Star Wars F's Lightsaber

prusaprinters

<p>This is my attempt to recreate the lightsaber seen in Star Wars Visions - The Village Bride. The Jedi who wields it is called “F” in the credits.</p><p>This is a remix of my older model. The biggest changes are:</p><ul><li>Improved mechanism for opening the emitter. It opens up by pressing the blue switch on the side, just as it does on screen. To close it, push the switch on the other side.</li><li>Addition of a plasma ring around the emitter.</li><li>Hollow handle with paths leading to the emitter for installing a glowing blade.</li><li>Increased the thickness of the handle and emitter.</li></ul><p>The final two renders are animated gifs, showing the lightsaber from all sides and the assembly process respectively. Unfortunatly, it seems like PrusaPrinter does not show the animation. To see it, you will have to download the images.</p><h3>Design</h3><p>I had to use some guesswork designing this lightsaber. There were some great shots of the top from multiple directions, but almost none of the rest. The shape of the handle was especially tricky. I tried to infer as much as possible from every line, shadow and color gradient there was.</p><p>There is some inconsistency in the color of the pommel. In one shot it is silver, in another it is the same color as the handle (i.e. black). I have used silver, but you can use black as well.</p><h3>Print Instructions</h3><p>I have printed everything in PLA at 0.15mm or 0.2mm layer height.</p><p>You will always need the following parts:</p><figure class="table"><table><thead><tr><th>Part</th><th>Copies</th><th>Color</th><th>Settings</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>lower_emitter</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>ironing, supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>button</td><td>2</td><td>red</td><td>ironing</td></tr><tr><td>knob</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>ironing</td></tr><tr><td>switch</td><td>1</td><td>blue</td><td>ironing, supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>frame_part_1</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>ironing</td></tr><tr><td>frame_part_2</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>ironing</td></tr><tr><td>upper_handle</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>inner_handle</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>pommel</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>ironing</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><h4>No blade</h4><p>If you don't want to add a blade, you will also need:</p><figure class="table"><table><thead><tr><th>Part</th><th>Copies</th><th>Color</th><th>Settings</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>upper_emitter_closed</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>ironing, supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>inner_emitter</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>lower_handle_battery</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><h4>With blade</h4><p>Otherwise, if you do want a blade, you will need:</p><figure class="table"><table><thead><tr><th>Part</th><th>Copies</th><th>Color</th><th>Settings</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>upper_emitter_open</td><td>1</td><td>silver</td><td>ironing, supports on buildplate</td></tr><tr><td>inner_emitter</td><td>1</td><td>transparent</td><td>supports on buildplate, no infill</td></tr><tr><td>plasma ring</td><td>1</td><td>tranparent</td><td>no infill, 1 perimter, 3 top and bottom layers, deactivate “Ensure vertical shell thickness”</td></tr><tr><td>plasma shell</td><td>2</td><td>yellow</td><td>spiral vase mode</td></tr><tr><td>blade_core_001 - blade_core_008</td><td>1 each, 8 total</td><td>transparent</td><td>brim</td></tr><tr><td>blade_shell_001 - blade_shell_008</td><td>1 each, 8 total</td><td>yellow</td><td>brim, spiral vase mode, 0 bottom layers</td></tr><tr><td>lower_handle_XXX</td><td>1</td><td>black</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p>I've used uncolored PLA (PLA Natur by DasFilament) for the transparent pieces.</p><p>The blade_core and blade_shell pieces require good bed adhesion. Otherwise they will wobble while printing the upper layers, resulting in a poor print quality. Make sure the bed is clean and the printer is properly calibrated.</p><p>There are three versions of the lower handle ("lower_handle_battery"/"lower_handle_cable_left"/"lower_handle_cable_right"), depending on what kind of power supply you want. The differences are explained later on under Blade,Power Supply. Be aware that the files for a battery are included in the “Basic Parts” folder, while the ones for a cable are in the “With Blade” folder.