Introduction: LIGHTSABER!!! LED - 3D Printed - Fully Functional

About: I make things, and I sometimes attend classes at Columbia University - but primarily - I make things ~ especially from scratch... Please don't mind the currently perceived dearth of designs on my page, I very …

This is a 3D printed Light Saber I designed as a personal project to keep myself occupied...

Here's a demo video: Demo Video

Let me start off by saying this is a very easy print/make... The handle only has two main prints and you have the option of printing either 6 individual sliding cylinders or print one with all of them already embedded... Every print can be printed on a single extruder, no print requires any supports, and the tallest print is 155mm high on the Z axis... So as long as your printer can print 155 in the Z, you can make this no problem...

The only thing you will need to buy is this LED light and remote for $10.... LED Light

I used Bendlay filament for the cylinders mostly because it lets a lot of light pass through is (91%) and it is also a lot stronger than PLA... It is pretty expensive, but totally worth it for this project... If you desire, you can also print the cylinders in natural PLA/ABS or any translucent filament you want to use... However, you wont get the same glow you get with Bendlay... Here's a link to Bendlay... Bendlay Link

Here is an instructional video I made that basically goes over everything that I'll go over in this Instructable... Instructional Video


Here is the link to the Thingiverse where all the STL files are: Thingiverse


I hope you have fun making this!!!

Step 1: Step 1: the Handle Prints

OK, you're going to need to decide what you want to print... I have to options, a dual extruded option and a single extruded option...


Single Extrusion:
Go to the link of the Thingiverse page where the STLs are and download the two STLs named "Single_BottomHandle" and "Single_TopHandle"... These will be the two prints that will make up the handle... The Bottom Handle can be printed as is in an upright position... The top handle NEEDS to be printed TOP DOWN though...

Best Settings: I found printing at 0.2mm (200 micron) resolution per layer was the best resolution overall... I did 2 shells and 10% linear infill... You will probably get better results with 3 shells, but it will take a lot longer... As for speeds, I printed at around an average of 70mm/s... But this will vary depending on the printer you have... You should know what speeds work best for your printer...

Time to print: about 4-5 hours for the top and about 3-4 hours for the bottom.



Dual Extrusion:
This one is trickier... I managed to print on dual extruded handle, it lined up well, however, I didn't use a purge wall to save time and it made the print pretty messy... I strongly recommend using a purge wall if you're going to dual extrude it...

Go to the Thingiverse page and download 4 files... "DualBottomInner", "DualBottomOuters", "DualTopInner", and "DualTopOuter".

If you plan on doing this,you should already be familiar with how to dual extrude, so I won't get into that here...

Best Settings: Other than using a purge wall, the same settings apply to the dual extrusion as they do to the single... 0.2mm resolution, either 2-3 shells... 10% linear infill...

Time to Print: Obviously, this is going to take a lot longer than the single extrusion one... Especially with the purge wall... Account for about 15-16 hours for the top and about 9-10 hours for the bottom.


Step 2: Step 2: Cylinders

You have two options here... You either print 6 separate cylinders, or you do one print with all of them embedded. There's advantages and disadvantages to both....

Advantages Printing Separately:
If one cylinder breaks, you can replace it easily...
6 individual prints that will take about 2-3 hours to complete each...
If something goes wrong during the print, all is not lost...

Disadvantages Printing Separately:
When they slide up and down, they can get caught up and not collapse correctly due to the fact that the smaller cylinders can come out of the bottom of the bigger cylinders that guide them... It's a pain, but and easy fix... Not really a huge issue...
Also, each individual cylinder will be weaker than than if they were all printed together and supported by the cylinders around them

Advantages Printing Together:
The cylinders will be much stronger when they are printed together...
They cylinder glide up and down the slides without any problem at all...

Disadvantage Printing Together:
All one print, a print that takes about 10-12 hours to complete...
If something goes wrong during the print, ie you run out of filament, or air print... All is lost...
If one cylinder breaks - you have to print all of them together again to fix it...


Now that you've decided how you want to print the cylinders, you need to choose what filament to use... I used Bendlay (Bendlay)... It is the best filaments for the project, however, it is expensive... If you don't want to use Bendlay, you can use any translucent or natural filament - it will all work... Just not as good as Bendlay...




Printing Separately:

Go to Thingiverse and download the 6 STL files.... 1st_OuterCylinder, 2nd_Cylinder, 3rd_Cylinder,... , 6th_InnerCylinder....

Best Settings:
Use 0.3mm layer resolution for this one... Do it in 3-4 shells and 100% infill... The walls are 3mm thick so the prints should be all outlines and shells... This will make the cylinders very strong...

Time to Print:
About 2-3 hours per shell... The biggest obviously taking the longest and the smallest, the shortest...



Printing Together:

Go to Thingiverse and download "Cylinder_AllTogether" ... From there, all you need to do is put it in your slicer and slice it up... I have printed this out and the STL is perfect... So don't worry, I'm pretty sure this should work for you...

Best Settings:
Same as above, 0.3mm layer height with 3-4 shells at 100% infill...

Time To Print:
This one is going to take a while - about 10-12 hours...


Step 3: Step 3: Electronics, LED, Remote

I designed this Light Saber around this specific LED.... LED LIGHT

I used this LED because it is a decent LED at a decent price... So I decided on this one and designed around it... I plan on doing another Light Saber with a more generic LED in the future, but for right now, if you want to make this, you're going to need to get this light... It's only $10...

You should really watch The Video if you want this explained really well...


First:
Take the LED out of its case by unscrewing the three screws... Keep the screws because You'll need them... Then put in 3 new AAA batteries...

Second:
Peel the white button cover off of the remote, this will expose 3 screws on the remote's PCB... Take those screws off... Remove the board from the case... Then remove the battery from the case... Put the battery back on the board (in the correct orientation) and tape it down like in the pictures...

Third:
Put the white button cover back on and with some scissors, cut all around the cover along the edges of the board as close as you can...

Fourth:
Test to make sure the remote and LED still work... If not, troubleshoot...

Fifth:
Carefully, bend the black IR receiver on the LED down about 45 degrees... Now, with the original screws, screw the LED into the Bottom Handle... Now, Just slide the remote into the slot on the front and test... If this works - you're all done... You now have an awesome 3D Printed Light Saber...