Why so long?

Finally it is time to expand my offerings with one very important addition (to all collections) - a visible crystal. Althouigh the idea isn't new to me - and anyone who follows me over the years knows that I actually showed a working prototype back in 2022 - however there have been... slight delays. Let me quickly explain why.

In second gen, to make use of a crystal I had to hack one transistor off the pcb, connect the wire directly to a microcontroller output pin and use the output reserved for button illumination to actually communicate with the smart LED that illuminates the crystal. Not only that, but it also requires higher voltage than the battery can provide, so a step up converter needed to be places ond the very small board containing the LED. There were a couple of issues with that, and I had my hands full of other important work - like building the sbaers you ordered, which took priority. Time flied and the prorotype I showed was taunting me from the shelf it was placed on.

In the meantime the idea of third gen StuntSabers emerged - once I had to replace the then used LED with a newer (and properly available) version, it turned out that it can handle over double the power. And since I wanted to make sure that the two important aspects of every saber - brightness and loudness - were improved, it made it obvious that it is time to finaly bite the bullet and redesign the saber controller from scratch, with new, powerful capabilities in mind. After squeezing every last bit of performance I could, the new controller was done. But apart from performance, there was one more thing that was included from the start - the ability to control the crystal illumination independently of button illumination and to have the higher voltage available straight from the board, so that the small crystal LED board only needs that and wire connections. Thanks to that, no more hack jobs were required and the overall design was much more elegant.

Also, please keep in mind that it is hard to capture an illuminated crystal properly on camera. With its unique internal structure it looks even better in person than it does in those pictures.

Claw

First of the new models, Claw, exists in largely unchanged shape for three years already. Named of course after the main visual aspect of three black and sharp claws encircling the emitter. In this one I also wanted to make sure that the crystal is very visible - after all I did not put so much effort into it to then hide it inside the hilt like in some other. non-StuntSabers designs. So there are three big windows on all sides, making sure that the crystal i well exposed from all sides. Then comes the well known, illuminated button and a mixture of black and beadblasted details. And of course some knobs from my knob containing suitcase, place in a way to break symmetry a little, but also out of the way of comfortable grip.

However, after keeping you waiting for so long, I also wanted to show something new, that was not presented before. And that is how Defender was made.

Defender

This hilt was in a way an anti-Claw. The crystal is much more enclosed here - though of course still not hidden as it is supposed to be the eye-catcher. There are no sharp or protruding elements, only a comfortable grip and a thinner part above the button. Ornamentation is rather tamed, but important - brass accents on the emitter, black geometric shapes on the butt. And also some knobs in a place not dissimilar from Claw. It turns out that around there is the perfect space to place any such additions. Although it doesn't show in this picture well, there are also two cutouts on the emitter through which blade is visible, as well as deep groves in the thicker middle part. I took some inspiration from Shin Hati's hilt which quickly caught my attention when I first saw it.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out, it took only a couple of days to design (and the prototype was finished the day before a potential unveiling, on May 3rd) and there is something in it that really makes it stand out from other hilts I have. Defender quickly joined my absolute favourite hilts I've done.

Crystal

Enough about the hilts, there is some crystal in there, but what can I do with that? Well, first of all, it is not just some crystal, but a real, polished quartz crystal, thanks to which each one has its own very unique internal structure that reflects light differently. I wanted to only use natural materials (no plastic or 3D printed parts), so there was really no other choice than quartz. It ticked all the boxes it needed to - it lights up very well and has a great crystal feel to it (duh! it is a crystal after all).

Capabilities

I spent a lof time working on integrating the crystal with other features of the saber to make sure it provides as much customisability as possible. So we have:

Full control over fade in and fade out effects. You can bind them to the blade or make them fully independent.
Flash on Clash connection - if you so desire, the crystal will flash just like your blade.
Fully independent illumination. You can of course bind it to the blade for ease of use or set it entirely differently with about the same features that the blade itself has.
It would be a shame if crystal could only be fully appreciated when the saber is turned on. So, even when the saber is off, the crystal can be active with a full suite of effects like breathing, flickering or going through all colours of the rainbow. You can also specify the intensity separately from colour to choose between luminosity and time required between charges. In some cases a small decrease in luminosity can provide twice as long working time.
Transition effects between crystal when saber is on and when it is off. You can use a simple linear interpolation, but you can also set a full fade-in effects with configurable speed and blink - just like you do for the blades. You can also set a delay, so it only reactivates a couple seconds after the saber has been turned off instead of immediately.

As you can see you can configure everything to your heart's content and I am sure everyone will find their favourite way to do so.

See you next time!

Learn what's up

Crystal Debutants

Wisdom - making of

StuntSabers 3.0 is already here!