Time to be a Jedi: my first own-made lightsaber hilt.

[Delerane]

Hello everyone !

So it's been a long time since I wanted to build a lightsaber. As a child, I built many things like swords, shield, bow, crossbow and even a lightsaber... out of wood. Everytime I use my aspirator, I see its iron handle which would be perfect for a lightsaber hilt. But I need my aspirator, so I can't use it !

That's why I went to the DIY store yesterday (and came back to another one this afternoon) and bought some pieces... My budget was 30€: I spent 31€ (and even bought some pieces which I didn't use....). Let's see what I had:



I won't describe all of them. You need to know I'm french and I lack some vocabulary about hardware store objects (I don't even know the specifics french names...) ! Let's just say I've bought some pipe connections, some collars, seals (round and flat) and a table leg (thanks to Google for the translation...). I also used black tape and hard glue.

First, I sawed the table leg. I removed the bottom which was square in attempt to fix it on the floor, and cut it to approximately 22cm.

Then I took the piece that I wanted to put on the top of the hilt (I guess you call it shroud, I've seen a lot of topic about "lightsaber's shroud"... Anyway.). I put some tape all around it then I fixed my biggest collar on it.





The problem was that my iron pipe (from the table leg) has a diameter of 30cm... and this part was bigger, with a bigger hole ! So I had the idea to use some round seals (which are 28cm diameter). I put one round at the top (notice that I used a flat one at the very top, you'll see why later).



Then I put the piece, and used a flat seal between two round seals to tighten (thanks to the Google translator once again !).



To be sure it won't move later (it was already tighten enough I think...) and to decorate the hilt, I fix a small collar just under the seals.



Then I wraped black tape at the bottom of the pipe, and fixed another small collar between the iron part and the second part.





Almost finished, time to create the pommel of the hilt ! I had different pipes connections (I've even bought some plastic parts which I didn't use...), but I used only three.



I assembled those three parts into one and I got this thing:



I pushed it in the hole and used some hard glue to keep it strongly in place.


And here we are ! My first own-made lightsaber !



I think it's a huge one ! It's a bit too huge but I like it. It's not as smooth as the one from the prequels, but it doesn't have a lot of details as the OT one got.... I wish it has. 27,2cm long, it looks like a big torch lamp ! The collars are very usefull because they can be used as "feet" to put the lightsaber on the flat surface.

I think it is elegant ("An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age" !). All made of silver and black tones, there is a small golden piece at the pommel. I think some details between the two collars on the iron part would be great, but for the moment it's fine. However it's still a bit too smooth for me, I'd like it to have more details. Maybe I'll do that another day !

Here is a pic that show the utility of the flat seal I mentionned at the beginning:



It is used to plug the hole between the iron pipe and the shroud (notice that I used a plastic part, it was from the table leg, using to put a bolt inside. I used it to plug the iron pipe hole and create the blade's source).

Here are another pics of my lightsaber (or only its hilt I should say) on my red carpet ( ) :









(NB: there is still a hole at the extremity of the pommel, I need to find something to plug it...).






Well, thank you for having read ! I want to apologize for my english, I'm sure I did mistake but as I said, I'm french. And I need more vocabulary about hardware store objects ^^ ! I'll put a picture of it on the topic "Show your custom lightsaber". You are welcome to make a comment !

May the Force be with you ! See you !

PS: From France with love !

 

[NeoRutty]

Hmmm pics don't seem to be working. Which is a shame, as there appear to be many!

 

[Serenity]

Yeah, it seems like attachments only work half the time on the site. It's always safer to upload them to a hosting site like Imgur, Flickr, or Photobucket.

In any case, hope they can be fixed, I'd love to see how this looks!

 

[Delerane]

I uploaded the pics on a website. It should be fixed . Thank you for the information Serenity .

 

[Delerane]

So as Sym-Cha said on this topic http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=232669&page=15&p=3758893&viewfull=1#post3758893 , I also think the pommel is too small. I wanted it bigger at the beggining that's why I've bought this piece: http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/38/1442412831-sans-titre.png . But finally I didn't use it. Until now.

So here is a pic of my old lightsaber with the old pommel:



It was pretty good but yes, too small and not as I wanted. I love pommels like Obi-Wan's one (in the OT) or Luke's one.
So I used my first choice, a hexagonal pipe connection which I bought with the other parts.

I had two possibilities. This one:



It was the same design as the old one, the golden part was just replaced by the hexagonal pipe connection. Notice the short part which can be seen at the lowest part of the hilt.

But I prefered this alternate version !



It is more as Obi-Wan's or Luke's pommel. Exactly the one I wanted (however still a bit too small compared to the shroud).

So here is my lightsaber v.2 !





I REALLY like it now, it is pretty cool I think. I may change the pommel once again later, with a bigger one but in the same style.
Still need to plug that hole at the bottom, which now is HUGE 0_o !



And here is a comparison:

Old pommel



New pommel:



Don't be afraid to comment, and may the Force be with you !

From France with love !

PS: this new pommel showed me that the glue works VERY WELL. The silver piece just under the tape is strongly fixed to the iron pipe ! I may put something in the pommel hole to attach the hilt to a belt. I was frightened because I was not sure the silver piece was fixed strongly enough to do that but now I know it's possible.