New design I'm working on.

[Darth_Ventus]

If anyone out there has visited starwars.wikia.com and read the article on Lightsabers, you'll come across a mention of how hard it is to wield a lightsaber by anyone other than a force-sensitive.  It makes a mention that though the blade itself is immaterial, (being composed of plasma), it would be difficult to use a sword like that... it would be something akin to swinging a flashlight and hoping that whatever the light shines on would be cut in two.  But it also says that the Lightsaber's blade generates a strong gyroscopic effect.  That got me thinking... would it be possible to fit an Ultrasaber with a device that generates this gyroscopic effect?  It would certainly add to the realism without all the dangers of trying to create a real one.
I tried to get a sense of what a gyroscope felt like by using a sander with a flat square bottom, then I attached my lightsaber to the machine while it was plugged in.  And I will tell you, that was an odd experience but my swings and attacks were so very accurate it was amazing.  I invited my best friend to duel me using the same set up, by his opinion it should be fairly simple to create a gyroscope out of a weight attached to a small electric motor.  But the biggest problem with using a gyroscope in this fashion is the sound.  There is hardly any electric motors that are minimal when it comes to sound.
But then I had an idea!  I modified the volume of the sound being emitted by the obsidian soundboard in my lightsaber and that did the trick!
While the soundboard is active there is not a single thing that can be heard from the device!

Tell me what you guys think!  Do you think this whole gyroscope scenario would be worth trying to get through to the Ultrasabers management?

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

It has merit; point for a creative idea.

I wouldn't have any idea about how to build it but it sounds neat.

[Vex]

I don't believe that the gyroscope idea will fly with Ultra Sabers. For one it's a theory, another point (the main one) being that all Ultra Sabers are made combat ready/capable. I don't believe they would add an element to their designs that would possibly cause injuries by a person not being able to control their saber this casing a strike to go wrong. That could open up cause for lawsuits and that would be horrible for their business. It is an interesting idea, don't get me wrong. Just imputing my opinion.

[Darth_Ventus]

I understand your meaning about the danger, but I don't mean attaching a sander to the lightsaber, more like just adding a gyroscope inside of the saber.  Mine is already modified with the design, it was a bit of a tight fit trying to find the room, but I think it was totally worth it.

[Manroon]

I know there's customs out there with forced feedback vibration motors in them, so this seems like an idea that totally fits. I'm surprised I haven't heard of anyone doing it before, it really sounds like a great setup to me. I'd love to try one out if I ever actually came across a saber with it installed. Dunno if US would add it as a feature though, they really try to keep costs down and it sounds like this wouldn't be cheap... at least not with labor costs. lol

[Xenex]

Just my 2 cents but If Im not mistaken, Ssome of Vaders vaults sabers came with the feedback moters, but I could be wrong about that..

[Kaiden Shardsbane]

So... how does the gyroscope mod handle?  Does it stabilize the hilt, or make it wobbly like one of those squiggle pens?

[Remy Lost]

  I have a bunch of left over RC helicopters that don't fly.  They have pretty small motors, something that would fit inside a saber hilt.  If your interested in some of the motors just drop me a PM.  If you attached an off center weight it would wobble like the motor that causes cell phone vibrations.  A balanced motor would create a gyroscopic effect.

[turiansniper]

This just reignited a long buried thought I had many years ago. The first time I read about a lightsaber's gyroscopic effect I imaged the plasma which is contained in the blade field would shift up and down as the blade is in motion and I immediately thought about this really old toy I had when I was a kid.

Not sure what it's called anymore but it was a enclosed thin plastic tube about 2cm across and about 50cm long with vents like the pommels to let sound through on both ends, inside the tube was a cylindrical block which would slide up and down the tube as you twirled it and as it moved from the middle to either end it would create a whoop sound in crescendo and as it traveled back to the middle it would be a diminuendo.

I realise that the sound created by this toy is different to a lightsabers but my feelings tell me that the block sliding would create a similar  gyroscopic effect. 

Of course this was before I knew about this wonderful world of sabers we have here and as a little kid I could only dream of what a real lightsaber would look like so I never pursued it any further but maybe someone here can put this idea to good use.

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

This just reignited a long buried thought I had many years ago. The first time I read about a lightsaber's gyroscopic effect I imaged the plasma which is contained in the blade field would shift up and down as the blade is in motion and I immediately thought about this really old toy I had when I was a kid.

Not sure what it's called anymore but it was a enclosed thin plastic tube about 2cm across and about 50cm long with vents like the pommels to let sound through on both ends, inside the tube was a cylindrical block which would slide up and down the tube as you twirled it and as it moved from the middle to either end it would create a whoop sound in crescendo and as it traveled back to the middle it would be a diminuendo.

I realise that the sound created by this toy is different to a lightsabers but my feelings tell me that the block sliding would create a similar  gyroscopic effect. 

Of course this was before I knew about this wonderful world of sabers we have here and as a little kid I could only dream of what a real lightsaber would look like so I never pursued it any further but maybe someone here can put this idea to good use.

I know that this is about making a real lightsaber but I feel it's still relevant.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSNubaa7n9o" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSNubaa7n9o</a>

[Darth Skiorh]

If any of you have tried one of the Dyna-Flex trainers, that is a true force-feedback gyroscope.  They're a tennis ball size gyroscope that you can train your grip strength with, although 5 mins with one makes you sweat.  Something like that in a saber would feel very different, but sort of how I imagine the aforementioned effect would be like.

[Niassa]

A thought that occurred to me. I'd suspect that any of the larger v3 sabers should easily hold this. A model plane/helo motor or a hard drive motor should be more than good enough for this project. Hard drive motors are fairly small, too, making them an easy fit.

[CZ3RO]

Isn't the gyroscopic force of a "real" lightsaber supposed to make it harder to wield?  Not sure why you'd want your saber to be more difficult to wield unless you're a real force user. 

Grab a bicycle wheel by the axle and hold it at arms length, have a friend give it a spin and then move your arms around - how it handles is how I expect a lightsaber to handle - it has a mind of it's own and lots of weird inertia. 

[moonknight75]

CZ3RO has a point there with the bicycle wheel theory, I have actually tried this in the past (waaaayyy paaassstt, like back in science club in High School, LOL  ) the really cool thing is that you can actually "control" it... to a point... it is actually being able to follow the momentum created by the gyroscopic effect, which if you are able to feel it... and follow it... alot of force can actually be created behind it! What I mean is that if you are following what can only be described as a "wave" and run into something you will really whack whatever you run into with feel it! Which would make sense with the gyroscopic effect of a plasma balde and weilding a lightsaber... it would allow a person of any size to produce a massive blow to an opponent   despite a size disadvantage as well as being able to allow the lightsaber to accelerate quickly by using the momentum instead of fighting it... ever wonder why lightsaber duels have alot of spinning? They're following the saber! Kind of reminds me of the idea behind alot of movement in martial arts or even things like parkour, you use the momentum produced by a body in motion, without resistance, but  instead guidance, to create a very smooth, very fast motion that almost seems to be supernatural... But these are only my theories, any thoughts?

[Kaiden Shardsbane]

That sounds like a reasonable theory.  My only question is; how are non-force users able to wield lightsabers then?  I know they're never up to par with trained force users, but it sounds like they're really more likely to lose control of the saber than anything else if the gyroscopic effect is that strong.  If they're constantly being pulled around by the gyroscopic effect, it seems that holding it still would be a huge amount of effort, even for a force user.