Summer Holidays

So it's that time of year again, and your stuck for thoughts this project brings in creativity, Star Wars and fun, what more could you ask for?

Introduction

A light sabre or a laser sword is a prized possession for all the star war lovers out there. Wouldn't any fanatic just love to hold one in your hand and feel as stronger and powerful as a Jedi? Yes, I know the full sizes version with all the electronic components may be a bit too much too hold but you can certainly try creating a miniature version with attractive LED lights by your own.  

About the project

Creating a Duel-Worthy Light Sabre will require some time, investment in electronic components such as LED lights and patience from your side. The aim is to make an attractive piece that does not break stuff around you and does not break into thousand pieces when you bash it against the ‘enemy.’ Be ready to shell out some money also. You can create a lightsabre for as low as $50 and if you are ready to spend more you can get a really good one for about $1000. The money spent will depend on the design of the sabre, number of LED lights and quality of electronic components used. If you think $50 is too much to spend on a lightsabre you should look for things around the house that can be used to build this device. This way you will not have to buy any raw material and still manage to have a device in your hands.

Required equipment and electronic components.  

I have noted some places where you can get these, as to help save you time!  

This is what you will need to feel as powerful as the Jedi.

- Molex connector, which is the vernacular term for a two-piece pin and socket interconnection.

- LED lights 

- A good drill

- One PVC cutter

- A hack-saw 

- You should also try to get a soldering set-up

-  1.25" diameter PVC or larger, about 8 - 12 inches

- push on/ push off button, or switch

- Battery pack (between 2 - 4 AA batteries)

- Bike inner tubes - these ones I found were nice

- Solid wire of about 22 gauge.

You can get a lot of electrical components here, and also these work well too to make them look better:

- Capacitors - http://uk.farnell.com/capacitors

- Kemets - www.newark.com/kemet

-The blade of Light Sabre is the most important part of our creation and so look for a polycarbonate tube with an outer diameter of about 0 .75". It is better if the blade is opaque instead of being clear because a Jedi’s Light Sabre should emit diffused light.-  A small motor that will make those powerful bzzzzzz vibrations in the handle. The handle can be made of any tubular material of the right length and comfortable thickness. Handles can be made out of PVC and then spray painted with silver. A handle can be made out of clay also or can be made from the end of a tennis racquet.

- 20 LEDs of the color you want (red, blue, green). You can also wrap a wax paper around the blade to diffuse the light from the LED if you don’t get an opaque blade. This would hide the 20 odd sources of light instead and would make the whole blade appear to be glowing.

- Other useful tools to use would be to use to improve your 

Time to assemble the equipment

First of all you should measure about 10 inches of handle in PVC and cut with PVC cutter. You can then cut inner tubes into cylinders and fit them over the handle; cut holes in the handle in order to place the button.

A slot in the bottom of handle should be made for inserting the battery pack using either PVC cutter or a hack- saw.

Now attach the LED bulbs along the whole length of the blade using the wire and attach the end of the wire to the battery inside the handle. Use the soldering set-up to solder the wire to the button. Remember, the negative and positive sides should not touch each other. As discussed above wrap a wax paper around the blade to diffuse the light from the LED if you don’t get an opaque blade.

Now you need to attach the blade and handle the LED wire sticks out of handle. Make sure all the connections are secure. Now, you can switch on yourLight Sabre. It’s time to decide which side of Force are you on? Have fun!

Conclusion

Making your own things from electronic components such as Light sabre is so much fun and will give you more satisfaction than buying one from a store. Creating your own Light Sabre from LED lights gives you satisfaction and is of course a good use of time otherwise spent on TV or other non-productive activities.

Sources

Original image were from these contributors here and here

For more creative places visits these sites:

Instrucatables - http://www.instructables.com

Hack n Mod- http://hacknmod.com/