Fishslayer
104806
2434
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Testing the first of many LEDs (250 to be precise)
8 feet of polycarbonate for the blades.
Checking the connection between the handle and the blade. Got lots of help machining the handle
3 strings of 9 LEDs done, making progress
One full string of 90 LEDs completed woohoo!!! Needed help soldering all the 180 LEDs needed
The connected blades to the handle. Just need to light it up!
First light up of the lightsaber!!!!
Did I mention its actually two separate blades too??
Me with the finished project! Couldn't be more excited about how it turned out
Spin time for funsies (wish I had a better camera...)
Dog tax, for y'know, dog reasons
dooboyRISES
Gotta love engineering
herewegoat
Wasn't all that amazed till I saw Reese's and your Golden. Plus 1
CabooseFett
If you add a deffuser inside the polycarbonate you will get a better distribution of light . You can find one at thecustomsaberahop.com
SolidGoldFish
it's a long glow stick
humblewordsmith
Did you paint/spray the blade tubes with something? The look transparent initially, but almost frosted later.
Fishslayer
It is stuffed with packing foam
bobwehadababyeetsaboy
omg @ that dog in the DQ hat :) :) :)
Shizane
http://s642.photobucket.com/user/shawn351974/media/star-wars-kid-jedi-o.gif.html
methaddict2
What did you use to tint the tube and how did you round out the end?
Fishslayer
I used basic packing foam to tint it, and I actually did not round the edges, the light/pictures just make it look round lol
IsThisHowIUsername
Not bad! But 250 LEDs could easily be replaced with one High Power LED that is a lot brighter on it's own. Blade'd be empty, more stable.
SeriouslyPervertedComments
Commenting for my free lightsaber in a few decades
PieWillMakeYouDie
Anything's a dildo if you're brave enough
Reshintoe
@OP I'm curious what was the total cost?
Fishslayer
$80 about, but I had access to wire, machine shops, and metal materials so probably more
dogInaDinosaurCostume
$100 bucks for hasbro LS. how much for a LED homemade ?
LatrineUsedToBeShitHouse
So excited you couldn't even take your hands out of your pockets
smilkysmooffur
How much was it for the pieces? Would love to do this for my robotics students!
pleasebringtoiletpaper
What do you use as a power source, tho?
Fishslayer
2 9V batteries per blade. They are wired in series, so 18V per blade
pleasebringtoiletpaper
Did you hide them inside the handle or something? How do you switch them once they run out?
Fishslayer
The end of either handle is still open and they are in there. I have plenty of extra wire to shake the battery/battery clips out. easy swap
pokeman50
I'm more impressed that your dog works at dairy queen
FourCatsAndSevenMemesAgo
Upvote for actually finishing a personal project, something I have lots of trouble doing.
Kittymail
Nice breadboarding
ilikehexagons
You're making the "woom woom" noise with your mouth, right? You're not doing it right otherwise.
GeddyLee2112
You're right! +1
PitbullsPublicist
connect a sound chip to a gyroscope and make it modulate a sound like whoooossh depending on the sticks movement speed. pretty easy to do.
Fishslayer
Thanks, I want to add sound, but didn't know how to go about it.
PitbullsPublicist
well now you, G.i. Joe, make it so, captain Kirk.
Fweezerker
Cool job! You should sell them, im sure people will buy it.
rednessw4rrior
disney is gonna be pissed unless paperwork
Fweezerker
Yea they will take him to court... he just needs to call it a "Luminescent Rod" and bam... totally legal.
rednessw4rrior
bam totally legal and legit. i like that.
Qumefox
Actually Disney doesn't care, and neither did Lucas. Lots of places sell lightsabers. Ultrasabers, saberforge, vaders vault, etc.
rednessw4rrior
lucas is retiring. that's the reason why he sold or handed over the entire company to disney.
Qumefox
Well, there might be licensing issues for duplicating props used in the movies (if you wanted to mass produce) but just 1/2
Qumefox
2/2 making something and calling it a lightsaber isn't going to get you sued.
rednessw4rrior
im in the middle of bob ross class over at twitch. will reply afterwards. come join me.
westerngermany
knowing my dumb ass, I'd probably swing that thing once and obliterate it...
Fishslayer
Actually, dropped this sucker pretty hard, and it bounced right back...thank goodness
westerngermany
lol if it's idiot proof, it's a marketing goldmine. knowing that, I'd buy one of those in a second
Fishslayer
"Get your lightsabers, completely idiot proof!!!"
ClassyGiraffe
Is that a challenge?
alexburgers
Polycarbonate is tough as fuck, its literally the stuff they use to make bulletproof "glass"
dualmonocles
Those led connections on the other hand...
