The Hama and I Lightsabre Adventure - 2/21/02

Well, considering most everyone was getting together so early for the costume/prop meeting and Hama and I couldn't make it, we decided to get a lead jump on some of you.

And now I give you...

THE HAMA AND I LIGHTSABRE ADVENTURE

PART I

Since we couldn't be there, we decided to hook up around 5pm when I got off work. We jumped in my truck and headed on over to Lowe's hardware store. Since I already built one last week, I knew right where to go. We sprinted down the main alleyways until we saw a sign: PLUMBING HARDWARE. Ahhh.. yes! We took a harsh left turn into the aisle and sped down to the end. As we came upon the piping, we stared at the way they sparkled (okay, so maybe it really didn't do that, but anyway). We rustled through all the fittings, couplings, reducers, etc. Twenty minutes later, we have ourselves one heckuva hilt. We picked up some black electric tape for trimming that my wife brought to us. We looked down at what we had and noticed there was no way to turn this beauty on. We agreed that this killing machine needed some kind of switch for activation. So, we pondered... and we pondered so more. Then we thought.. OH WELL!! Just as soon as we left the aisle, a shady baglady dressed in black stood nearby and raised her hand and waived it in front of us. She excalimed, "You do not need to buy those parts." Hama and I looked at each other and continued our search for the elusive on/off switch.....

PART II - Coming SOON

LOL Great stuff! I'm ready for part 2. Your adventure has inspired me to make my own lightsabre even though I lack the funds/ability.

Yeah. I definitely want to make an attempt at making one. It's too bad someone doesn't have access to a metal machine shop in our group. Then we could make the really look sharp. I guess a hacksaw will have to be good enough.

The only problem with a hacksaw this time, is that we used steel. Unless that is one heckuva hacksaw...

A dremel seems to be more than adaquete for most people's sabre projects. When I made my two sabres I had access to my dad's tools which included an air-compressor powered disk cutter thingie.

In the end I think I used that air compressor powered disk cutter, a metal file to smooth things out, and a drill press to make a hole for the switch to fit. There was also another tool that put a small dent where the hole would be, to make it easier to drill the hole without bending the pipe.
Oh yeah, I also used a pop rivet gun to attach my Episode I-style sabre knob to the sabre (the knob comes with a covertech clip for mounting it on my belt.)

One thing all sabre buildres MUST have is JB Weld! It is a two-part epoxy that takes about 18-24 hour to cure, but it is incredibly strong and will glue anything to anything else.

Home Depot carries some pretty good switches. I used this nice little red one that I found for both of mine. Home Depot also carries a really nice chrome 1.5"x12" pipe that is a perfect base for a light sabre.

We didn't have to cut any of the pipe for the ones we built, and they turned out pretty good. It was fun.

We used Liquid Weld for the adhesive. It worked out nicely. Although, I think Dylan bought JB Weld for his project. We just used the Liquid Weld I had left.

We bought some golden bolts (or something like that) for the control switch. They look nice too.

The next one I make I want to be chrome. If anything, it'd be nice to just have a variety.

The Liquid Weld didn't work too well with mine. I think I should have used a thicker layer. Probably should have waited more than three hours before playing with it, too.

Let me think what tools I used... A wood lathe, a drill press, vise and hand saw, dremel, band saw, hand drill, pop rivet tool, x-acto knife, and a hacksaw. I think that was all.
The JB Weld didn't hold for me, so I had to use a 2 part epoxy, and some Liquid Nails.

I'm trying it with the 2-part epoxy now. I'm going to let it set for 24 hours before testing it.

Really? Mine has held well thus far... (of course I haven't went whacking it against the house either.. lol)

Maybe I didn't have a good mixture, but the weld crumbled in mine.

Not sure. I layered mine on. I put the weld on; then I put another layer of it on 20 minutes later. So far so good.

I let mine set for 24 hours and took a gander at it. It was rock solid. I am letting it sit another 24 just to make sure. I will test it soon.

Hey Hama, I put that chrome tape on mine vertically and it came out sweet! I think I will apply it to my other sabre as well.

Chrome tape can do wonders, I have seen some nice looking sabres that were converted from the toys.

You might also want to check out Bare Metal Foil