Halo 4/5 Energy Sword with Working Soundboard and LED's - WIP

[MoeSizzlac]

Hello all,

I'm trying to make a decent electronic sound and light Halo 4/5 energy sword using TheRaptorClaw's Halo: Type-1 Energy Sword Handle.

Most of this I'm making from leftover parts of other projects.

I'm using a 27mm Speaker
a 3.7v rechargeable battery
a Nano Biscotte Sound Module V4
18650 Battery holder
Neopixel Lights
8/32 Screws and nuts
Momentary switch

The first thing to do is split the model and create an upper and lower blank that I can work with. This took longer than I care to admit but below was the result:

Next, I needed to hollow out the interior for all the components, screws and wiring:

Print:

Dry fit components:

Sand and prime and paint handle:

and now I'm currently at the point of making the blade. I only got to outline the parts so far:

That's all for now. I still have to finish the blade shaping, internal wiring, sound font programming and then it'll be done. I'll share files if anyone wants them when the project is complete.

 

[ReClaimer8015]

Ohhhhhh, Snap!
You are doing exactly what i was tryin to start myself...Your Grip and blade is definitively H4, i wanted to make the H5 Beta Version (not the one which made into the game)

The Blade is similar to the H4 Version, i like this little holes...don`t know what it resembles however.
I already have the Grip as a 3d model made by CPO mendez , just need to make it holllow. The Blade i already did myself, would use a CNC Cutter on plastic for that.
My biggest problem is electronics though, i have no idea what i am doing
So i hope to learn from your thread!

Btw, can you give the dimensions of the sword? (Like in cm for dumb Europeans)
Found that the real life size (if you go by the wiki articles) is to big to actually wield properly.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Ohhhhhh, Snap!
You are doing exactly what i was tryin to start myself...Your Grip and blade is definitively H4, i wanted to make the H5 Beta Version (not the one which made into the game)

View attachment 261182
The Blade is similar to the H4 Version, i like this little holes...don`t know what it resembles however.
I already have the Grip as a 3d model made by CPO mendez , just need to make it holllow. The Blade i already did myself, would use a CNC Cutter on plastic for that.
My biggest problem is electronics though, i have no idea what i am doing
So i hope to learn from your thread!

Btw, can you give the dimensions of the sword? (Like in cm for dumb Europeans)
Found that the real life size (if you go by the wiki articles) is to big to actually wield properly.

I didn't even think of a cnc machine. Dear lord that has got to be one of the next things I get. The sword length is currently 30 inches from tip to tip (76.2 cm).

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Just a quick update,
1) I cut out the blade layers from the plexiglass,

2) I created a channel for the LED's to sit in,

3) I etched out lightning effects into the middle layer

4) I wired up the LED's to fit into the channels (Please note when placing the neopixle strips back to back, keep the exposed copper staggered)

All Solders tested fine

The blades will not get their final edge smoothing until all the layers are assembled.

Will update as more things get done.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Well, when I last left off, I was at the point ready to connect the sword blades together.

I Hallowed out the inside of the middle 2 pieces and placed wiring together.



I hooked up the electronics and.....FAILURE!!!!

While shoving the wiring together, the middle of the blade snapped and I also found out that the data and negative wires were crossing on one side. The blade will not work like this.



Back to the drawing board.

Let's start with the original file and turn it into a printable format using Clear ABS:



Dry fit the LED lights and FAILURE!!!

The LED lights do not fit because it tapers at the end and this model has now becomes useless.

Back to the drawing board. Let's design the blade from scratch using the first image as my base and the results:


SUCCESS!!

A much thicker base to use for the LED lights.

Breadboard all connections to ensure the electronics work.



Time to hard wire.

Kill Switch:



Nano Biscotte 4 and the rest.



Glue and sand the blade covers. and the results are below:



There are 3 fonts to choose from, all with different colors that I can select. I pre-programmed all the parameters of the blades - amount of LED's, the igniter period, color, boot sounds, etc. Below is the extent of the fonts at work.

That's it. this project is done and ready for cosplay/Halloween 2019.

 

[mkshane81]

Wow, extremely impressive work!!

-Matt

 

[ReClaimer8015]

It`s so interactive!!
How exactly did you do this?! The soundeffects during motion, on- and offswitching.....it sounds like the dangerous weapon it is supposed to be.
The aesthetic would be even cooler/ smoother if OLED-Stripes would be available to buy costeffectively.
And where did you get the sounds from?

