Click me
Transcribed

How To Build A Lightsaber

HOW TO BUILD A LIGHT SABER THERE IS ALWAYS ONE IDIOT THAT BRINGS A KNIFE TO A GUN FIGHT. BUT WHAT IF FOR ONCE, JUST ONCE, YOU COULD BRING THE FORCE WITH A LIGHTSABER? Jedi are the chi harnessing, bushido respecting ninja of the future, with sabre skills to match. Granted, our still Be proud of this technological terror you've constructed limited technology prevents us from easily manufacturing the real thing, and granted, the illumination from the light emitting diode from your easy to build replica will most likely be the last thing you see as you confront you're would be gun wielding assassin. NONE THE LESS, HOW COOL WOULD YOU LOOK? So, while we wait for technology to grant us the tools and equipment to build the real deal, here is an affordable and simple method for building the next best thing. PREPARATION - THE JEDI TOOL BOX SOLDERING DRILL PLIERS HACKSAW SAND PAPPER IRON PLASTIC BONDING SMALL SHARP PVC CAN DO ATTITUDE WIRE KNIFE CUTTER GLUE CUTTERS MASTER YODA'S (Po or do not. There is no try. MATERIALS LIST THE HANDLE 1.25" diameter PVC or larger, roughly 8 - 12 inches. Whatever is comfortable for 2 position (on/off) push button or switch your size of hand. If your tiny you don't want a massive handle and vice versa. Battery pack (between 2 -4 AA batteries) Spray paint (optional if you want to pimp up the colour) Small motor & 10 ohm resistor (if you want a funky noise generating vibrating handle) Bike inner tubes (optional) THE BLADE Polycarbonate tube. The outer diameter should be at least .75" but less than the inner diameter of the handle. 25 to 35 LEDS (depending on length of shaft) of desired colour Should be roughly 2.5 ft. Tailor size to user. If your Solid wire (between 0.5 and 1.0 mm in diameter, so gauge 20-22). The wire should be equal to length of handle + length of blade +3 inches Two cable ties or matches. Some tin foil. Every good invention needs tin foil. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh! The materials shows above for the handle are far from exclusive. If you see yourself as a bit of a McGuyver, feel free to improvise. As long as the inner diameter is greater than the diameter of the blade you could use anything from a length of conduit to a tennis racket handle. For blades, try to get a length of opaque polycarbonate tube rather than clear. For the best light effect from the LED's you want the surface to be 'cloudy' rather than clear. If all you can get is clear then rough up the surface with a metal scouring pad or sand paper to create a cloudy outer surface. Again you can change the material around if you want, as long whatever you chose is lightweight, strong and translucent. BUILDING YOUR INSTRUMENT OF UNIVERSAL JUSTICE THE HANDLE STEP 1 Measure desired length of handle in PVC and cut with PVC cutter or junior hacksaw. Standard length = 10 inches or at least that's what your mum tells me. 10 inches STEPS 2 AND 3 ARE FOR COMFORT AND GLAM ONLY, NOT REQUIRED BUT EXTRA KUDOS IF YOU FOLLOW THEM: STEP 2 Lay down paper or cardboard, and spray paint handle desired colour (this can be done later if needs be.) Best to do this outside unless you have a paint fume fetish. STEP 3 Cut inner tubes into cylinders of desired length, and squeeze over handle to make the grips. O))) STEP 4 Decide where you want to place the button/switch. Suggested location would be in easy reach of the users thumb when handling. Select Drill bit of correct size to drill a hole there to fit the button/switch snugly. STEP 5 Cut slot in bottom of handle for battery pack if desired. Either the PVC cutter or hacksaw is suitable for this. De bur any rough edges. STEP 6 Swing the handle about making random swooshing noises thinking about how cool it's going to look when you're finished. Then put the handle aside and move onto the sabre blade. Put that thing away, you're gonna get us all killed! THE LIGHT SABER SECTION STEP 7 Forge a blade to the desired length: 2.5ft as a guide, or measure to the height of the Jedi accordingly. Use a hack-saw or junior hacksaw to cut the polycarbonate and gently de bur any sharp or rough edges with a de burring tool or sharp knife or sand paper. If you tube is clear / transparent, you can make it opaque by sanding it in a lengthways direction until its white. STEP 8 Chose one end to be the tip, and one the base. Cut and