14 DAY TRIAL // By now, everyone with an Internet connection, television set or even radio has probably heard about the upcoming Star Wars movie, Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Consequently, many must be nursing daydreams about wielding the new lightsaber.
There are plenty of lightsabers and toy replicas up for sale, and there are just as many models up for download online, which you can use to 3D print one.
The newest lightsaber is unusual because it has a crossguard. A solid crossguard whose ability to actually stop a lightsaber blade from slipping down to cut your wrist is questionable.
Unless there is a solid beam running throughout its entire width, in which case the crossguard is there to protect your hands from your own weapon, not your opponent's.
In any event, le FabShop has provided a way that everyone can use to get one of those lightsabers for themselves.
The customizable crossguard lightsaber
This isn't a real laser sword. Despite how many things from science fiction are no longer science fiction, laser swords are still outside our ability to create. Same for plasma swords, which lightsabers qualify as more.
The “Makers,” as they call themselves, wanted to see just how good a configuration the crossguard was, so they built one based on the trailer. A trailer which, being as deliberately vague as it was, left a lot to the imagination.
The designers didn't let it get them down, however. They looked at it as an opportunity to be exploited, saying that with so many lightsabers and models already available, this was a chance to beat them all.
Their method? Make the hilt modular and, by extension, customizable. The Force Awakens configuration is one way to assemble the handle. But if you get tired of it, you can disassemble it and turn it into Yoda's or Dath Maul's version instead.
The colors of the components will be entirely up to you and the filament you feed your 3D printer. Unless you don't own one and plan to ask someone from a 3D printing service to do the job for you, in which case you should be clear in your order.
Availability and pricing
The 3D printing files are up for free on Thingiverse and Cults, but the Instructables page is where you want to go first. They will enable you to make a fully modular system with hundreds of possible configurations, with a myriad of colors, hilt / guard shapes and tube sections. If nothing else, it will allow you to look very distinguished at the next Star Wars convention.