Cisforstupidthatsgoodenoughforme
Did you know you can by LEDs in strips - you didn't have to solder all of those together.
richardnixongoesAROO
im guessing sense hes in a clasroom it may have been for a class.
Fishslayer
nah, I was bored, and this gave me something to work on lol
nickstewartroc
Those can tend to have the leds spaced too far apart for something like this, soldering them yourself you can control the gap
n0n53n53
You can get NeoPixels with 144 LEDs per meter.
nickstewartroc
Nice! I'll have to look into those then! Thanks!
Thedevilwearsbananahammocks
Sometimes those can be a paid to cut and resolder though
GaryMcDonald
I'm an LED guy, there are solderless connectors that snap on. If you have an questions message me! I'd be more than happy to help!
serenityfast
Just buy ones that aren't. There's plenty designed to be cut at intervals.
Cisforstupidthatsgoodenoughforme
Right - The ones I have used could be cut at every third LED (basically every inch.)
AntTrapHouse
You should string together RGB LEDs then use an arduino and a potentiometer so you can change the color on the fly.
VelvetHorror
Could you supply a small(negligible) current to the blade and use a potentiometer to determine a sound effect played based on what is hit?
JailbotX
You could have just used an led strip instead of soldering all the prices op
weischbier
hm...with the current diameter of the grib that might be a problem tho.
AntTrapHouse
But with the arduino comes complexity, which excites me. So many possibilities
weischbier
Yea, the possibilities surely increase, but so do manufacturing costs. but hey, as a hobby I'd still do it. just wanted to point it out
barnwolf
I think arduino's are a too big to fit in a lightsaber.
AntTrapHouse
An arduino nano would work, it's not a terribly complicated thing we are trying to do.
barnwolf
Ah didn't know they had a smaller version
AntTrapHouse
Oh there's tons of different versions. I usually use a Due or a Mega for all my projects.
AntTrapHouse
we could also just buy the atmel chip and build our own PCB to facilitate what we need.
girugamesh
I did an arc reactor for my son this Halloween using neopixels and Flora/Gemma boards. Came out pretty neat.
Bubblemouth
SPEAK ENGLISH DAMMIT
toocheekyraccoon
http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Chandler-Shutup-Friends.gif
AntTrapHouse
Make knob change color
Bubblemouth
Beautiful
Fishslayer
Then no one would know who I'm fighting for
ThatTwerkingWhoreFromOliveGarden
Which is what you want as sith. It will bring more choas than just a single color!
patotheduck
Easy. The French.
karmafarmer
But you could switch between Jedi and Sith depending on your mood, so there's that.
vulgarjack
But it would come in handy in the instance of your betrayal
Germurican
#teamjacksparrow
AntTrapHouse
But it would allow you to sell them to everyone and they could find their personal color.
Donnicton
They shouldn't need any color except for red, as the Sith are the only true path.
Katadeus
Make a goddamn mood lightsaber
rangerrick
Or you could just use the pot with some basic analog circuitry to control the mixture of rgb. Much simpler and robust design.
rangerrick
Know I realize my error. Analog should be discrete digital over micro controller. Opamps and such
mavaddat
I'd made these before (elec engineer). Varying resistance does not regulate the colour of an LED. These are diodes, not filaments.
rkshirey
That's why you use pots to give an analog signal to the arduino, then have the arduino feed a digital signal to the leds.
rangerrick
of course changing the voltage inside the operating range will change the intensity of that portion of the spectrum giving you flexibility
mavaddat
True. Intensity or brightness of an LED is can be modulatedreduced by a microcontroller sending a higher frequency square wave.
ChanelK
You...YOU FUCKING genius GENIUS! Here take these+1(id give more if i could) Now. Will you be making one for all of us that comment?
Qumefox
Chained LED sabers like this are fairly fragile and useless for anything more than just spinning etc. If you want to duel you're better 1/2
Qumefox
luxeon type saber that uses a single high power LED in the hilt. They're much more durable.
Fishslayer
Yup, all you would need to worry about then, is the durability of the blade material
Qumefox
The normal 1/8" walled poly tubes are more durable than most people think. I've yet to really hurt the blade on my US saber yet.
Qumefox
Though I haven't exactly been wailing on stuff as hard as I can with it either.
Qumefox
(1.5/2) off with a
Fishslayer
Just gimme a couple decades lol
TheTrueChosenJuan
Or, you know, you could just do the important ones... Like me...
ChanelK
Aw awwww...ok. ill wait.
DAFUQisaLOMMY
what was cost to build?
Fishslayer
Give or take $80. I did have access to a lot of the supplies though