Whelp~ time to start as any!

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Probably so, but as soon as anyone mentions patents...they are intending to sell. There is no justifiable reason to take the time and money to patent an idea unless you intend to sell said idea.

Past the practicality point (which I'm not even going to touch) I happen to agree with FenixFire.

[Juno]

(Wow, I went to sleep and woke up to this.)

That's exactly what I'm aiming for Cire Yeldarb. I'm just making it for me. No plans on selling, no plans on mass production, no plans on competing with the saber community. But to make it be worthless for mass producers (to a degree). I just came here to learn how to make a light up sword, improve upon the old toy design of the retractable ones with interlocking stacking cups. And I want to make safe guards that would make my version of a light saber/beam katana/laser sword... Something that improves upon the one cool thing that most sabers don't have, a completely retractable blade that lights up, is strong enough for combat while not subtracting from anything of the custom saber experience.

Maybe patent was the wrong word. What I should be looking at is making sure this goes directly into public domain with instructions and cost lists. I just want to make sure that anyone attempts this can buy the parts they need from whatever store they choose and make it not easy to mass produce the parts with conventional methods (I.E. make sure the retractable blade has so many necessary working parts while being able to handle dueling strikes that making these things in masse would be a loss). Soundboards, Lights, and some internal fittings and spacers can still be bought from saber stores, because hey! It's still a custom saber.

I mean no disrespect if there was any implied to the community of this forum. I just want to make sure that my ideas for this... light-up limb-assisted attempted replica of science fiction with the current constraints of technology, will be available for the general public to build as they seem fit, choosing parts from any source they choose, instead of furthering a rise of a "dark empire" that wishes to restrict that creativity and research for personal gain.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Your "idea" isn't new by any means, it's been looked at before, and as anyone who has built a saber will tell you, the space inside the hilt is very limited, unless the hilt is something considerable larger in length and diameter than what a standard saber would be.

[Silver Serpent]

If you do manage to find a way to make a duel-worthy blade that extends and retracts from the hilt with the press of a button, and still manage to fit light and sound inside, I'll be quite impressed. That's pretty much the holy grail of lightsaber builders right now. It's entirely possible that you have an idea that will do the job. But in this hobby, we've heard such claims more than a few times, and we're a bit skeptical at this point. No offense intended, but I'll hold off on judgement until I see some sort of working prototype.

Unfortunately, some of your goals seem to be at total odds to each other. If you want to make a design that is easy enough for a hobbyist to make, but difficult to mass produce, I don't see how that's possible. I can think of no designs that can be done in my garage that couldn't be done more easily on a larger scale and with better equipment.

[FenixFire]

Silver Serpent,

You hit it on the head, and is what triggered my consultant urges to kick into overdrive. "Expectation Management" that consists of 99.9% of my job.

Speaking of Who do I send my $150/hour consulting fee to...Just Kidding i'm still on vacation...this is vacation from the two rugrats...

[darth_chasm]

I will leave most of your ideas alone and let you discover for yourself. But I do have to point out a few holes in some of your logic.

In regard to your blade strategy, more parts equal more opportunity to fail under stress. Counterintuitive for a "Duel Worthy" blade right?

Producing one offs is more cost prohibitive than mass production. Look up economies of scale.

If something is too difficult for a manufacturer to make, why would an individual hobbyist want to make it?

Going on to a publicly accessible website, one that is frequented by many a professional builder, and announcing plans for something you don't want other to use is... do I really have to complete this sentence?

These are all rhetorical. No need for response.

EDIT: SS, that's twice in two days you beat me to the punch.

[Juno]

I understand it is not new.
I want to try a new approach to the idea.

I'll just go into full detail of how I think it will play out so I can be told if there's any issues to look out for or possible design flaws (until I get this thing rendered)

The hilt: Long and rectangular with rounded edges for easier grip, allowing spacing for non-round items such as a rectangular lithium battery, sound card and a rectangular blade.
The folding mechanism: Fits in the blade but has a collapsible spine that fits for strength and control over the how the blade slides out and extends to further than the handle length.
The light: El Tape, put on the folding mechanism in modular sections to stay flush and keep a constant light (Brightness varies, will have to experiment)

Why 3d Printed? Allows for screw holes and holders as well as an accurate placement of some parts (IE the blade spine) to be in set positions without coming loose. With certain materials and variations in composition (infill, lacing of the infill, how thick or thin the layers are) could enable new components to be made that were not possible before.

I understand that this is probably the saber described in Forgetful Jedi Knight's signature, a potential fool's errand, and I lack the experience to understand the various ways its going to fail.
But I want to try.

As for the Rethorical Checklist:

The stress is countered by the material and structure arrangement of the spine, the trick is figuring out what to make the blade out of so that it's strong enough to hold shape during a strike and doesn't splinter. (I have a few ideas as to what, not acrylic or plastic)

The idea behind the mass production is that anyone who wants to try and mass produce it will have to establish a new line of production (or heavily modify) to produce this one sword. The cost of mass production would out weight value of selling and profit.

A hobbiest can just go to a local 3d printer and get the parts machined.

As for going public? It was to get the opinion of people with more experience than me. By keeping the list somewhat vague (I'm guessing with my parts list included with this edit that's now bunk so nuts to the protection.) It allows for variations on the idea for it to progress and evolve.

[FenixFire]

I will leave most of your ideas alone and let you discover for yourself. But I do have to point out a few holes in some of your logic.

Going on to a publicly accessible website, one that is frequented by many a professional builder, and announcing plans for something you don't want other to use is... do I really have to complete this sentence?

Apple pay is a great example of that. I know the actual coder who posted the core code to an open source exchange forum, and all 14 of his easter eggs are still in the code...yet Apple still denies it.

[Cire Yeldarb]

I understand that this is probably the saber described in Forgetful Jedi Knight's signature, a potential fool's errand, and I lack the experience to understand the various ways its going to fail.
But I want to try.

The wanting to try is what I really like about you! And I really hope we get to see the steps you take along your journey

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I'm not against you trying either. One of my great friends, Jedi Master Experience is looking forward to your training.

The talk of "mass production" "patents" and other things is what is setting off alarm bells. This Forum IS attached to a store.