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Lightsabers! Use the Force and become a Jedi .... or a Sith!
This project comes from Parts and Crafts, developed from 2008 - 2011. Parts and Crafts is a creative community & summer camp for children to learn in an environment in which they are freely able to choose what they are doing. Parts and Crafts grew out of a camp I started in 2006 called Camp Kaleidoscope, which I directed through 2008.
The lightsaber kit was conceived of at Camp Kaleidoscope in 2008, and has since gone through several revisions by Parts and Crafts. We've tried it out in several public workshops, where children as young as 6 or 7, as well as parents and adults, have tried and generally loved the project. The project serves as both a reasonable introduction to electronics -- as it requires no prior knowledge -- as well as a fun way to explore making electronic props for costumes (especially for Halloween!)
We now have a kit available containing all the necessary parts at http://www.lightsaberkit.com
And for those interested, here's a blog post from 2008 when I was running Camp Kaleidoscope, telling a few stories I saw around kids making lightsabers and what I saw them learning in the process.
This project comes from Parts and Crafts, developed from 2008 - 2011. Parts and Crafts is a creative community & summer camp for children to learn in an environment in which they are freely able to choose what they are doing. Parts and Crafts grew out of a camp I started in 2006 called Camp Kaleidoscope, which I directed through 2008.
The lightsaber kit was conceived of at Camp Kaleidoscope in 2008, and has since gone through several revisions by Parts and Crafts. We've tried it out in several public workshops, where children as young as 6 or 7, as well as parents and adults, have tried and generally loved the project. The project serves as both a reasonable introduction to electronics -- as it requires no prior knowledge -- as well as a fun way to explore making electronic props for costumes (especially for Halloween!)
We now have a kit available containing all the necessary parts at http://www.lightsaberkit.com
And for those interested, here's a blog post from 2008 when I was running Camp Kaleidoscope, telling a few stories I saw around kids making lightsabers and what I saw them learning in the process.
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Signing UpStep 1Tools & Materials
Tools:
-PVC cutter
-hack-saw
-drill
-soldering set-up (you can probably get by without this, but it'll make the electronics section way easier.)
Materials:
HANDLE:
- 1.25" diameter PVC or larger, roughly 8 - 12 inches (any length that's comfortable.)
- push on push off button, or switch
- battery pack (between 2 - 4 AA batteries)
(optional):
- silver spray paint
- bike inner tubes
- small motor (for making vibrations in the handle, and thus the awesome lightsaber sound effects!)
BLADE:
- polycarbonate tube. The outer diameter should be at least .75" and less than the inner diameter of the handle. Should be roughly 2.5 ft. long, scaled to size of future Jedi.
- 25 to 35 LEDs of desired color
- solid wire (22 gauge).
Total length = length of handle + length of blade + 3 inches
Notes on using different materials:
There are lots of different materials that can make this project work!
For handles, any tubular material of the right length and comfortable thickness will work. One padawan at camp used a handle from a scooter and it worked great. We also figured that tennis racket handles could work, and that we could make handles out of clay if we needed to, but we never tried these out.
For blades, opaque is better than clear because the light
must be diffused. So, basically any long, light, and stiff material that allows light through would work well for a blade.
-PVC cutter
-hack-saw
-drill
-soldering set-up (you can probably get by without this, but it'll make the electronics section way easier.)
Materials:
HANDLE:
- 1.25" diameter PVC or larger, roughly 8 - 12 inches (any length that's comfortable.)
- push on push off button, or switch
- battery pack (between 2 - 4 AA batteries)
(optional):
- silver spray paint
- bike inner tubes
- small motor (for making vibrations in the handle, and thus the awesome lightsaber sound effects!)
BLADE:
- polycarbonate tube. The outer diameter should be at least .75" and less than the inner diameter of the handle. Should be roughly 2.5 ft. long, scaled to size of future Jedi.
- 25 to 35 LEDs of desired color
- solid wire (22 gauge).
Total length = length of handle + length of blade + 3 inches
Notes on using different materials:
There are lots of different materials that can make this project work!
For handles, any tubular material of the right length and comfortable thickness will work. One padawan at camp used a handle from a scooter and it worked great. We also figured that tennis racket handles could work, and that we could make handles out of clay if we needed to, but we never tried these out.
For blades, opaque is better than clear because the light
must be diffused. So, basically any long, light, and stiff material that allows light through would work well for a blade.
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marcelo-fire_wing said:
dude instead of batteries you could use a bug-killer racket the image stayed too bad i know its that using the racket's grip it becomes a lot easier because there is already the on/off switch batteries and recharge plugin(?) [sic]
(image)
não quis ofender, só é um fato...
Is like a 3900 mcd good? or would lower mcd ones work as good also?
Thanks!
Check this guy out. He makes super high quality lightsabers with sound fonts and super-bright LEDs...and uses them in staged duels. His are much more complicated and expensive though.
Yes, I've built one that way, just need an LED system to light it up. There's also a ping-pong ball in the blade, the LED will be in the hilt: when in motion, the blade will light, but hold it up too long, the blade will retract.
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/neon.html?gclid=CLyKvueiqpYCFQ4RnQodM15jyw
http://www.elbestbuy.com/?gclid=CIW24viiqpYCFQGbnAoda1RUxw
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/?gclid=COzfjv6iqpYCFQpknAodr0uezA