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My Custom PlasmaSaber

Discussion in 'Costuming and Props' started by DarthWeenie, Oct 3, 2003.

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  1. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    Hi. THis is just to show off a custom plasmasaber I built and get some critiques or suggestions if any. I built this saber over the course of one year and its been finished for about 6 months. I figured it was about time to show it to you guys, the experts. The reason it took so long to build was 1)Id never built a prop before, and 2)I knew nothing about electronics and had to learn from scratch everything about them.

    I wanted a "plasmasaber" because the glow it produces is unparalleled. (I think EL blades look crappy, even though they do have their own advantages. i.e., much sturdier and lighter). As you will see, my saber's blade, when activated, looks just like the blades in the movies.

    Anyway, here is the hilt:


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    The black button on the right (pictured above) activates it. You click it once, and the plasma driver mechanism inside ignites the blade. It extends at any speed. There are some screws on the mechanism where by tightening/loosing them, you can predetermine the speed at which is goes up, and down. Simply click the button once, it extends at the speed you preordain. It stays lit until you click it again, where it retracts at the speed you preordain.

    There is a (not easily) interchangeable blade inside. I have a blue and a red blade. I want to keep the blue one in this saber permanently. Im building a different saber to use with my red blade, so I can keep that one in the new especially "evil" looking one permanently. My goal is to one day have 1 saber for each saber color, totaling 4. The one I have now looks like it should be blue. I have another one half done that looks like it should be green. I have some ideas for how a red and purple one should look too.

    I even put a little "window" towards the top so you can see the saber insides all lit up neon blue. Why? Who knows. Everyone needs a gimmick. Its cool though!

    "I made a lot of special modifications myself..." It runs on 1 9-Volt battery (It would be better with 2, but I didnt have space inside the hilt, it is JAMPACKED as it is. I mean everything is REALLY smooshed in there.) It can burn continuously on one battery for probably 3 hours. Though with less quality towards the later hours.

    Also, there is a small hole in the very bottom of the saber, that goes about 3/4" into its insides. Inside there, is the other side of a hitch-pin. A pin hangs from my belt, and you just put it in the hole till it sticks. When you want it again, you just yank the saber hard. Its a quicker release than Luke/Vader (who use D-Rings, needing to use both hands to release the saber from the belt) and Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon (who use covertec clips). Plus, it gets that sweet Mace Windu "bouncing against your leg as you walk" effect, that Anakin/Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon lack.

    Heres a video of the saber in action -- Both the red and blue. I was wearing a Vader helmet for some of the sequences, for a funny video I put together of myself Darth Weenie slaughtering the crew of the Starship Enterprise for an online Star Wars club Im part of. (If you want to see it go here, b
     
  2. Jyro-Kyrn

    Jyro-Kyrn Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2002
    1. I think you should be proud of that saber. Looks very nice and the EL effects look excellent.

    2. That Darth Weenie thing is hilarious. :D ROTFL!
     
  3. Jedi-Loreen

    Jedi-Loreen Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2002
    Very cool. Looks like you worked hard on it. I'm assuming that you made that from a kit? I may have to try that some day.

    Though I didn't appreciate having to wade through all the cartoony and fake ad stuff that you kept putting links to. I wanted to see your saber, not that junk. :mad:

    Still, excellent work.
     
  4. Raef_Wolfe

    Raef_Wolfe Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 2003
    It's too bad the picture quality isn't the best around! It looks like a GREAT saber!!! Best of luck to ya!
     
  5. JediMasterGuff

    JediMasterGuff Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 2002
    How did you manage to get the light to "travel" up and down the blade?
     
  6. zhi-don_aquintas

    zhi-don_aquintas Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 17, 2002
    hi; i have only one question. is the blade removeable? i personally like the EL saber i constructed for that reason. i can wear it. unless i miss my guess plasma blades cant be fenced with either. both myself and master smudge are teaching lightsaber training and we plan on using our EL blades eventually. i have had my friend Bladesmith Loreen make me two practice blades. basically hollow polycarbonite blades with colored plastic inside and sealed at both ends. this allows the use of any EL saber hilt to practice with. when we become profient we will switch to our real EL blades. i would love to make a plasma saber, but unless i can remove the blade it wouldnt be practical for me. i couldnt see your pics as your website wouldnt let me. something about you exceeding your band width.
     
