Cheap Custom Lightsaber

Would you like to Build your own Lightsaber? Battle-Ready, with a good light source and VERY cheap cost? Let me help out.

I got lucky while trying to make a simple Lightsaber for a Cosplay. But now i got bigger ideas, and it's so cheap and easy that anyone can really do it. If you cant afford an $50-100 lightsaber, then, read on!

Step 1: First Step: Modding

The firs thing you must do is Set your path.

For me, i Bought a Toy Light saber. For children, it was small. Totaly made of plastic and real real simple. However, the hilt Looked nice. And it was all that i wanted. It's the one from the image.

I didnt know that these toys had 11 Bright blue leds inside of them!

You can also see the tools i used.

Here is the Layout.

• Lightsaber toy (costed $7)
• Durex tape
• Thin Plastic Hose (the thinest kind. It has to be transparent.)
• Scisors (Get a small one for precision)
• Some colored plastic (Mine was worthless, it is just in case you want to experiment.)

The first thing you should do is to Open the Toy up. If your path is to Mod an Toy like this.

If not, your first step is to Actually make a Hilt that you want to use.

Comments

[TechNerd1012]

well, if you could figure out how, you could make a nicer blade, even though it might not be cheaper. you could get an air-tight clear tube, and somehow fill it with white smoke and seal it off. not sure if this is even possible, but it would look much cooler, kind of a flowing effect in a way. nice 'ible btw

[crickle321]

Rubbing sandpaper on the clear tube would be easier for a hazy look. Keep it simple ;)

[aqwiz]

Hey, I have the solution to your color change issue, the problem is that the L.E.D.s are emitting a single wavelength of light, (blue) white light can be put through color filters to change it entirely, so if you have the time buy an LED flashlight remove those LEDs and use them with your colored film. the color filters filter out all but the desired wavelength of light, so if the LEDs are white (containing almost all colors) the residual purple/blue/green light will still show through after you have filtered out all other colors, with blue light there are no other colors to filter out.

[volquete]

nice toys, but if you want a LIGHTSABER not a glowing sword like this one, don't do this.

[d3v1lducky]

my kids got a couple of those knock off LS at a 4th of July thing. I get that its a "cheap" custom light saber. But you really are getting what you paid for. My 3 year old and 8yr old broke both of them in less than a few hours. and by broke I mean the completely shattered the hilt. So far I glued one half of 1 hilt back (battery holder/on-off button side) together and turned the LEDs into a battery powered lamp for my living room. Oh yeah my kids didn't break them by hitting the hilt on things that was from hitting the blades together, I'm just glad neither of them got hurt by them.

[bumpus]

one thing i dont like about the "light sabers" is that the "blade" isn't very long, and throws off the visual beauty of the saber, just my two cents

[whitish]

but if its a penny for your thoughts then why are you giving 2 cents when you should only have to give one?

[bumpus]

Its not mandatory to give one cent, I gave two out of charity. :D

[Ricardoaraujo]

You're 100% right. My biggest pain was to try and find a replacement for the blade, because the one that comes with those toys is usuallyf or kids (so, between 30 and 40cm top) for me it was the hardest part. However, the circuit of this thing is really basic and the glow effect is great. So if you have some experience, you can easily mimic it from scratch and make a much more reliable, cheap and powerfull led blade.

[Brother_D]

Get the make-your-own pack. The blades that come with that are pretty good.

[Brother_D]

oh, i guess this is a "cheap" custom lightsaber.

[Changsta Chief]

this was from six flags

[joe57005]

i could swear i saw that exact lightsaber at starwars weekends at disney last week. (i work there)

[coolz]

on minimum wage!

[joe57005]

minimum wage is what my bosses make. i work for peanuts and free parking.

[Yerboogieman]

in washington (not DC) minimum wage is like $8 something andi make $10 per hour at my neighbors! lol

[joe57005]

i am making slightly (pocket change) more than minimum wage. i was just joking. anyway, i didn't mean to start a tangent. On topic: I bought and modified a cheap non-lighted licensed lightsaber (i chose it because the blade collapses fully into the hilt), so now it has a translucent green blade with lights and sound, and it still fully collapses.

[dabusff]

peanuts are delicious! Great Instructable, now if only you could make one out of laser light. I met a guy who said he could do it, but he was drunk and wearing a jacket with patches on it...

[REA]

Those kind of people know what they're talking about!

[Ward_Nox]

WOW YOU GET PEANUTS!!!

[ryugatana]

CONGRATZ on getting on Gizmodo!

[GorillazMiko]

Cool! I got one of those sword things too at a carnival, had about 25 or something LED's in it. SCORE! +5/5 stars. (added to favorites)

[jeandeau]

LEDs are monochromatic light sources. You can never filter the light to what you want unless you start with a white LED which uses phosphorescent material to obtain wide color spectrum. Build a spectroscope. it takes 15 minutes to build the CD and cereal box version. CD spectroscope or an hour to build the super DVD versionDVD spectroscope You quickly learn what light you can get from any source because the spectroscope shows what colors are available from the lightsource.

[Ward_Nox]

A faily easy wat to tint the blade MIGHT be to coat the inside of the blades tube with Gallery Glass (liquid plastic used for making household windows like stained glass) also one thing to be careful of with these cheap LS knock offs is there cheap and that gives them a change of havening sound chips that change sounds w each use (bugged the crap out of me as a kid and still does) if your able to test the sounds out before you buy it i say do it also even if you making a blade from scratch theres know reason you cant gut a toy LS for parts

[TheScientist]

to change the colour (or have the ability to if desired) i think you'd be best using white LED's. the other colour LED's emit light only at particular wavelengths, which are more likely to be absorbed by the cellophane you add (the reason that things have colour is because they either emit specific wavelengths, or absorb specific wavelengths) so if you're using white light, the cellophane should give a better result :)

[rocketman221]

I would use a string of those rgb LEDs so i could set the color to whatever I want.

[joe57005]

i'd use separate strands of leds each with a different color, and no cellophane.

[Ricardoaraujo]

I though about it, the whole problem is that the Cellophane works like a Filter, "eating" the light away (like Step 5) So, to add more color i need more Cellophane and the more i add, the less color i get... is a trade off that dosent wrok really. I tried paint and nail polish too but it was even worst.

[teamcoltra]

You may consider replacing the blade with some strong tubing, and el-wire

[Ricardoaraujo]

But woldnt that defeat the purpose of it being really really cheap?

[teamcoltra]

not at all... El-wire is like 10 bucks, the tubing can cost as much as you want to pay, but i would reccomend another 20 bucks... but you could get some really cheap tubing (look what you are upgrading from) and be able to hit it on whatever you want.

[Mr. Rig It]

Nice photos and a cool project. Good Job Oh the video on the slast step is absent.

[Mr. TiKi]

where did you buy your lightsaber?

[Ricardoaraujo]

It's a really cheap "laser blade" toy, one of those made in "elsewere", y'know? didnt bought on any big stores. The best part is that a led blade is cheap and cause great effect!

[duck-lemon]

Syper brilliant uber awesome!

[Ricardoaraujo]

Thanks a lot =P