The lightsaber is one of the most iconic images in all of science fiction. Every “Star Wars” fan has dreamed of having their lightsaber and fighting battles with it.
They were very expensive toys when they were first released in 1977, selling for about $100, but their value has skyrocketed since then. Currently, a mint condition replica lightsaber in its original package could sell for as much as $15,000.
The lightsaber is made up of three components: the handle, emitter shroud, and blade assembly. The first two are relatively easy to find on Internet auction sites, but finding blades can be difficult. Replicas are available, but they don’t have the official Lucasfilm stamp of authenticity. If you can find a real lightsaber blade, it will be worth even more than the handle and the emitter shroud combined. In this edition of How Stuff Works, we will learn how to reforge a lightsaber from any old parts.
To make your lightsaber, you need three pieces: a common flashlight with an LED bulb, a plastic toy blade, and a tape clip for hanging posters.
Table of Contents
Tools:
Scissors, screwdriver, wire stripper/cutter, hot glue gun and extra hot glue sticks (about 5), lighter or matches.
Materials:
LED flashlight with battery and two AA batteries (for the handle) OR small flashlight with 1-3 AAA batteries (for the emitter), plastic toy lightsaber blade, tape clip, and solder.
Step 1: Disassemble the flashlight: Open up your LED flashlight and pull out the battery holder and its contents. Discard the mechanical switch; we won’t be using it for this project.
Next, remove the LED bulb and its wiring from the front of the flashlight.
Step 2: Remove the batteries, LED, and wiring from the emitter: The handle is made up of two pieces: a plastic tube (the body) and a black cap (the head). Discard both of them along with any small screws; we won’t be reusing them.
Next, remove the wiring from the head and unscrew the plastic cap from the front of it. Unscrew any screws holding in place a spring at the base of the emitter shroud or twist off a rivet if there are no screws. Pull out this piece as well as any other pieces that might be inside.
Step 3: Reassemble the handle pieces without the switch or cap. Next, put all of them together in their original configuration. Test to make sure your LED still works by screwing it back into the body and turning on the flashlight with a click of its button.
If you don’t want to use batteries, you can also use a small 1-3 AAA flashlight to make the emitter. In this case, you should assemble all of the pieces with a spring and a tiny screw before continuing to step 4.
Step 4: Solder two wires to the switchless handle. It doesn’t matter which way they are connected because it is simply a basic on/off switch, and either way, it will work. You can use a black wire for the negative connection or any other color as long as you know which one is positive. Twist the wires around each other to ensure they make good contact and solder them in place.
Then take two longer wires (about as long as your arm) and solder one end to the negative wire on the handle.
Step 5: Assemble handle, blade assembly, and emitter shroud. Start with five or six small dabs of hot glue around the circumference of the head and attach it to the fix of the emitter shroud. Next, solder your two pieces of copper tape to either side of what will become your blade holder.
Then, fully insert the wires through holes in the blade assembly and add a drop of hot glue inside to hold them in place. Twist them together to stay in place and don’t shift around when we add the blade. Screw the head back into place and then attach the blade holder to the front of it using more hot glue.
Step 6: Make a tape clip “crossbar” and attach it to your handle.
Take your tape clip and remove one of its arms. This will be our crossbar; we would like it to be as long as possible, so try and get the longest arm you can. Use a screwdriver to widen the hole on the end of the handle until it fits snugly (but not too tightly) around the clip.
Now attach your crossbar using dabs of hot glue along its length; make sure it is perpendicular to your handle.
Step 7: Attach copper tape “lightsaber blade” and add a battery pack/flashlight switch. This step will be unique depending on whether you are using a LED flashlight or a 1-3 AAA flashlight to make the lightsaber.
For an LED flashlight: First, we need to attach our copper tape to cover the front of the blade holder. Then, connect it to your negative wire so if you turn on your saber, its lights will light up.
First, fold over the wires, attached at their base but not touching each other or any other metal parts. Then attach two 1-inch (3 cm) pieces of copper tape over the top of these wires and press them down firmly.
Now attach one end of your copper tape to the negative wire so that when you turn on the lightsaber, its blade lights up.
For a small flashlight: First, we need to attach our copper tape to cover the front of the blade holder. Then, connect it to your negative wire so if you turn on your saber, its lights will light up.
First, fold over the wires, attached at their base but not touching each other or any other metal parts. Then attach one 1-inch (3 cm) piece of copper tape over the top of these wires and press it down firmly. That’s it! Now just screw your lightsaber back together, and you are done.
If you built a switchless version, attach your 1-3 AAA flashlight to the body using hot glue. But if you have a switch, go ahead and assemble the rest of the saber parts along with a spring before adding the pistol grip so that everything is nice and sturdy before adding the switch.
Step 8: Wrap your handle with attractive material (optional). You can go ahead and use adhesive-backed cloth tape to cover the handle of your lightsaber in a cool pattern or fabric for an authentic look. The easiest way to do this without leaving any gaps is to place the tape overlapping a previous piece of tape by about half its width on each edge. And that’s it! You now have a beautiful Luke Skywalker lightsaber that you made yourself and only took a few hours from start to finish.
