Simple Lightsaber

I've always wanted a custom lightsaber but haven't had the money. this is a relatively cheap way to make an awesome super bright extremely durable lightsaber.

It takes 3 leds end to end to make 1 inch. so if you have a 36 inch blade like the one I'm making you'll need about 110 leds give or take a few.
all the parts I use will be in the steps so just see what I'm using and you should be able to find it.

the leds need to be wired series to make an even led chain I used a piece of scrap wood to help bend the leds. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE LEDS ARE BENT THE EXACT SAME WAY OR IT WON'T LIGHT UP. once all the leds are bent and stringed together you need to add wire so that the current can be distributed evenly. When you have that done you can cut a small strip of packing foam. I got the foam at home depot it's not very expensive. the other film is from a painters tarp you use that to diffuse the leds and make it look like one solid light.

I got too into the moment and forgot to take pictures of the building of it. For the main layer of the lightsaber that's going to hold the blade is 1 inch thin wall tubing that I got off an old bike frame. The second layer is 1 1/4 drain pipe. Really you can decorate the outside of the saber however you want I'm not going to go into detail on how I did it because it may not be the same as you. The button is larger than the pipe so a small spacer must be added. The wiring is pretty straight forward just plugging in the wires from the blade to the button and same with the battery. My blade fits extremely tight in the handle so a little epoxy and it should be secure. I made the tip on my lathe, I used nylon but I don't have a step by step process for making it. Lightsaber tips are relatively cheap if you can't make your own.

if you want to add another coolness factor to the saber you could add a crystal. I made the crystal holder from four 1" washers, threaded rod, 4 nylon spacers that go over the threaded rod, brass nuts for the threaded rod, and two steel spacers to hold the crystal. I Tig welded the two spacers on but epoxy would work just fine. I then cut a slot for the wires from the blade to feed through. slots were then cut into the saber to show the crystal. I used a piece of quarts for the crystal but any clear stone can be used.

I also built a blue one using the same steps.