09-28-2007, 02:18 PM
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#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,629
| electrifying a sabre
I have a dry sabre that I want to transform into an electric one. What exactly do I need to do? Or would it be better to just buy an electric one? Thanks for your help.
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Can't you, just this once, f*** off?
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09-28-2007, 02:34 PM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: MD
Posts: 1,013
| Take the saber apart, insulate the inside of the guard, add a "saber" socket, add insulation to the last 7-8 cm of the guard and pommel, and reassemble. No wiring required (except perhaps for shorting a foil socket to make a saber socket).
The most common means of insulating the inside of the guard is to paint it (if it isn't already painted). Just make sure to leave a bare spot in the middle so that the socket can have bare metal-to-metal contact with the guard. Or you can buy a special pad that cover the entire inside of the guard (IIRC Leon Paul has them).
You can make a "saber" socket by shorting the B and C lines together, or simply buy one where that is already shorted. Just make sure that it matches you body cord. 
You can also buy a plastic sleeve that fits over the end of guard and an insulated pommel, or simply cover them with tape. Just don't use duct tape unless you want a mess when you eventually have to take everything apart to replace a broken blade.  | |
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09-28-2007, 04:17 PM
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#3 | | Have Blazer, Will Travel
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,037
| A really bad way to do it would be to use a defective body cord and a foil socket. 
Also, if you don't have one already you'll want a pad inside your guard around the blade/grip. | |
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09-28-2007, 04:31 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Pacoima, ca USA
Posts: 5,829
| You can also short the B and C lines by removing one of the insulators on the B receiving socket so one of the nuts is in direct contact with the bracket....no worry about the shorting wire breaking then...
Works best with a french socket...hard to do with a bayo, a little mroe work needed with a german because you need to shave one of the insulators down... | |
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09-28-2007, 05:03 PM
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#5 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 960
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Purple Fencer  You can also short the B and C lines by removing one of the insulators on the B receiving socket so one of the nuts is in direct contact with the bracket....no worry about the shorting wire breaking then...
Works best with a french socket...hard to do with a bayo, a little mroe work needed with a german because you need to shave one of the insulators down... | Someone showed me a nice metal washer the size of the bottom insulator. Pop the bottom insulator off, put this washer in it's place, and bam, a saber socket. | |
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09-28-2007, 06:38 PM
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#6 | | Have Blazer, Will Travel
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,037
| Was it purple? I seem to recall seeing some of those. | |
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09-29-2007, 03:38 AM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Pacoima, ca USA
Posts: 5,829
| You mean one of these?? http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ing/Spacer.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...bresocket2.jpg
if so....those are the ones I came up with a year or so back...the aluminum tube was capped and anodized purple, then cut into 2 or 3mm thick pieces (which resulted in a nice clean conductive surface) and drilled out a little bit to fit over teh shoulder washer...I was able to convert about 30 sockets in only a few minutes.
Unfortunately, the insulators on THESE sockets were just a teeeeeny bit bigger than the Uhlmann models,,,but ut was enough that the spacers didn;t want to fit...I'm trying to find a way to get them made a touch wider.
And the purple only serves one purpose...so I can see whch socket's been altered for sabre. | |
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09-30-2007, 10:21 PM
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#8 | | Have Blazer, Will Travel
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 10,037
| That'd what I meant, yes... | |
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09-30-2007, 10:47 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hollywood, CA
Posts: 149
| I think the short answer would be, yes it's better just to buy an electric one. | |
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10-01-2007, 08:03 AM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: MD
Posts: 1,013
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywood Troy I think the short answer would be, yes it's better just to buy an electric one. | Actually that may not be such a bad idea, if only because you'll need at least two working weapons to compete.
Buy an electric saber. Compare it with your existing dry saber, noting all the differences (socket, insulated guard and pommel). Then figure out what you need to do to convert your dry saber to electric, and make the modifications.
At the end of all this you will have two working weapons. | |
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10-01-2007, 10:11 AM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Pacoima, ca USA
Posts: 5,829
| Quote:
Originally Posted by SJCFU#2 Actually that may not be such a bad idea, if only because you'll need at least two working weapons to compete.
Buy an electric saber. Compare it with your existing dry saber, noting all the differences (socket, insulated guard and pommel). Then figure out what you need to do to convert your dry saber to electric, and make the modifications.
At the end of all this you will have two working weapons. | The price difference between a dry and electric saber (at least the way i sell it) is about $10....covering the price of teh socket. Just buy the electric one and save yourself the trouble. | |
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10-01-2007, 01:52 PM
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#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: MD
Posts: 1,013
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Purple Fencer The price difference between a dry and electric saber (at least the way i sell it) is about $10....covering the price of teh socket. Just buy the electric one and save yourself the trouble. | I agree that the OP would probably be better off if he had bought an electric saber from the start - in most cases the cost difference is probably less than the cost of the parts needed for the modification. However presumably the OP already has a dry saber that he is looking to convert, so I'm suggesting that he buy one electric saber (since he will still need at two for competition), and convert the dry saber that he already has over to electric so it can serve as a backup.
If he's really clever he'll also talk to a smart vendor (such as yourself) and order whatever parts he needs for the conversion at the same time as the new electric saber. That way he can lay the two of them side-by-side and note the differences between them, thereby discovering much of the answer to his original question. | |
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10-01-2007, 03:22 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Pacoima, ca USA
Posts: 5,829
| Quote:
Originally Posted by SJCFU#2 I agree that the OP would probably be better off if he had bought an electric saber from the start - in most cases the cost difference is probably less than the cost of the parts needed for the modification. However presumably the OP already has a dry saber that he is looking to convert, so I'm suggesting that he buy one electric saber (since he will still need at two for competition), and convert the dry saber that he already has over to electric so it can serve as a backup.
If he's really clever he'll also talk to a smart vendor (such as yourself) and order whatever parts he needs for the conversion at the same time as the new electric saber. That way he can lay the two of them side-by-side and note the differences between them, thereby discovering much of the answer to his original question. | So long as he adds the proper socket and does the other alterations himself, it'll be fine...and they're easy to do....UGLY sometimes, but easy. | |
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10-07-2007, 06:26 PM
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#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Fresno, California
Posts: 2,116
|  The asking the newbies to go "re-wire" their saber when it's not working is a fav of mine. That look... priceless...
Reminds me of when someone would cut a piece of wood too short in my grandpa's door shop.
"Aw, dammit. OK, go get the wood stretcher...."
They'd be back their for 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell a wood stretcher was. Meanwhile he was laughing his ass off....
Wow... I'm evil sometimes. And rambling. We now returned you to your regular F.net programming...
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"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."
"Thought crime does not entail death: thought crime is death."
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10-08-2007, 10:52 AM
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#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: London
Posts: 498
| Quote:
Originally Posted by I_luv_saber The asking the newbies to go "re-wire" their saber when it's not working is a fav of mine. That look... priceless...
Reminds me of when someone would cut a piece of wood too short in my grandpa's door shop.
"Aw, dammit. OK, go get the wood stretcher...."
They'd be back their for 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell a wood stretcher was. Meanwhile he was laughing his ass off....
Wow... I'm evil sometimes. And rambling. We now returned you to your regular F.net programming... | just go out and get us another tin of striped paint will you.
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I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing! | |
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10-08-2007, 03:02 PM
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#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Fresno, California
Posts: 2,116
| *rummages in back room*
__________________
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."
"Thought crime does not entail death: thought crime is death."
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