFX stock blades are *just* a bit narrower than the normal 1" saber blades that most small fan companies (like US and TCSS) use. If you want to put one of their blades (or a homemade one of the same size) into a Force FX hilt, you have to sand the part of the blade that goes into the hilt down just a touch.
It appears that Ultra Sabers will be at Dragon Con, where we are right now. We'll stop by and check them out, then report back.
New saber from Saberforge arrived today. Got a little clean up work to do on some rough edges, but overall I'm pretty happy with the saber. Looks great with my UltraEdge blade on it. It's missing the Covertec wheel that I had requested, so I am waiting for a reply confirmation that he is sending one out to me. I'll have it installed locally whenever it comes in. The 5W LEDEngine diode is extremely bright and compared to my Ultrasabers blade, completely outshines the Ultrasaber. It's not as loud as I was hoping for, but the sound quality is really good and I like the bling. Running a PlectorLabs designed Petit Crouton soundboard/driver. For the next saber, I'll have to figure out how to build one properly... Edit: I charged my batteries for my Ultrasaber. Although the 5W saber is still brighter, running rechargable NiMH batteries in my Ultrasaber pushes the LED a little more than standard batteries (alkalines, which closes the gap between the two considerably. Big plus for me is the features of the Petit Crouton card, including the "live blade" flickering and fade on/off. I'll bring it to the next meeting for anyone to take a look at.
