Contruction and Materials
At Vader's Vault, we pride ourselves in selecting only the best materials available for the products we offer. Whether it's the USA extruded raw metals, to Delrin for our chassis, or even the USA extruded Polycarbonate for our blades, we source as much of our materials for our sabers...
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At Vader's Vault, we pride ourselves in selecting only the best materials available for the products we offer. Whether it's the USA extruded raw metals, to Delrin for our chassis, or even the USA extruded Polycarbonate for our blades, we source as much of our materials for our sabers in the USA as possible. When we design hilts, we take great care during the engineering and manufacturing process to eliminate things like sharp or 'wire' edges that can possibly cut a hand, adding chamfers and fillets to reduce 'hard' edges and to increase strength where needed. In short, design of sabers isn't "quick and dirty" around here, and careful though is put into all areas of saber design.
Lighting Technology
We have always been at the forefront of lighting tech in this industry, and are always looking at, and experimenting with, new LEDs, Pixel strips or blade enhancing technology to make sure our customers always have the best and brightest sabers on the market. While buying in large bulk...
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We have always been at the forefront of lighting tech in this industry, and are always looking at, and experimenting with, new LEDs, Pixel strips or blade enhancing technology to make sure our customers always have the best and brightest sabers on the market. While buying in large bulk does help to bring pricing down, doing so with lighting tech can have the drawback of not being able to adapt and offer the latest and greatest. We buy our LEDs and strips in smaller batches which enables us to hand pick the brightest BINs available, and ensure that the quality from the manufacturer is up to our standards. Our Suncrusher Tri-Cree stars are reflowed 'in-house' so we can get any combo of color we want, and are mounted on a solid copper substrate star with direct thermal pathway to aid in heat management while over driving the LEDs. Our Neopixel strips are sourced from a company that provides us strips to our specs, ensuring the proper color wavelengths of each die for superb color mixing, as well as a minimal strip joint to minimize that ugly dark spot seen in inferior blades. Our strips are 'burned in' here at the shop for 2-4 hours before even being assembled into a blade, which then gets further burn in testing at each stage of assembly. This helps to reduce the chance for any pixel defects making it into the final product that you receive.
Blade Construction
The Phrase: "Often imitated, never duplicated" is a trite and overused expression, however that doesn't mean it doesn't still apply. Our blades have set the standard for quality, evenness, and durability in the industry for over a decade. At Vader's Vault we offer the most types, sizes...
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The Phrase: "Often imitated, never duplicated" is a trite and overused expression, however that doesn't mean it doesn't still apply. Our blades have set the standard for quality, evenness, and durability in the industry for over a decade. At Vader's Vault we offer the most types, sizes, and styles of blades of any other manufacturer and have pioneered and brought to market products that have been game changers with our Photon Blades, Enhanced Day Blades, and we were the first manufacturer to offer Neopixel blades. Like everything else we do here, we are always at the forefront of quality blade techniques and technology.
Chassis
Vader's Vault has always believed in protecting the electronics in a proper way especially when used in a Combat saber, but this also means allowing these electronics to be accessed and maintained by the end user. This requires a stable chassis system. Many companies out there still...
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Vader's Vault has always believed in protecting the electronics in a proper way especially when used in a Combat saber, but this also means allowing these electronics to be accessed and maintained by the end user. This requires a stable chassis system. Many companies out there still install their electronics without a chassis system which can result in electrical shorts, or impact damage to the internal components. In our Combat Class line and many of our other sabers, we use a rigid, machined Delrin chassis to mount and secure the electronics in. Delrin is a very dense material, not only does it properly isolate the components electrically, but it also absorbs vibration either from impacts and movement, or from vibration generated by the speaker. You won't find these qualities in a 3D printed chassis which tend to be frail, often breaking, and also carry every vibration from the speaker directly to the motion sensors of the electronics, thereby resulting in unwanted motion triggers.
Plecter Labs
Our relationship with Plecter Labs was established early on in our saber building legacy, and we are proud to be on the small development team chosen to conceptualize and test new features and end user experiences of the fine products designed at Plecter Labs. It can sometimes be...
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Our relationship with Plecter Labs was established early on in our saber building legacy, and we are proud to be on the small development team chosen to conceptualize and test new features and end user experiences of the fine products designed at Plecter Labs. It can sometimes be hard to think of electronics design as art, but make no mistake, while other artists work in mediums like paints, clay, etc. Erv Plecter works in 1's and 0's. His ability to bring ground breaking features, efficient design, and lasting quality has helped push what was once a small hobby into a burgeoning industry and is the main reason we have chosen to use his products exclusively.
Ergonomics
All the fancy electronics and quality materials doesn't mean a thing if the saber feels uncomfortable in the hand. These are weapons after all. Fictional weapons, yes, but weapons. As such, they should fit in the hand in such a way as to not hurt or fatigue the user over time. The larger a hilt is...
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All the fancy electronics and quality materials doesn't mean a thing if the saber feels uncomfortable in the hand. These are weapons after all. Fictional weapons, yes, but weapons. As such, they should fit in the hand in such a way as to not hurt or fatigue the user over time. The larger a hilt is, the easier it is to have it knocked from your grasp and the more your hand has to work to keep a hold of it. We first started making slim sabers geared towards 'real world' weapon geometry back in 2009, and were the pioneers of slimmer design, full function sabers ever since. When it comes to comfort, no one beats Vader's Vault for ergonomics.
Finish and Customization
Let's have an honest moment here for a second. Lightsabers are not 'needs', or necessary items. Hold on now, don't blast us just yet. Look, we get it, they are the coolest things ever conceived of by man and our childhood foundation is built on dreams of wielding them in battle...
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Let's have an honest moment here for a second. Lightsabers are not 'needs', or necessary items. Hold on now, don't blast us just yet. Look, we get it, they are the coolest things ever conceived of by man and our childhood foundation is built on dreams of wielding them in battle. However, in the here in now, they are luxury items. Once we accept this truth, it frees us from the mundane. That's where we come in.In the before times, Vader's Vault started off making bespoke, one off custom sabers, and many of the techniques and practices we developed over the years doing those helped us streamline our production sabers. It also gave us a hefty repertoire of skills to aid in making truly unique pieces of art. We make luxury items, and we make them awesomely luxurious. Unmatched in areas of finish like mirror polishing, specialized powder coating schemes that can't be found or had anywhere else, acid etching, laser engraving, custom shrouds, lambskin leather, accent lighting, you name it. No other production saber company even comes close to being able to offer you the saber of YOUR dreams. A quote from Bugatti, one of our favorite car companies, is "The truest form of luxury, is individuality" and we hold to that. We want to make your saber as unique to you as your own fingerprints, and something you’d be proud to pass on to a younger generation.
The Complete Package
At VV, we have always believed in what we call, the "Complete Package". Customer experience is very important to us, and we know how irritating it is to purchase something, get excited about playing with it only to find that you're missing a critical component like batteries, a charger, or any other...
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At VV, we have always believed in what we call, the "Complete Package". Customer experience is very important to us, and we know how irritating it is to purchase something, get excited about playing with it only to find that you're missing a critical component like batteries, a charger, or any other accessory necessary to actually use and enjoy your new found gadget or toy. When you purchase a saber from us, everything necessary to actually use the saber is included in the box, from the battery, Blade, Blade Retention Wrench, and Charger. We also offer a full line of accessories to enhance your experience from Blade Plugs, Polishing cloths, Extra Batteries, and even costume accessories like leather belts and armor kits. The complete experience at Vader's Vault makes sure your joy and nostalgia is worry free.
