How to make a lightsaber and complete your Jedi training

It’s safe to say, I’m a Star Wars nerd.  I’ll admit that.  Given that fact, making a lightsaber has been on my to do list for a very long time! I actually started this project almost two years ago and have worked on it on and off since then. At different points in the process, I ran into hardware problems and software problems. Each one of these would be a big enough stumbling block that  I would put the project down for six months or more before coming back to it.  After missing my May 4 (Star Wars day) deadline last year, I decided that this year it had to happen.

I’ve been focused on it for the past couple of weeks and was able to work through all of the previous problems as well as completely remodel the hilt from scratch to account for some new electronics. I’m extremely excited to have a working version of the lightsaber, but also really motivated to improve it! Now that I’ve got a stable hardware and software platform, I’ve got plans for version 2, which should happen in far less than two years 🙂

If you want to check out the code (be warned, it’s rough and ugly but functional) you can download it on my GitHub.

Enjoy, and May the Fourth be with you!
…