My Lightsaber Hobby
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I sought something to keep myself busy and my CAD skills sharp. Lightsabers seemed to be a great project as they can be unique, challenging to design and fun to build. Each of these 3D printed lightsaber uses an LED to illuminate a polycarbonate tube filled with cellophane, which diffuses the light, imitating a lightsaber glow. A reflective cap is used at the end of the tube to reflect the light back and keep the glowing effect throughout most of the blade.
With some basic design decisions made, I asked some friends for requests and started designing individual lightsabers.
Electronics
Each lightsaber has the same electronics system, consisting of a high power LED, LED driver, switch and battery. This simple system keeps each saber’s cost and size to a minimum.
LED-Optic assembly
Each lightsaber also uses the same assembly that combines the LED, driver, and conical optic for the blade. The LED is secured between the back end holding the driver and the conical optic mount with 4 M3 bolts. This standardized assembly helped reduce extra design work and saved time.
Katana-Inspired Lightsaber
For my first lightsaber, I planned for a katana-inspired design. The original was bulky, ugly and unappealing. So once I completed the Darksaber, I redesigned and rebuilt it with a smoother hilt and less pieces.
Darksaber
Within Star Wars, the darksaber is a lightsaber with a glowing black blade. To mimic the iconic glow, the blade has an inner layer of black cellophane surrounded by white cellophane. The main challenge in this design was hiding bolts behind panels held in place with magnets in order keep an accurate aesthetic.
Anduril-inspired lightsaber
A friend requested a lightsaber based on Aragorn’s sword, Anduril, from Lord of the Rings. A new feature in this saber was removing the bolt securing the LED-optic assembly and using friction to secure it.
Dune-inspired lightsaber
This request was for a lightsaber inspired by a crysknife from Dune. The biggest challenge was removing the bolts connecting the top and bottom parts of the hilt with a interior slot. This allows the bottom to be inserted then rotated to lock in place. A cover is then bolted to the bottom for aesthetics and prevent rotation of the two hilt pieces.
Yasaburo Lightsaber
Inspired by the Star Wars Visions Episode “Lop & Ocho”, I immediately set out to recreate the Yasaburo clan saber. This lightsaber was an interesting combination of the twist, lock and cover mechanism from the Dune-inspired saber and the guard mounting from the Anduril-inspired saber. An additional challenge was translating the switch farther up the saber and offsetting it.
