If the whole strip is supposed to shift in unison (pixel 1 changes to the same color as pixel 60 at the same time and rate - as well as all the pixels in between), then yes the pixel blade works fine.
Do you need a components list? I've cycled out the various components over time and had no luck. Again, my circuit is identical to the fx-saber-OS homebrew pixel blade set up.
The only thing I can think of that's been hurting me is the fact that I have arduino nano clones, and they run an old bootloader. I think I can convert them to a modern bootloader manually, but I was hoping it would work with the old one first.