Lightsabers & Blasters Lightsaber Blades

I'm shooting a Star Wars movie with Aluminum hilts and I wanted to know if anyone knows where I can find either Carbon Fiber rods (in Southern California) or if they have any ideas for alternate materials to use for blades (to stand up to very fast paced and strong fighting)

 

You can get extremely durable carbon fiber blades from randomsabers.com for $32 each.

 

Thanks for the advice, yeah I contacted them and they are backed up on Carbon Fiber rods for a couple of weeks, I guess I will place an order and use pvc pipe or wood until I get those CF rods.

any other ideas would be great too

 

If you get think walled PC Tubes they can really take a good beating and actually bend slightly on impact to help take some of the impact shock. They come in both 3/4" and 1". You can get these from most of the places that sale LED sabers.

 

Polycarbonate tubes should hold up better than wood or PVC. I've also heard about something called Siloflex that might work for you. I hear it's really durable, although I myself haven't used it. Siloflex pipe is made of black plastic and is available at Lowes near the black iron pipe.

 

Since we are on the topic of lightsaber blades....
I am considering making my own lightsaber based on the tutorials found on LBYB. He has some pretty cool designs. I was wondering if anyone has made a lightsaber based on his tutorials and if so, what did you use for the blade?
Ideally, I would like something that can be used as a stunt/fanfilm prop, as well as a show piece when I am at events. Of course I wouldn't mind having the bells and whistles... ok, lights and saber sounds. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Thoughts?

 

Some people use 3/4" or 5/8" wooden dowels, $2 or so at a local hardware store.

 

no, wood... trust me, it breaks easy, go with either aluminum rods or pvc. it last longer. I'm also making a movie.

 

why not just use a poly-c blade, they dont break very easily.

 

Well, if it were me, I'd make it so that I could remove the blade and switch out different materials. I personally use PVC in my practice sabers and my Luxeons for the finished show. (My friends and I put on Live Lightsaber duels at our college) As long as you start practicing your routines slow and then begin to build up speed the PVC should last a decently long time. So, if you weren't doing Lux sabers to start off with, you could have it so you could have PVC for filming and be able to switch out to acrylic or something else for cons and such.

NOTE: My practice sabers are not the same as my luxeons, I don't put pvc blades in my lux hilts. The practice sabers are completely PVC. Also, Polycarbonate, unless it's painted, is very difficult to rotoscope.

 

We use wood in our saber class in Calgary. Not softwood dowels, but hardwood ones. They run us about 5 bucks each. They have lasted over a year for most of us.

 

I use(currently), two hasbro 6 dollar lightsaber blades taped on to each other. And they can be rotoscoped. They are about movie size, maybee a little smaller, but I cant tell. For about 15 dollars, I get a saber handle only, and a saber handle identical with the longer durable blade.

 

I used a piece of PVC for mine. instead of cracking or chipping this type bends. you can really swing it hard and it has no problem.

RYAN J.

p.s. If i remember i will take a photo of mine so you all can see.

 

Here are pictures of mine:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Lightsaber%20Pictures/Luke_Skywalker_Lightsaber_1.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Lightsaber%20Pictures/Luke_Skywalker_Lightsaber_2.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Lightsaber%20Pictures/Luke_Skywalker_Lightsaber_3.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Lightsaber%20Pictures/Luke_Skywalker_Lightsaber_4.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Lightsaber%20Pictures/Luke_Skywalker_Lightsaber_5.jpg

If you have any questions let me know!!

RYAN J.

 

For me, PVC failed horribly, breaking both mine and my sparring partners blades, and I was on the defensive. I also use a very powerful swing and block, so this could have been part of it. Siloflex lasted a little longer, but I again broke mine, this time on an offensive maneuver. The best thing I have found so far is 3/4"x48" poplar dowels. Light, strong, and forgiving. I would eventually like to try aluminum, but am having problems tracking it down at this point.

Just a thought, and I hope I didn't step on anyone's toes.

 

I purchased the carbon fiber blades from randomsabers.com does anyone know how strong these are? I hear they used them for Episode III Does anyone know if its strong enough to withstand pretty intense fighting?

 

They're okay. Eventually they'll fail, most likely at the base. I hear wrapping them in tape helps. It helps for if it fails farther down the blade. Less shards that way.

 

so back to square 1. What to use...What to use. All the blades have their Pros and Cons.

 

Thanks for all the responses

 

As I teach lightsaber training, and actually broke a carbonfiber blade [it was probably defective, it only took a couple of hits with a Parksaber EL blade], I personally have found that the 1 inch polycarb blades from eithet Tim [thecustomsabershop.com] or Alex [ultrasabers.com] will take any kind of impact you can put out. I personally have used wooden dowel rods in a 3/4 inch polycarb tube [1/16 inch thick] for practice. This works pretty good and you can cover the dowel with polychrome paper. If you seal the ends with silicone and use small screws to make sure the dowel doesn't fly out, it will last a long time. You will need to replace the dowel after a lot of use since the polycarb blade will bend and the dowel will break eventually. Still it is easy to replace it. Good Luck!

 

I've had good experience with polycarbonite blades. They are especially good for cold weather. They will withstand just about anything. The only catch is you have to be careful with them because they give a little, so if you're doing a fight make sure it's well practiced so you dont end up whacking each other by accident. =P

-Larame