Dark Saber Blade Help

[Trey_2k]

Hi So I 3d printed a darksaber hilt and I want to make the blade for it. I am on a bit of a budget and I want it to be realistic, about 36 inches, I was wondering if anyone had any experience making a dark saber If so can you tell me how you did it.

[janx]

I'd seen a few threads on Dark Saber before (the Clone Wars episode came out a few years back).

You might try the Search and see what comes up.

As I recall, there's a real challenge to lighting the edges of the blade, but not the center.  Things like changing out the material shoved up the tube or putting a dowel in didn't work.

However, in sitting here, I got an idea.

From what I've seen (just snippets), the dark blade isn't round like lightsaber blades.  It's got a slanted tip and a more blade like shape to it.

cut 3 pieces of plexiglass in that blade shape (basically 36" by 1" with an angled end)

on one of those pieces, cut out an inner sillouette of the blade shape so you've got a very fragile edging and an inner "smaller" version of the blade.

Paint that smaller bit black on all sides and edges. Get it perfect.  Seal coat it with a matte or glossy spray (you're gonna make a few of these to experiment).

Now make a sandwich, normal clear blade, edgy a black blade put together, then normal clear blade.

Next problem, assuming you're gonna put this in hilt that takes a round 1" blade, make the missing round shell to finish the bottom tang that will fit your lightsaber.  (not exactly 2 halves of a blade plug, you'll have to cut off enough to account for the 3 layers of plexiglass blade).  When it's done, your blade should have a 1" round tang that you can insert into your hilt and the transparent parts will make contact with the emitter LED.

Before you spend time and money on this project, it's a great idea EXCEPT for the part where it might not work.  There's a reason for putting a roll of reflective coating inside the blade tube.  The design as given, let's light travel up the sides, but it's probably not enough to radiate brightly.  You'll certainly get some of the appearance of the dark blade, but I'm not sure it'll be bright enough.

[janx]

addendum, the search tool "darksaber" took a bit of wading through, but because I care, I copied the best links:
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=36311.0
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=6537.0
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=8539.0
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=27755.15


also google "make dark saber" and you'll get hits for "other guys" and that site that sells crafted stuff (don't say competitor names here).

It appears at least two entities have figured out how to do it and will sell you one.  Some study of their pics and discussion boards may reveal the secret sauce.

[chalion]

The problem with the Dark Saber Blade is that it's not made for dueling, or anything except for display. The weak point is right at the emitter. I've seen reviews and since it's all plastic, it tends to break easily. To actually use it, it would need major re-enforcement so it doesn't break. It's also a heavier blade than even an heavy grade dueling blade, more like a normal sword in this respect.

[Connah]

more like a normal sword in this respect.

Honestly that's not much of a weight difference or would actually be lighter than some sabers

however on the subject of dark saber blades. I think one guy had tried putting black paint down the inside of the blade, then when it was partly dry shoved some wire down there to scrape lines in it. not sure how well it worked.

I was thinking of trying getting a HEMA plastic sword blade (in black) and doing lightning down the edges with some sort of highly reflective paint then mounting the whole thing in a hilt with a white LED. In theory this would give a similar look to the dark saber whilst eliminating a lot of the strength issues.

Plan B is to do the same but just a regular white paint down the edges.

[Cern]

This youtuber used wood, black paint, and reflective tape for his Darksaber:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB4pLc6hBco