My 1£ Store lightsaber build

Durrett

Well-Known Member
1£ Store lightsaber


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As I have still to find a job, the second annual dollar store lightsaber building contest this November was a great opportunity to stave off cabin fever and keep the modeling skills sharp, and the 20£ cutoff insured I could afford it. I used the following parts, minus the ones that are crossed out. Mind you I've just moved to the U.K. so I had to do the whole thing with a Dremel.

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I dremeled out the crystal chamber window from the wee little flashlight, as well as the "vent holes" on the side. This flashlight was great, as I could use it's two screw off ends to attach it to the other internal segments. The crystal itself was cut from the invaluable ice-scraper's acrylic blade. For the internal mechanics of the crystal chamber I cut apart the accessories from the "Funtastic Police Play Set" which had a lot of great textures.

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For the emitter I used the top screen from the microphone, but hollowed out the middle, then cut lenses from the pen and closet light to color and diffuse the LED's from the flashlight. I then glued these to the hollowed top of the flashlight.
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Here it is all together. The wire is stripped from the microphone cord. I was hoping the mic

would have some cool electronic guts, but it was totally empty inside. Thanks Poundland.
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For the shroud I used the Aquafresh tube. They were polyethylene, and if I had to choose a least favorite plastic it would be polyethylene. Nothing sticks to it, it gets all hairy when you cut it, and sanding it is a ghastly nightmare. But the tube fit nicely, so there you are.

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For the pommel I wanted something that had interest and spoke to the rest of the saber. I used two sections of Aquafresh cap, the reflector cup from the flashlight, and some of the EVA foam.

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To light the crystal I needed a seperate light source from the emitter, as it's battery supply wouldn't cover enough LED's to light both. I used the blue LED rig from the ice scraper (why do you need a light up ice-scraper?) and cut it down to fit in the base of the crystal chamber. I then used some of the microphone wire to run the switch to the handle.
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Next the unthinkable happened and I dropped up my DSLR taking photos during the build. So, the contest ended up being a lot more expensive than 20£. I am such a *******.
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I finally figured out I could focus by getting it in range physically and manually shooting. I'm still out a spendy lens, but here it is. I used the decorative mirror the landlord put up to make my tiny flat seem bigger for the backdrop. For the paint scheme I was inspired by McQuarrie's original sketches of the stormtroopers holding sabers. The sabers they were holding in the concept sketch looked suspiciously like Obi-Wan's, so I pushed the design to look more sinister and mass produced. Initially I wanted to do a more elaborate paint job using some blue details, but ran out of time.
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I think my favorite bit is the crystal chamber. The only part I ended up using from the bike pumps was the bit holding the crystal and the power switch. The blade adjustment knob is a screw cap from the corkscrew sanded flat. I was really impressed with how sturdy the switches from dollar store crap were.
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The grips are cut from two layers of the EVA foam sheet. I couldn't believe they sold that stuff at Poundland. That was the biggest score of the whole build. The charge port is the tip of the pen used for the emitter lens.
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Thanks!!
 
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I voted for this one (and apparently so did most everyone else). Absolutely great job, expecially with what you had to work with, both in tools and in parts.

I'm spoiled, I use a mill and a lathe and rarely touch the dremel, lol. As such, I am always impressed by what people can do with other tools.
 
:eek Just brilliant!

You deserve a medal for being able to make that polyethylene looks as smoothly finished as you did!

Kind regards,
Indy
 
I love this saber! I know a lot of people saw it as a Portal style and I see that as well but my 1st impression was a Stormtrooper saber. Excellent work on this piece!:thumbsup
 
this has got to be the best looking custom saber ive ever seen, its so clean and crisp, and the fact that you made it out of $1 store bought items just makes it that much better. i could totaly see a storm trooper carying this around and using it. haha the funny thing is that i was just looking at the concept art earlyer today and wondering why noone ever made the trooper saber :lol
great job, i like this design so much i want to try to make my own!
 
Do. Want.

Too bad your parts are from the UK; means us Stateside folks can't easily buy the same parts and reproduce this beauty.

From the photos, it looks like all the parts are pretty small; what's the size of the finished saber?
 
That's funny, the first thing I thought of when i saw your saber was McQuarrie's original skectches of stormtroopers with lightsabers. :)

One day, during the contest, I was at the Dollar store with my Girlfriend, and I saw one of those ice scrapers. I held it up, and said "Well this grip, would make a great start for a lightsaber." "people keeps saying they can't find any good parts at the dollar store, this thing builds itself." When I said, that, I never, ever, though of actually making a crystal from the acrylic bit, that is awesome.

Yours really is a very cool saber. Thanks for being in the contest, and for posting this thread, to share with everyone how you made it. :)
 
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This was a completely brilliant build - the design concept is absolutely awesome and I hope that you make it into a real metal-based saber. Use of the mirror as a presentation backdrop was awesome - after you did that I realized that you basically got 2 views of the saber in each picture. Well done sir!

-C
 
Do. Want.

Too bad your parts are from the UK; means us Stateside folks can't easily buy the same parts and reproduce this beauty.

From the photos, it looks like all the parts are pretty small; what's the size of the finished saber?

I think poundland had slightly better stuff than dollar stores in the US, an unfair advantage. The finished size is just under a foot long, perfectly respectable.
 
I would have sworn you found some white plumbing pipe (PVC) at the DS! That it is actually an Aquafresh tube? BRILLIANT! You got my vote.
 
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