</p><h3>Assembly</h3><figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/119978/rich_content/e53f002f-65d4-4646-9c11-cf69bda83ed9/assembly.png#%7B%22uuid%22%3A%2272dfb75e-d4e3-4bb3-9bba-83f2715aaf36%22%2C%22w%22%3A1080%2C%22h%22%3A1920%7D"></figure><p>If you want to add a glowing blade, pause after step 6 to assemble the blade. Then continue with step 7.</p><ol><li>Glue the pommel to the lower handle.</li><li>Glue both bottons and the knob to the upper handle.</li><li>Glue the lower emitter to the switch.</li><li>Close both frame parts around the switch. Make sure the switch can move freely.</li><li>Insert the frame into the upper handle.</li><li>Glue both switch caps to the switch. Do not glue them to the upper handle.</li><li>Stop here if you want to add a glowing blade. Otherwise, glue the inner emitter to the upper handle. Do not glue it to the lower emitter.</li><li>Glue the upper emitter to the inner emitter.</li><li>Insert the inner handle into the upper handle by squeezing it.</li><li>Insert the lower handle onto the inner handle.</li></ol><h3>Blade</h3><p>It uses a 3d-printed blade, which means it is not very strong and wobbles a bit.</p><p>Apart from the printed parts, you will also need a LED Strip and power supply.</p><h4>LED Strip</h4><p>A thin LED-strip, 5mm wide and 2m long. It can be yellow or white. You will also need a controller for it (if it's not included with your strip), which should be as small as possible.</p><h4>Power Supply</h4><p>There are two ways to supply the LED strip with power - either with a small battery inside the handle or by running a cable through the handle to an outside power source.</p><p>The only difference between the files for a battery and the ones for a cable is that for a cable, there is a hole at the bottom of the handle.</p><figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/119978/rich_content/96aa73d3-b7b2-4f53-a18b-86bc04b5a2d0/top.png#%7B%22uuid%22%3A%22a2bba30c-e60d-4a75-b8e5-955d144f718c%22%2C%22w%22%3A1920%2C%22h%22%3A1080%7D"></figure><figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/119978/rich_content/f15e7062-a51e-4ae0-a34c-2601fef66a68/side.png#%7B%22uuid%22%3A%22678a963e-a471-4c17-b310-e9cde1ef202e%22%2C%22w%22%3A1920%2C%22h%22%3A1080%7D"></figure><h5>Battery</h5><p>For a battery, use “black_parts_battery_[…].gcode”/ "lower_handle_battery.stl" and ignore all files with “cable” in their name.</p><p>The battery has to fit inside the handle, which means it has to be quite small. At most 127mm long. If it's a circle, the diameter has to be below 22.8mm. If it's a square, the sides have to be below 21.8mm. The battery has to fit into the space shown on the images.</p><h5>Cable</h5><p>The cable exits the handle at the bottom of the handle. The hole for it can be either on the left or right side. Left/Right as seen from the back of the handle, with the forward edge of the blade pointing away from you. There is an image showing which side I refer to as left/right.</p><p>For an outside power source, use “black_parts_cable_left_[…].gcode”/ "lower_handle_cable_left.stl" for the left side and “black_parts_cable_right_[…].gcode”/ "lower_handle_cable_right.stl" for the right side. Ignore the files for the other side as well as all with “battery” in their name.</p><h4>Printed parts</h4><p>The printed parts are the blade core, blade shell, plasma ring and plasma shell.</p><p>The blade core and blade shell together with the LED-strip form the blade.</p><p>The core contains two channels for the LED-strip.</p><p>The shell holds the pieces of the core together, gives the blade its color and hides the LED strip inside.</p><p>The plasma ring can slide over the emitter from the top. It is covered by the plasma shell.</p><h4>Assembly</h4><p>Assembling the blade is difficult. I managed to break a shell-piece as well as my LED-strip on my first attempt.</p><p>Make sure all parts are clean and without any overhanging bits of filament.</p><p>The shells slide over the core, so that Shell 001 covers the lower half of Core 001, Shell 002 covers the top half of Core 001 and the lower half of Core 002, etc.</p><p>I find it works best if you assemble the entire Core and Shell except for the tip first and use a bit of wire, attached to the end of the LED-strip with strong tape, to pull the LED-strip through the channel.</p><p>You don't need glue for the blade. Only at the bottom to connect it to the upper emitter.</p><p>Inside the emitter, use the final bit of the LED-strip to loop around the inner emitter, pointing out. This will light up the plasma ring.</p><h3>UPDATE: Added lower_handle_cable_[…]</h3><p>This allows you to use a cable to an outside power source to power your LED strip.</p>