Customizable Crossguard Lightsaber, From the Force Awakens

On Friday, November 20th, we were part of the 30 million people to keep their breath while watching the trailer for the next Star Wars movie.

As designers, we were surprised to discover a new configuration of the lightsaber revealed in the now epic (and polemic) scene showing an unknown Sith Lord walking in a snowy forest.

As Makers, we couldn’t help but try to find out by ourselves if this “crossguard” design was a good configuration or not... So we decided to build one, with our army of 3D printers.

Of course, the "darkness" of the movie sequence and the lack of details on the weapon itself left a lot of place for imagination and interpretation.

A dozen of 3D printable lightsabers being already available for download on internet, we decided to make one that would be completely customizable. The modular system we invented makes hundreds of configurations possible. From Yoda’s lightsaber to Darth Maul’s.

Download all the files on our Thingiverse page or Cults, or Youmagine.

I sincerely hope you'll have as much fun building your own lightsaber than we did.

All parts are 3D printed using PLA on adesktop FDM 3D printer with a layer resolution of 0,2mm. (ABS could probably be used, but this would affect the tolerance and the assembly between the parts).

In the STL file package, you will find:

-A long telescopic laser, printed all at once

-A short telescopic laser, exclusively for the crossguard

-6 different sabers tip, including the T shaped crossguard

-A belt clip (very handy if you don't want to hold in in your hands all the time.)

-Grips

-Lightsaber switches

-A lightsaber’s cap

- A connector to assemble many sabers bodies together

Think about what design you wanna make and print the parts in consequence. You will need a 3D printer that has at least 15cm in z height.

The thick tube with stribes is the body of your lightsaber. You can combine as many tubes as you want using this part. It is especially handy if you want to make a double laser lightsaber.

The laser is inserted by the bottom of the tube handle. You will notice that one openning is bigger than the other.

Close it using the closing cap or the connector. If you want, you can also add Control buttons, belt clips and grips by sliding the components in the handle's dents.

If you want a normal size lightsaber, use two handles. Only one for Yoda's and three (or even four) for Darth Maul's.

Use your favourite top to finish the design of your lightsaber. The T shaped one is for the new Crossguard lightsaber from The Force Awakens movie trailer.

For this one, you will need more time because you will also need to 3D print two short lasers and small tops to assemble them.

One last step, if you want, is to colour the handle's components with metalic spray paint and sand it down to give it a used effect. It should do the job.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Samuel and le FabShop's team.