  7. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    Jedi-Loreen: I didnt make it from a kit. I made it from a 1960's vacuum cleaner that I found at a garage sale for $1. That and a FEW flashlight and blowdryer insides. And of course some hardware from the store. (screws and stuff) Stuff like that. It is truly my very own saber.

    zhi-don_aquintas: Youre right, plasma tubes are just like a normal neon tube youd see anywhere -- made of glass. It is encased in polycarbonite with clear rubber o-rings around it for protection. I have hit it pretty hard by accident without any breaks, but Im sure you cant fence with it. It made of glass after all. Plus, its kind of heavy. The whole apparatus weighs about 5-6 pounds. That doesnt seem like much, but actually, when that 5 pounds is spread across a 4 foot-long object, Thats a lot to be swinging around.

    JediMaster Guff: Thats the nature of a "plasma" neon tube. Its just like a neon light, but theres only a connection on one side. The plasma on the inside glows a certain color when heated. So if you heat it from one side, it takes a second or two for the heat to reach the end. Therefore it looks like its traveling.

    Thanks everyone!
     
  8. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    Oh yeah, Zhi-don, its not easily removable. Only because this was the first prop Ive ever made and I didnt factor that in. It takes about 15 minutes to change the blade if you want to. But I dont think I'll ever want to.
     
  9. Jedi-Loreen

    Jedi-Loreen Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2002
    I can see that you made your hilt yourself, that isn't what I meant when I asked you if it was a kit.

    I meant did you get your plasma tube and the electronics to run it as a kit? I have seen those available at some websites. I doubt many people, except one that I met at D*Con, can actually make a working plasma blade like that.
     
  10. davenwjedi

    davenwjedi Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2002
    too bad i cant see the pics, as your bandwith has been exceeded !!


    NWJEDI
    dave
     
  11. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    davenwjedi: Actually, there is no bandwidth limit. I dont know why you cant see the pics. Try again. :)

    Jedi-Loreen: Ah, I see. I ordered the plasma tube from a site called amazing1.com. That is the one thing I didnt do on my own of course. I bought that. It comes with its own electronics to run it, but its so fragile that its virtually impossible not to break almost immediately. Its crap. I bought about 8 different drivers in the course of my building this. All either way too fragile, or too big. I built about 4 of my own, based on looking at these other ones I bought from ebay and such. Finally, I found a very sturdy one for sale on ebay. Its extremely well put together, so with my new found knowledge I gained from all these past failures, I was able to modify this new one to make it meet my needs.
     
  12. Jedi-Loreen

    Jedi-Loreen Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2002
    You built your own drivers? How did you do it? Did you find schematics, or did you just go off the ones that didn't work?

    This is getting more and more interesting.... ;)


     
  13. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    Well yeah, I built my own, but they were crappy. But I learned enough to take parts from some of the bought ones and frankenstien together a superduper driver. Some of the ones I actually made came from schematics from various websites (which I found from typing in "plasmasaber" or "plasma driver" on Yahoo). Also, doing a ton of emails to people who built them before, and asking some sweaty guys at the local electronics store.

    I ended up with 4 of my "perfect" drivers. 1 for each lightsaber color (hopefully in the future.).

     
  14. Jedi-Loreen

    Jedi-Loreen Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2002
    Ah, I see.

    Perhaps you'll share some of that info in the future, so that some of us that are considering doing something like this won't have to go through the same pains. ;)
     
  15. DARTHLARS

    DARTHLARS Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2002
    Wow. That's a nice saber. I really like the design of the hilt.
     
  16. DarthWeenie

    DarthWeenie Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2002
    Thanks!

    As for answering questions for those who want to do something like this, thats why Im here. :)
     
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