Light Saber and Interior Design

Hello there! My name is Ziyad Jenkins and I'm a freshman at Riverside high school and a long time Star Wars enthusiast. For my project, I decided to work on making an accurate light saber hilt. This design overall has exhausted my past couple days, but yet it has been fun to create something I enjoy despite having other things to do (including many practices and a game this week). Back to the point, I think that the Jedi are one of the coolest parts of Star Wars, and how could I not love the Jedi without obsessing over their light sabers! The idea of a laser sword that can cut through anything (but beskar steel) is awesome. My design both contains the outside hilt of the saber (which I hope to make with a CNC lathe if I can find a way to use one), and the inside workings of the saber based on reference photos and other sources online. If I were to manufacture the saber's inside, I would hope to do it with a resin printer and paint it. I like the detail most about my design, and I like the fact that I could make it in the near future on an FDM printer (with LOTS of support material). I hope you enjoy it!

I only used Fusion 360 to create this project, so here's what you would need:

A computer

An Autodesk Acount

Fusion 360

About 3-5 hours time

For my first step, I gathered reference photos of light sabers and their inside components so that I could make my own version. The main image I used is seen above. I didn't entirely base my light saber off of this image, but I did use some of the components seen in the image above. I also used images of other light sabers to inspire a design of my own.

I decided to start working on the difficult part first, and I did that by working from the bottom up. I made the power cell by making a sketch and revolving it, and then extruding the space between. I decided to make the power cell appear more detailed because it adds more intricacy and detail into the design. Overall, this was one of the easier steps in making my design.

This was probably one of the most detailed parts of my design. I did this by first creating an angled extruded cylinder and then by sketching details and using the circular pattern tool to make the details throughout the whole design. I then sketched out a design and revolved it over my previous works. I then extruded some rectangular prisms around in the overhang section shown above. After this, I created a series of cylinders about a half an inch above by revolving a profile and then used the sweep tool to make 8 shapes connecting the lower and upper sections. Finally, I created a conical shape in the middle to hold the crystal.

After finishing the crystal chamber, I decided to make the Kyber crystal, which is essential in every light saber. I did this by making an octagonal prism and making the edges come to a point. I then imported this design into my main one, and used the combine tool to cut this shape into the crystal holder.

The magnetic chamber was one of the, if not the singular hardest part of this design. I started by making the arms that come down and gather the energy from the crystal, and I did this by using the circular pattern tool on a preexisting design. I then added a series of cylinders on top of the arms, and extruded a clover shaped sketch to base the magnetic field inducers off of. I then used the sweep tool to add some details to the design, and copied the design to make it top to bottom symmetrical. I then sketched out many half circles and extruded them to create detail on the extruded clover shape. I then added the finishing touches by creating a circular pattern with some rectangles on the conical shapes at the top and bottom of the containment chamber.

This was one of the easier sections of my design, for this i used the loft tool with some cog shaped sketches to make the design more detailed.

After creating the focusing chamber, It was time to create the emitter. I did this by creating a cylinder, and revolving a design around it. I then used the loft tool to make a beveled cylinder going outwards. After adding details on the outside, I then added details on the top and inside the emitter. I sketched a design with circles and then extruded it down into the emitter. This was the last step of the Internal design of the saber.

I started the external part of the light saber with the pommel, and I did this by simply beveling a cylinder. I added a clip on the bottom for accuracy to the sabers in the movie. I then worked on making the grips by copying a beveled cylinder. After having a light saber with vertical grips. I decided that grips that run horizontal to my hand will be the most effective. I then created the switch plate. This was very similar to the pommel, it just has more details like a slider switch, adjustment knobs, and a charging port. I made the switch by extruding a rectangle, and then making a series of rectangular prisms so that the user can grip the switch. On the other side, there are a couple of knobs and a charging port. the charging port was the easiest of the 3, it is just a hole cut out of the hilt. For the other 2, I used circular and cog sketches. I extruded these sketches and attached them to the switch plate. Lastly, I worked on the external emitter, and I did this by making a cylinder and then cutting away the parts I needed to. I then extruded a large cylinder through the entire saber to hollow it out.

I then added my internal design to my external design, and this was my final part of the build. I brought my initial design of the inside over to the hilt as a derive, and then put it inside the hollowed out hilt. Following this, I colored various parts of the external hilt and added a line down the rear side of the hilt by using the sweep tool and a rectangle.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. I hope that you can draw from this and recreate what I did or maybe make your own! It was really fun creating the saber, and even though it took me quite a few weekends to complete, I think that it will be fun for people to be able to see what I made. Reflecting on my project, I hope I can inspire someone to make what ever they want to. In the beginning of this project I was looking at some of the designs for the inner workings of this design and I was thinking that it was going to be too difficult or take up too much time. But in the end I pushed through and made what I wanted to. I hope you enjoyed reading and maybe making this. Thanks!