How to Make Your Own Triple Lightsaber

HOW TO BUILD A THREE BLADED LIGHTSABER 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? BUT NOT YOUR ORDINARY LIGHTSABER! A TREBLE BLADE LIGHTSABER!! Jedi are the chi harnessing, bushido respecting ninja of the future, with sabre skills to match. Granted, our still 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. 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. BE PROUD OF THIS TECHNOLOGCAL TERROR YOU'VE CONSTRUCTED. JEDI TOOL BOX PREPAIR FOR BATTLE - YOU'LL NEED THE FOLLOWING şoldering iron hacksaw sand paper drill pliers plastic bonding glue small wire cutters sharp knife pvc cutter can do attitude MASTER YODA'S MATERIALS LIST DO OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO TRY. THE HANDLE 1.25" diameter PVC or 2 position (on/off) push button or switch larger, roughly 8 - 12 inches. Whatever is comfortable for your size of hand. If your tiny you don't want a massive handle and vice versa. Battery pack (between 4 - 6 AA batteries) Spray paint (optíonal 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 BLADES Polycarbonate tube. The outer diameter should be at least .75" but less than the inner diameter of the handle. Should be roughly 2.5 ft. Tailor size to user. 35 to 40 LEDS (depending on length of shaft) of desired colour 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. For the cross blades you will need a about 10 inches of a smaller diameter plastic tube (80mm) 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 BUILDING THE HANDLE STEP 1 STEP 2 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. Drill a hole through the top of the handle for the cross blade tube to be inserted. You may want to position this hole about an inch from the top of the handle tube. STEP 3 STEP 4 Lay down paper or cardboard, and spray paint handle desired colour (this can bedone later if needs be.) Best to do this outside unless you have a paint fume fetish. Cut inner tubes into cylinders of desired length, and squeeze over handle to make the grips. STEP 5 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 6 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 7 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 LIGHTSABER SECTION STEP 8 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 debur 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. STΕP 9 Do the same for the cross blade section of the lighsaber. Drill hole through the center so you can feed wires through to the battery STEP 10 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 11 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 12 Take the two wires previously measured and strip them naked, so there's no insulation left. + Positive - Negative STEP 13 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 14 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 15 STEP 16 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. Use pliers as necessary to crimp the ends onto the wire or alternatively you could solder them on. STEP 17 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 18 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 19 Tape tin-foil as neatly as possible to the tip. This will reflect the light back down the blade. STEP 20 Repeat the same for the cross blade and feed the wire ends through the hole you made in Step 9. YOU KNOW, Ħ THINK THAT R2 UNIT WE BOUGHT MIIGHT HAVE BEEN STOLEN. AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! STEP 21 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 22 Solder your wires to the button/switch and thread through hole and then back out through the open base of the handle. Feed through the cross blade tube and feed wires through the two holes. Switch Wires, LED Wires STEP 23 Attach your blade by wedging it on, such that the wires from the LED string protrude out the bottom of the saber handle. STEP 24 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 25 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 On/Off Switch • Solder the red terminal of the motor and the red of the LED's to the red of the switch. Battery • Solder all the black wires to the black of the battery pack LED Lights STEP 26 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 puregaming.net