By Ben

Thanks for your complinemts on the lightsaber I built. Actually I didn't even think it would turn out that good! A lot of people have been asking how I made it. I saw some of the other ones on the internet that people had made and I remembered one of the Star Wars novels I read a while back. I'm not to sure which one it was. In the story a character makes his out of pieces he finds around the abandoned Yavin 4 base. One of the items was a piece of pipe or conduit. So I figured that I could do that to. For about two weeks I just picked up little pieces here and there that I thought I may be able to use. At my work we warehouse for a telecomunications company. They throw away just about as much as they use, so i had plenty of stuff to root through. Since some of the parts come from the telecomunications company I don't think anyone else will be able to find the same ones like i used. But the other parts are pretty common. I'll list the parst i used going from left to right in the one pic on the contest website. -- a small screw that takes an allan wrench to hold the ring on -- a hanger off the back of a dresser or wall mirror -- some kind of plastic insulator for hanging conduit called a "cherry"-- Phone company -- washer with a copper collored plating-- Phone company -- a common copper butt connector for 1in tubing, but just about 3/8in of it, I cut it into smaller pieces -- a length of 1in copper tubing for the body -- the rubber grips are the insulation off of some giant copper wire that is about 1 1/4 in thick . I cut the insulation off in rings and stretched over the body, they fit tight and stay in place. -- the on off mechanism is a Hon brand lock for a file cabinet. I cut and folded some aluminium sheet metal to wrap around the lock and body and riveted it on. The lock even has a little part that works like a button. The sheetmetal covers up the keyhole and kind of disguises the lock. --the knobs are a metal RCA plug with the prong adn colar cut off of it with a dremmel tool, the other is a cover for a tire valve with a copper rivet inside it. Both are just glued into some holes i drilled in the body. -- then another piece of copper fitting -- the emitter shroud is a condut fitting that i cut a piece out of with my dremmel and painted black. I attatched it with rivets -- the emitter is a short piece of thick walled metal tubing I put a piece of wooden dowell through the copper pipe so that i would have something to glue the other parts to and to add a little weight, It really feels solid and realistic. I guess i did a good job because people ask me if it really works! Well that is how I did it! ps-- If you use copper or brass, after you polish it be sure to spray a good coat of clear laquer on it and then be careful not to scratch it. That way it will stay shinny. " May the Force be with you, always."

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