Lightsabers & Blasters Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial

Yeah, I'm just restarting. I'm going to save this hilt in case I have a good idea for it.

 

http://elwirecheap.com/ezconneonwir.html

check that stuff out if u dont like soldering i have 2 strands in the blade im making and its very good.

just one problem i cannot, i repeat cannot figure out how to get the blade in the hilt and keep it there

 

I had some old liscense plate screws that were in my junk drawer. I drilled three holes in my "emitter" piece and made essentially a tiny christmas tree stand-esk holder. This holds the blade very well. I also put a small amount of tape on the blade to keep the screws from digging into the polycarbonate. Not sure if this helps.

 

I just completed an EL blade holder for my daughter (it actually holds her EL fairy wand that I made for her see yahoo profile for pics). I was going over how much it cost to make this simple blade holder and I was surprised on how much money it took just to make this simple childs toy.


Part Description Store Price Qty Extended Price
1' PVC 1.25" Ace Hardware $0.39 1 $0.39
1' PVC 1.5" Ace Hardware $0.49 1 $0.49
PVC Adapter Home Depot $0.69 1 $0.69
PVC Flush End Home Depot $0.69 1 $0.69
2" PVC End Cap Home Depot $1.69 1 $1.69
Liscense Plate Screws (4 pack) Walmart $1.88 1 $1.88
On/Off Switch Radio Shack $2.48 1 $2.48
Inverter Cool Neon $6.00 1 $6.00
Head Phone Jack Female Electronics Supply $2.00 1 $2.00

Speaker Wire Already owned
small self taping screw Already owned

$16.31

I can only imagine the amount of money I spent on my light saber. Yikes!

If anybody wants the plans on this blade holder please let me know. Although most people love the art of customizing your own blade this will provide a cheap way to make an EL blade for the not so serious Star Wars fans in your life.

 

Jedi_Rising;

There's no link to your yahoo photos. I would very much like to see the 'wand' you made for your daughter. Please post a link to your photos. Thanks.

-Hurricane

 

http://profiles.yahoo.com/proffalken1975 then just click the photos link on the left. I am going to take some close up pics of it later on this evening when I get back home.

Essentially the wand was just a cheap (in comparison) light saber hilt. It happens to be painted pink but if one were to paint it black or chrome and embelish the design a little more it would work perfectly for an inexpensive light saber. Btw the thing is pretty rough and tumble for being made entirely out of plastic it has been dropped a bunch of times and is perfectly fine. The blade holder uses 3 liscense plate retaining screws and holds the blade very firmly. I am going to scan the plans (hand drawn sorry) and put them on my yahoo photos later on in the day (I am still drawing them out).

I know this is off topic but if you want to make the wand tip here is how

take a wire coat hanger straighten it out cut off the abnormally curly parts (leaves you about a 30+ piece of stiff wire)

bend star shape at 2.5" segments leave remainder of wire on to create the stick part

secure opening of star shap to stick part of wire using wire ties (I used very small red ones)

Attach EL wire (I used 4 ft) of your choice (I used HB pink) to a 1/4" phono jack (do it just like the light saber blades)


Secure length of 4' EL wire to coat hanger wire using wire ties make sure to keep the wire on one side of the coat hanger when you reach the end of the star shape twist remaining EL wire down the stick. Use heat shrink tubing and chrome tape to secure coat hanger wire to 1/4 phono jack.

 

My blades to date all have a rubber blade sheath, so I just use a pressure set screw (rather than have a hole in the blade.

However, I'm progressing out of using this method, and will be using 3/4" PVC as well as 1" and 1 1/4". I'm going to make 3 cuts around it, about 1/2" from the tip, and using 3 screws to push the 3/4" PVC in a little bit more, making it stay in.

 

Do EL lightsabers have the humming noise or do they just light up?

 

Actually most of them have an annoying high pitch whine do to the inverter circuit in them. Some people do add sound boards to them so that they react to movement. Some of the sound boards have been scavenged out of toys.

 

Jedi Kibbles

My blades to date all have a rubber blade sheath, so I just use a pressure set screw (rather than have a hole in the blade.

how exactly using wat do u make this sheath for the blade in the hilt and wat screws. I like your idea but exactly what parts do i need

 

Yes, that was the hard part really, finding or making a good holder for the blade, I ended up designing a piece's out of machined aluminuim. I cant get the cost down lower than $22 for 2 inch and $30 for 4 inch.

for those yet to see it, just copy and paste my link under my name to see it at my site.

sporty

 

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=7512&product%5Fid=8115
It's polyurethene tubing. 3/4" inner diameter 1" outer. I put about 4" on the base of the blade. It works pretty good, but I am looking for an alternative, preferably one which I can have in the hilt. And it needs to be a HECK of a lot less than $22.

Edit: 3/4" PVC is perfect, but if it is mounted in 1" pipe, it needs to be sanded a good deal.

 

its hard to find something that works, Like I mentioned before i tried using wooden doll, drilled out 3/4, it did crack on the drilling, i glued together and works well.