shape your cable ties so that they span the diameter of the tip and base but leave no sharp edges. Glue the cut and shaped plastic pieces to either end to create a bridge. This will be used to attach the LED string aka 'the force' you will make later. STEP 9 Take the base, and measure in a few millimeters, 5 or 6 from the bottom, and mark round the blade at this point. Then, neatly wrap duct tape or PVC tape around the blade starting at this mark until the blade at this point becomes thick enough to wedge into the handle. Make sure the fit is snug enough so the blade won't fall out, or you're would be assassin will end you before you've even had a chance to look cool. CHANNELLING THE FORCE STEP 10 Take the two wires previously measured and strip them naked, so there's no insulation left. + Positive Negative STEP 11 Take one stripped wire, and attach the positive side of the LED to the top of the wire as a base. The two legs on the LEDS are different sizes. The longer leg is the positive. + Positive - Negative STEP 12 Attach LEDS down the length of the stripped wire by their positive side. Each subsequent LED should sit about where its neighbor's tail ends. + Positive Negative STEP 13 After desired length is reached, do the same thing with the negative side. Don't get the negative side mixed up with the dark side. The dark side is more powerful than you can possibly imagine. STEP 14 Use pliers as necessary to crimp the ends onto the wire or alternatively you could solder them on. STEP 15 If there's a single short circuit, the blade won't light! So make sure your positive and negative do not meet. It's like pissing the emperor off. Bad juju. STEP 16 Lower the LED string through the blade over the bridge, and attach the bottom. Adding a reflective bottom helps the light stay inside the blade as well. The bridge will help keep the LED string erect and effective through the full length of the sabre. STEP 17 Tape tin-foil as neatly as possible to the tip. This will reflect the light back down the blade. You know, I think that R2 unit we bought might have been stolen. AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! STEP 18 Make sure the button works with your hole and that it does not reach too deep within handle. You want enough clearance for leads and wires without squashing them against the opposite inside handle wall. STEP 19 Solder your wires to the button/switch and thread through hole and then back out through the open base of the handie. Switch Wires LED Wires STEP 20 Attach your blade by wedging it on, such that the wires from the LED string protrude out the bottom of the saber handle. STEP 21 If you were lured by the prospect of having a funky noise generating vibrating sabre and opted in for using a motor: Wrap a piece of wire or glue a nut onto the motor shaft so that it's off-balance. That'll make it vibrate more, making a better sound effect. Make sure the motor fits snug into the handle, wrapping in duct tape if needs be. STEP 22 All leads need to be soldered in parallel across the battery pack with the switch in between. Wire Solder Wire • Solder the black wire of the switch to the red wire of the battery pack. Motor • Solder the red terminal of the motor and the red of the LED's to the red of the switch. On/Off Switch • Solder all the black wires to the black of the battery pack Battery LED Lights STEP 23 Carefully insert everything into the handle ensuring the motor shaft is unobstructed. TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH NOW YOU HAVE THE TOOLS, ALL YOU NEED ARE A GOOD QUALITY CLOAK, A COUPLE OF DROID COMPANIONS AND AN ELDERLY MENTOR TO TEACH YOU THE WAYS BEFORE YOU TAKE SOMEONES EYE OUT. BE AT ONE WITH THE FORCE AND STAY ALIVE OUT THERE KIDS!! May The Force be with you. Now go kick some serious ass! Infographic by Herbert Pocket Twitter: @Herb_Pocket herbertpocket.co.uk Source: Nagle "Make Your Own Lightsaber" www.instructables.com

How To Build A Lightsaber

shared by HerbertPocket on Nov 17
5,243 views
9 shares
2 comments
There is always one idiot who brings a knife to a gun fight. But what if once, just once, you could bring the power of the force with a lightsaber? Well now you can!

Category

How To
Did you work on this visual? Claim credit!

Get a Quote

Embed Code

For hosted site:

Click the code to copy

For wordpress.com:

Click the code to copy
Customize size