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3D printer made sabers
Just started work on a project to make sabers using a 3D printer. Still in the early stages of planning. Had to design the sabers around the heatsink/LED. The sabers are initially in three parts - emitter assembly, main body and a rear end with a coupler so that two sabers can be joined together as one dual saber. Ambitious, I know. he LED/heatsink is effectively wedged between the emitter assembly and the main body, which are held together by screws or a long bolt. The main body slides into the back of the emitter assembly. Easier than calculating screw threads.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2021.34.20.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2015.06.17.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2012.41.52.jpg
That's the Light Side saber.
The Sith saber is still being printed as I write:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2021.57.35.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2021.57.32.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2021.34.16.jpg
All sabers will initially use Rebel Stars with one accent LED all running off 9V batteries because space is an issue, and Li-Ion batteries are $25 each for 3.7V 2600mAh here in Turkey. Basic resistor set-up for now. Will keep you all up to date.
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I would use AA alkalines or AAA alkalines over 9v batteries. A 9v battery has the voltage, but it can't put out the necessary current to run a Rebel LED properly. You'll get 5-10 minutes of a poorly lit blade before you need to replace the batteries. AA batteries can give you closer to an hour of runtime, and they can push enough current to fully drive a single Rebel LED.
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These aren't Rebel Stars exactly, but locally made equivalents. Still pretty good though. I set up the 9V battery, the "power LED" as they are called here and the accent LED in series with a 10 Ohm resistor. Still burning bright after 16 hours. We're good. There is just enough room in the sabers for a 4 x AAA battery pack, or a single 3.7 V Li Ion cell. We'll run with that in the future. We'll also make activation boxes so we can fit AV long switches into the hilt. The constraints so far are money and time. Can't afford really good quality parts right now, and Ep 7 is only a few weeks away. Thanks for your help.
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16 hours on a single 9v? Well, whatever your main LED is, you're only giving it similar current to an accent LED (about 20mA or so), especially with it wired in series to your accent LED. I don't think you're going to light a blade up very well with it. You'd need to wire them in parallel, and give a lot more current to your main blade LED.
The Rebel LEDs that are sold in the store run at 700mA to 1000mA, and I've never seen a battery that could power that for 16 hours. :)
It'll look just fine without a blade. Get/make a nifty blade plug, and it'll look fine.
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I'll run some more comparison tests with different battery packs and resistors. You're probably right about the current. I set up the LEDs again in series, main LED first, with 4xAA 1.5 batteries and a 2.2 Ohm resistor. Brighter and still going strong after a few hours. Thanks again for your help.
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More:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2016.25.57.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2020.15.13.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...2020.34.06.jpg
Thanks to the TCSS crew for help with the resistor maths. Learned a lot making these. What we need is a T-shaped connector for running LEDs in parallel. On/Off switch to two LEDs requires a splitter or Y/T-shaped connector. The same for the Negative leads going back to the battery. Found some work arounds but not ideal. Prefer connectors and crimping to soldering.
I cut small panels from a plastic tube and reinforced them with Worbla to make the raised switch boxes. Used my soldering iron and a dremel to cut holes just tight enough for the switches. After wiring the switches I used epoxy resin to attach the boxes to the hilts. I plan to use screws the next time, but this will do for now. Some small design flaws. Worked around them but we know better now.