Its the only other idea i have came up with that worked to my satisfaction for a cheap alternative.

I wish I could find a machine shop and aluminuim cheaper, I'm paying $2.50 a inch and the labor is what gets me. I keep trying to get the guy down, but no luck yet. I would like to get it down to $8, but i think id have to find a used lathe to buy. And thats gonna be some $$$.

If I felt I could recoup my money id do it.

I spent 2 weeks hitting different hardware stores. Its ahrd to find a good fitting size of pvc. Cuz the the sink pipe inner id, is such a off diameter. its 10,000 of a inch less than 1 1/2.

But like you mentioned, Doing some grinding on it, could get a piece that fits.

The only plus i have of my insert is the nice end protruding out, Soon Im gonna buy a garflex replica for $50.00.

Making the blade and low cost is diffently easy to do, Getting a cool hilt that it sturdy and can handle some whacks, seems to cost more than the blade or equal to it.

That hilt i made from a flashlight worked out great tho, it had a end cap on both ends. I was able to drill a 3/4 whole to insert the blade, however the reducing inside the flashlight was tricky. thats why I tried the using the wooden doll.

It does have a little play in it, which is more likely to cause the polycarbonate to break at the end. But so far its handled the kids hitting it against everything.

Its easy to find a 3/4 od tubing or pvs, but i cant find anything out there that works well for the 1 1/2 inch hilt, because the the 10,000 differance. and reduces enough to adapt more pieces with a good snug fit without to much of a hodge podge set up.

Sporty

 

OR you just go to this link: http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=7003&step=4&showunits=inches and buy 5 inches worth for $4.60 plus shipping. hphoenix listed the link to this site about 10-15 pages back. The only difference between that and the adapter Lightech sells is that Lightech's is slightly tapered, has some machined ridges, and the have drill and tapped holes for the thumbscrew and a set screw. Basically my point is you can buy the same basic part Lightech uses and sells for $40, for less than $10. This is where I am also plan to buy the material for my hilts.

Hope this helps.

 

Just new to the board here.

Has anyone experimented with laser diodes? Would they be able to handle the hits? I have a feeling they may be a little durable.

Just wondering.

 

since i have a 1.25 inch hilt im going to use 3/4 inch pvc piping

wat kind of thumbscrews should i use

 

As for Laser Diodes, Some of us have used LED's for flash on the hilt, And I know a few people who have put LED's into the emitter to make sortof a "flashlightsaber", and I know one guy who put an acrylic blade on one of those. It didnt light up very well, not much better than the toy versions.

I wouldnt use Laser Diodes for these purposes,
A) LED's produce more usable light to light up a blade
B) Laser's could potentially harm someone who caught a refraction with there eyes
C) It is now illegal almost everywhere to point a laserpointer at people, someone could snagg you with that if the diodes bounced out of the blade at all and left little red dots on people.
D) Red is the only cheap laser diode I have seen, green is expensive, and blue is DANGEROUS and EXPENSIVE and not small enough to fit into a hilt anyway.

Much better off going with EL wire or tape, It looks reall really awesome even up close. I think its by far the cheapest way and the best way to make a functional lightsaber blade.

DRK

 

Ok I know I have taken my own sweet time but I finally got around to doing a hilt tutorial

Its not all done yet but I will finish posting tonight. You can see the end result and the parts list etc on my site under hilt construction. Its all built with just Lowes items and costs less than $25 bucks and thats including all hilt electronics.

 

please finish that hilt guide thats the most help ive seen

 

I took a look at that link, not to bad. HAs aonyone gotten some, Cuz I know the OD would have to be filed down 10,000 of a inch to fit. I also seen that it does not quarantee the ID.

But the price is not bad. If anyone has actually bought some, Im interested to here how it has worked and pictures.

I still like my groove, fliar design. But Maybe Ill buy some and see how it works. It might be easier for me to have the fliar/cut/groove design put on it.

sporty

P.S. Stryder keep up the good work, the site is better and more orginal and I hope sales are going well for you.

 

hehe, nice finish to the hilt guide.

Wow. I think I'm going to have to make an entire lightsaber from that site.

EDIT: just found the perfect blade holder stuff.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=476&step=4&showunits=inches
That has a .76" ID, 1" OD.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=7156&step=4&showunits=inches
If you're over paranoid about them messing up, this has a .777" ID with 1" OD.

 

Ok, I finished the hilt tutorial. My mind is a little fried so please let me know if something needs to be described more clearly etc. Obviously there are a million ways to make a hilt, my main goal here was to show one way to hold the electronics etc.. inside the hilt.

Anyways, enjoy

 

Great tutorial! If anything, it should be a little less detailed to get the readers creative juices going.

 

Darth_PigPen,I use a 9-12v inverter and it can handle 18v, at least for me. Its the pipsqeak.

 

Nice tutorial, Strydur I say leave it as is- we're not all wiring or electronics experts here. I'm just now figuring out how to adapt that tutorial to a style 3 bigyellowbox hilt.