Lightsabers
I began building the iconic Graflex lightsaber out of a length of 38mm diameter steel pipe. I printed templates and blueprints so I could make sure all of my parts were cut to the right lengths and the curve on the top section was correct as well as the placement of the cutouts. I then sanded some of the scratches from cutting and drilling the pipe. I then ordered some components from a website that specializes in selling lightsabers and parts. I ordered a replica Graflex clamp as I was unable to make one with the equipment I have.
Someone, I know kindly welded a washer onto the bottom of the regular shaped length of pipe as this would form the base and be where I drill holes and pop rivet a d- ring to allow the lightsaber to be attached to a belt loop with a carabiner.
I then added the t-track grips to the lower half of the hilt. After that, I began to trial different ideas to make the little pronged ring that sits above the cut-outs on the top section. In the end, I used JB weld to attach the strip of steel sheet metal I cut to the shape and formed around the polycarbonate blade.
Then once the JB Weld had cured, I sanded any excess off and marked and drilled the holes for the blade retention screws. For the one underneath the bunny ears (strip of steel that I cut and formed around the blade) I used a monitor mount screw and sanded down the head of the screw until it was able to easily and snugly slide in and out of the top part of a coax connector. For the red button, I used part of a spare thruster from a Warhammer model I built.
I am gluing magnets inside the coax connector so that it can connect to the screw whilst being able to be removed to adjust the screw to take the blade in and out. The other blade retention screw is a button head slot screw that I cut to the right length.
Custom Torch Lightsaber
I began building this lightsaber with a Diall pro-black aluminium 300-lumen torch. I took the included D cell batteries out and disassembled the entire torch including removing the original button and battery connection points. I decided to base my design on the style that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber had in Attack of the Clone and Revenge of the Sith. I also took inspiration from Luke lightsaber from Return of the Jedi. I like the silver, black and Bronze colours as they worked nicely together. I didn’t want just a clean, unweathered hilt as I wanted mine to look like it had been used in battle many times. That is why I slightly sanded some of the black paint from the torch. I also sanded this because there was printed text that I couldn’t remove without sanding or stripping the black paint.