Show your custom Lightsabers!

There's a little bit of significance to this one: back when I was a teenager, I had a roleplay Jedi character that I was never able to design a satisfactory lightsaber for. I'd always had this idea that his weapons and tools should be more "junkyard," with leather wraps and scraps of metal and such, but the idea never went anywhere. Once I finished this build, I said "Eureka!" and recognized it as the design I never managed to develop back when it would have done me some good.

Anyway.

The core of this build came together surprisingly fast. I was messing around with a string of random parts one night and realized they fit and-to-end in a pleasing way. The body, top to bottom, is a Graflex slave minus the ears, two screen door slider wheels, the knurled end from a Canon Model X endcap, an inverted Canon Model Y, a stainless steel champagne stopper, and a faucet handwheel from TrueValue Hardware.

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The handwheel's diameter was an exact match for that of the original core of the champagne stopper, so I drilled out the rivets holding the flanges on the core, then drilled holes in the handwheel and attached the flanges to it with pop rivets. The space inside the stopper was filled with the front end of an aluminum flashlight, and the whole assembly was riveted to the Canon flash.

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The top end of the saber is held together with an 8-32 threaded rod. The spare Canon endcap was cut down to just below the bayonet lock and it was sandwiched between the two screen door wheels, then threaded into the bottom of the slave and the endcap of the Canon Y.

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The emitter is the bulb holder and reflector collar off the Y. The knob and backplate on the slave were parts off a Canon Model X's accessories. The whole thing is held together with a series of screws and a little bit of glue.

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I cut down a Novus 820-style bubble strip to fit the Canon clamp, covered the clamp writing with embossed lure tape, and finally the handle was wrapped in leather cord from Jo-Anns Fabrics.

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I'm really happy with how this one came out. The basic assembly came together fast and I didn't have to do much second-guessing about the overall design. That's usually a sign of a good idea.


And a little preview of the next build....


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i generally don't love the leather wrap style, but this thing is phenomenal.. There's a bit of Obi-Wan magic hero in the perfect storm of found parts.
 
i generally don't love the leather wrap style, but this thing is phenomenal.. There's a bit of Obi-Wan magic hero in the perfect storm of found parts.


Thanks. I'm really thrilled with this build. I'm not usually big on non-traditional grip styles as well, but on this one it works somehow. (Admittedly, I did have to go through three different styles of wrap before I found one I liked.)
 
I said I was done with sabers yet today I wound up working on one and made some pretty decent progress on it; it all just kind of fell together.

Expect another a post from me soon.
 
Hi there !
First time on this forum. I have checked the custom lightsabers that are shown in this thread, and was positively impressed !

I, for one, started building my first custom lightsaber for my 7-year-old daughter, when she started being very much into Star Wars. I then built a few others as gifts for her two best friends (all girls, too). Sharing these on my Facebook fan-page (I am a freelance Sci-Fi and Fantasy illustrator), I received a good feedback, and a few Star Wars fans even inquired wether I could build custom pieces for them. So I opened my own prop shop, under the name of The Galactic Armory.
Right now, this particular project is on hold, as I was a bit overwhelmed already by my commissions as an illustrator. So, I have not really publicized it. But at this moment, I am thinking about going public at last with it, and trying to see if it may be of interest to fans of the franchise.
Needless to say, all advice, comments and opinions from the die-hard fans here will be much welcome: although a definite Star Wars fan myself, I never was into prop building until now, so I clearly have a lot to learn about.

One last point, that may be worth mentioning: Aside from the hilt, I am also building the electronics from scratch. My sabers are controlled by small Arduino clones that I wire and program myself, therefore opening the way to implementing pretty much any kind of function (be they light effects, sound effects, or even remote-controlled reactions "à la" Force effect).

Thanks ahead for your feedback on my creations !
Best wishes,
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That's really cool!

- - - Updated - - -

Okay-- after teasing for a year, and AnubisGuard shaming me... I've finally done my Ikon Sith-saber. I feel like it's a little pat with the details, but overall, I really dig the dark and industrial look it has and think the combo of parts is great. I like how parts of it look brand new, and others look worn and tired. Like its owner was upgrading as he went along-- like a custom car.

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Last edited by a moderator:
I actually really like the Ikon's eye, but it was so fogged it just looked like cheap plastic. After scoring a Folmer eye for my vintage, I had an extra Roman eye and it popped right in there. I feel like it complements the shroud knob on the opposite side-- very similar knurling.
 
Forgot part list...

From top, down:

Shroud is from a Busch flash
Emitter is a Hard drive part
Roman Glass eye replacing the Ikon plastic eye
Busch clamp with chrome tape and Odyssey cartridge PCB
Ingersol/Rand channels for grips
wannabe kobold from a 2.0 Graflex
random greeblies from taking apart flashes crammed into every little opening
Body is a Zeiss Ikon
 
I actually really like the Ikon's eye, but it was so fogged it just looked like cheap plastic. After scoring a Folmer eye for my vintage, I had an extra Roman eye and it popped right in there. I feel like it complements the shroud knob on the opposite side-- very similar knurling.

Got any computer cards with color you may wanna let go?

Looking for one for my canon.
 
Didn't realise this thread existed before posting elsewhere. This is my take on Anakin's Graflex ( Graflex 2.0 )IMG_8465.JPGIMG_8466.JPGIMG_8467.JPGIMG_8471.JPG, had he beat Obi-wan. Full metal ( aluminium ) grips with a full metal chassis ( reveal ) under construction. Grips are currently just held on with some blue tack, just to give an idea of what it will look like. Going for a real mechanical look and much, much more to do.
 

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