[Photon Guy]

As there is no doubt more than a few people on this forum who have experience building their own Ghostbuster proton packs I was wondering if anybody has experience building lightsabers from scratch and by that I mean making your own handle out of stuff you might get at a hardware store and then getting all the electrical components separately and installing them yourself, as well as building a blade.

Im particularly interested in hearing from anybody who has experience building both proton packs and lightsabers and if building both props is similar.

[edspengler]

Take a look at the sentry packs in Afterlife…

[timeware]

If you're feeling spendy and as it is May the 4th you can buy this Proton Saber which meshes both fandoms:
https://blueforcesabersefx.com/products ... ostbusters

To answer your question the only expereince I have in building a lightsaber was from Savi's workshop. Although there are websites like Sabeforge, ultrasabers, and Vaders Vault that offer build kits.
If you're just starting out here's a simple Home Depot tutorial for ya.

[prodestrian]

Electronics-wise, there's a bigger similarity between lightsabers and PKE Meters than with Proton Packs. In fact the Teensy Prop Shield I used on one of my PKE builds was originally designed for lightsaber builders, because they needed to support sound effects and lights in a tiny space. (There was also a Teensy Prop Shield variant which had gyroscopic/inertia sensors but this was overkill for a PKE). With a Proton Pack you have significantly more space inside (which some choose to fill with larger batteries, car speakers, and smoke effects), but you also have more complex LEDs to animate as opposed to a single long strip of Neopixels.

[Fritz]

Yeah, I got curious about lightsabers myself a few years ago, but never did anything with it. This site may be of help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/lightsabers/

There's a pinned topic of FAQs. Hope this is of some use.

[prodestrian]

This video was posted a few days ago by VanOaksProps, he's done some Ghostbusters props in the past as well:


(Great channel to subscribe to if you're interested in prop and Halloween display builds)

[Photon Guy]

If you're feeling spendy and as it is May the 4th you can buy this Proton Saber which meshes both fandoms:
https://blueforcesabersefx.com/products ... ostbusters

To answer your question the only expereince I have in building a lightsaber was from Savi's workshop. Although there are websites like Sabeforge, ultrasabers, and Vaders Vault that offer build kits.
If you're just starting out here's a simple Home Depot tutorial for ya.

I've been to Savi's twice and while the experience is like none other and in my opinion well worth it, all you really build at Savi's is the shell of the lightsaber so to speak, you choose what parts to use for the handle along with the crystal that determines the blade color but you don't assemble any of the electronics. All the electronic parts are already pre-assembled in the chassis.

What I want to do is build a lightsaber from scratch using parts you can get at hardware and electronics stores. Finding parts to construct the hilt shouldn't be too hard but it's the electronics part that I might have some trouble with. Anyway your video was very informative, thanks.

[Photon Guy]

Electronics-wise, there's a bigger similarity between lightsabers and PKE Meters than with Proton Packs. In fact the Teensy Prop Shield I used on one of my PKE builds was originally designed for lightsaber builders, because they needed to support sound effects and lights in a tiny space. (There was also a Teensy Prop Shield variant which had gyroscopic/inertia sensors but this was overkill for a PKE). With a Proton Pack you have significantly more space inside (which some choose to fill with larger batteries, car speakers, and smoke effects), but you also have more complex LEDs to animate as opposed to a single long strip of Neopixels.

I see what you mean when you say there is more similarity between the PKE meter, when building lightsabers, than there is with the proton pack, they're of similar size and so forth. With most lightsabers yes you do have just the blade that lights up although some people have built lightsabers where other parts light up as well although nothing with the variety of LEDs that you would have with a proton pack. The thing is, they do make lightsabers where the blade can change color which must mean the lightsaber must be programmed somehow to make the LEDs light up with whatever color the user desires, I wonder how that's done.

[Photon Guy]

Yeah, I got curious about lightsabers myself a few years ago, but never did anything with it. This site may be of help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/lightsabers/

There's a pinned topic of FAQs. Hope this is of some use.

Thanks for the link.

[ZekeLangley]

Absolutely! DIY lightsabers are a blast—tons of creative freedom!

[hawkbatsquadron]

Don't cross the Fandoms!




Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using a hacked pirate satellite in a decaying orbit