 

[TurboCharizard]

It`s so interactive!!
How exactly did you do this?! The soundeffects during motion, on- and offswitching.....it sounds like the dangerous weapon it is supposed to be.
The aesthetic would be even cooler/ smoother if OLED-Stripes would be available to buy costeffectively.
And where did you get the sounds from?

A slightly more wallet friendly version of the Neopixel strips is the DotStar LED strips. DotStar strips are a bit more universal as well for controller choices because they can be driven by a variety of clock speeds which means you can use anything from a little $5 Trinket controller to a chonky Raspberry Pi if you have one laying around. The savings per meter between NeoPixels and DotStar strips are like $5-$10 which can add up pretty quickly.

 

[xXDashIVXx]

That is awesome! Adv I love the on and off animation! It is such a great touch, and I love how it can determine if it is being swung or hitting something

 

[MoeSizzlac]

That is awesome! Adv I love the on and off animation! It is such a great touch, and I love how it can determine if it is being swung or hitting something

Thank you. That is from the Nano Biscotte v4 chip you see below the battery. Took me more time than I care to admit to get the settings right but I ended up liking that chip a lot after this build. You can't beat the size and available options.

A slightly more wallet friendly version of the Neopixel strips is the DotStar LED strips. DotStar strips are a bit more universal as well for controller choices because they can be driven by a variety of clock speeds which means you can use anything from a little $5 Trinket controller to a chonky Raspberry Pi if you have one laying around. The savings per meter between NeoPixels and DotStar strips are like $5-$10 which can add up pretty quickly.

I will keep that in mind for the next build. Saving $40 on the project is totally worth the try. That's 2 spools of 3d filament right there.

It`s so interactive!!
How exactly did you do this?! The soundeffects during motion, on- and offswitching.....it sounds like the dangerous weapon it is supposed to be.
The aesthetic would be even cooler/ smoother if OLED-Stripes would be available to buy costeffectively.
And where did you get the sounds from?

The sounds and motions are handled by the Nano Biscotti v4 as well as the 27mm bass speaker that I installed in the handle. The chip just needs to be set up the correct way to respond how you want through a config file which is basically a .txt file. You get to control things like should it be an "instant on", turn on through the progression of the ignite wav file, color of blade, color of hit, and so on.

You can pull sound fonts from the game, convert them to wav format and label them with the exact words they need to be based on what the board is looking for such as "ignite.wav" or "swing1.wav". I am lazy and downloaded some talented peoples work from saberfont.com. I saw 2 I liked and bought them. The Fonts need to be tweaked for the board you are using it for (remove/rearrange files) so they are not necessarily ready to drop and go.

Wow, extremely impressive work!!

-Matt

Thanks!!

 

[JGPenland]

I’m printing the final 2 armor pieces for my suit with your files, now I need a weapon and think this is amazing. I didn’t see the STL for the blade on your thingiverse, is it available anywhere?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

I’m printing the final 2 armor pieces for my suit with your files, now I need a weapon and think this is amazing. I didn’t see the STL for the blade on your thingiverse, is it available anywhere?

Are you looking at the correct listing? I'll double check the free index. Regardless, use this link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3247521 All files are there.

Before you run the actual print, try slicing sword base 06 and 07 to make sure it looks good. Someone else was complaining that it didn't work even though Simplify 3D and my printer worked fine.

 

[JGPenland]

D’oh, yep I missed it.

 

[JGPenland]

How many meters of Led did you use? Just started printing the blade in Clear ABS, with 100% infill, for strength. Do you think it will affect the brightness at all?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

How many meters of Led did you use?

You won't need more than 3 meters to do a full blade.

Just started printing the blade in Clear ABS, with 100% infill, for strength. Do you think it will affect the brightness at all?

No. Mine is pretty much 100% as well.

 

[Wayward Flood]

Nice man!! I been thinking of doing something similair with a to scale Halo 1 or 2 sword.

 

[BlueSol]

This is so awesome! Would you be willing to share your code for the LEDs?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

This is so awesome! Would you be willing to share your code for the LEDs?

Sorry, I didn't write the code for the soundboard. I just took advantage of a Nano Biscotte v4 sound board that is usually meant for lightsabers and re purposed it for this project. All I needed to do was change the configurations and add sounds.

 

[James]

Oh my god....this is fantastic.....

 

[JGPenland]

I followed the guide and made a sword for myself ;-)
How long does your battery last MoeSizzlac? Mine lasted about 2-3 hours of con time, turning on and off frequently for pics.