Building my Lightsaber

[vong]

you should ask him what his band name is... that will add to the cool.

*lets ankhanu tell you all so he can have the fun*
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[Ankhanu]

You're thinking of my old band that disbanded about 2 years ago... my current band is This is a Blackout. The name is a Foo Fighter's reference.

But, the old band, Jedi Mind Trick has applied to play a festival this fall, so may be getting back together for it if we're accepted. We were utterly terrible, but it was fun

Still waiting on my parts *sigh*

But I found a length of pipe from an old vacuum cleaner that I'm going to convert into a custom lightsaber design. Since it's not going to be a movie replica, I have some creative freedom in its construction
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[vong]

ahh, cool. guess im behind in the times
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[Ankhanu]

Today had started out pretty craptacularly; I was tired, cranky and generally my mood was as grey as the overcast, rainy sky. Things brightened up a bit when a certain package arrived! Horray, lightsaber parts!



I got to work preparing for the work I had to do; collecting tools together, cleaning things up, taking photos as I went... ya know, the usual. First thing I did was prepare for mounting the D-ring to the bottom. I aligned the ring by eyeballing it versus the ring clamp in the middle of the handle, then scratched the center of the screw holes on the base of the tube. Using a nail, I punched a reference marker for drilling the holes. I needed a 13/64" bit to drill out the holes, but I didn't have anything that large; instead I drilled a smaller hole and experimented with my Dremel bits to find the bit that would let me properly expand the holes. I ended up using a diamond grinding cylinder to slowly expand the holes.

Unfortunately, all the tools I usually have access to are sitting in a car trunk in an airport parking lot, so I didn't have a socket to reach into the tube and affix the D-ring. I've asked my wife to get one on her way home from work.

Next I added the activation button to the ring clamp, then drew out a reference 60deg. template to align the grips on the bottom half of the saber. Marking my mounting points with a sharpie, I then added the grips slowly to make sure they were basically where they needed to be.




With that, the lightsaber is essentially finished. Once the D-ring is attached it will technically be complete, but I do plan an additional step, a little outside of "official replica" specs. I'm going to make a lightsaber focusing crystal/emitter unit to go into the flash bulb holder to keep it steady. As it is, the holder wiggles back and forth, but having something in there will basically keep it in one spot. I'm going to make this, probably, out of the bases of two old lightbulbs, some silicone and one of those decorative glass stones or something. I'll take some shots when that's complete.
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[Gry Sarth]

What can I say? This looks awesome! I truly envy you, dude. Great work.
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[Jedi Skyler]

Dude!
I just got a chance to check up on some of the old threads and stumbled on this one. That is absofreakinlutley AWESOME!!!

VERY VERY nice find for you, bro! I can't wait to see the final pics of your lightsaber!

Now I'm gonna have to be on the lookout for one of my own...

[DarthMortis]