First there was the Sword of Fire: https://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-Ninjago-Gol...

Then the Scythe of Quakes: https://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-Ninjago-Scy...

And the Shurikens of Ice: https://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-Ninjago-Shu...

With the other 3 Ninjago Golden Weapons done, the last one to make was the Nunchucks of Lightning. Wanting to take advantage of a 3D printer I got, I also decided to 3D print the nunchucks rather than carve them (like I did with the other 3).

Here's how I put them together:

Step 1: Materials

Here are the materials I used for this project: (with affiliate links)

Gold filament - https://amzn.to/2p8JLr0
Translucent blue filament - https://amzn.to/32ITQsz
Small glow sticks - https://amzn.to/34TLEqR
Long glow sticks - https://amzn.to/2X6Wbwa

Here are the tools I used for this project:

Ender 3d printer - https://amzn.to/2NEEP6T

Step 2: Design in Fushion 360

The first step was to design the nunchucks in Fusion 360. Having no personal knowledge of the ins and outs of Fusion, I got a lot of help from an expert in the program who helped guide me through the process of taking reference pictures and translating it into a 3d object within fusion.

The decision was made early on to use glow sticks for the electric part that connects the two nunchucks. Other ideas were thrown around involving glow in the dark epoxy, or electroluminescent wire, or chain links painted blue... all of which were scrapped due to durability, or safety, or just not looking enough like the nunchucks on the show.

The glowstick idea ended up being the best of both worlds - offering a way for the connection between each handle to glow like electricity, but also have a way to not worry about the durability of the connection pieces (because you can just replace them with new glowsticks).

The nunchucks were designed out in 2 pieces, the handle and head, with a tight fitting connection piece between them. A slot was built into the eye area to allow for 2 small glowsticks to be placed inside the head piece and covers to snap over each eye section.

Step 3: Splice

After scaling the pieces to the size I wanted, I exported the objects into my slicer program (I use Cura).

I set the infill at 10%, layer height at .12, and added supports. I then exported the file to my 3D printer.

Step 4: Print

Based on the settings from my slicer, each set took 36 hours to print - 72 total hours for both, which was a looooong time to wait.

Step 5: Disassemble and Assemble

Once the print was done, I removed the supports, then snapped the handle and the head pieces together. The fit was designed to be tight enough to not need any kind of glue, but you could add glue to this stage if you wanted to.

Step 6: Print the Eyes

I went back into Cura and sliced the eye covers. Replacing the gold filament in the 3D printer with translucent blue filament, I printed a set of eye covers for each nunchuck. This part only took a few minutes, which was a relief compared to the 3 day prints of the other pieces.

Step 7: Add Small Glowsticks

Taking 2 1.5" glowsticks, I slid them into the slots built into the head piece, then snapped the eye covers on each side. There was enough light output from the glowsticks that there was a substantial glow through the blue filament.

Step 8: Add Long Glowsticks

I took 2 blue glowsticks and one white glowstick and inserted them into the mouth of one of the nunchucks. I braided the glowsticks together, then inserted the other end of the glowsticks into the mouth of the other nunchuck.

Step 9: Enjoy

With everything put together, they were done! After beginning the first Lego Ninjago golden weapon project, it was a happy relief to finally have the last of the 4 golden weapons done.