In preparation for a cosplay festival there are many technical problems to be solved. There are a lot of tricks to bring what we see on the big screen into real life, and when resources and budgets are limited, creative skills become extremely acute.

Solving the challenge of making a lightsaber

One of the rare materials is transparent tubes. They can be obtained in advertising workshops, where they make light structures. We decided to do everything with our own hands.

In general, we did not quite a Jedi sword, but the design is similar. So, to create the glowing blade we need a durable transparent plastic.

For tests, we took materials we already knew and decided to master new ones:

• Natural PLA - widely known to everyone working with 3d printing material. Features easy printing, high rigidity.
• Natural Watson (SBS) - a very popular plastic for printing thin-walled products. The ease of post-processing, which allows you to give the product flatness and transparency, has made this plastic the best choice for creating vases/bottles/dishware/light fixtures, etc. It is easy to print with moderate softness.
• Natural PETG is a newly popular material. Characterized by excellent interlayer adhesion. Hands-on experience with it is not enough, we will catch up.
• Transparent ABS is a very mysterious material. Natural ABS is ivory white with a slight warm yellowish tint. Apparently, the transparency is achieved by the addition of some substance. According to the manufacturer, the printing and processing is not different from ordinary ABS.

PETG looks the most transparent due to the excellent bonding of the layers. Next comes Watson. ABS and PLA share third place.

Gluing

Since the print height of the printer is not enough for a more or less decent sword, the only thing left is gluing:

• PLA - with dichloromethane.
• Watson - solvent or xylene (let's try both).
• PETG - no solvents, so we will use cyanoacrylate (aka superglue).
• ABS - with acetone.

Testing

To begin with all the glues were tested for static load. A bag of dumbbells weighing 2 kg was suspended from the center of each rod.

PLA turned out to be the stiffest, 60 cm of tubing barely sagged:

• ABS confidently holds the 2nd position for deflection;
• PETG is a little bit behind ABS;
• As you might expect, Watson is the softest.

To estimate durability in dynamics, we decided to break the tubes with a sinai - a training sword for kendo.

All samples withstood at least one well-aimed blow. Shards were collected for research. Intermediate result: all plastics held up decently. To be honest, I expected all to break with one blow.

As a result of the tests we have chosen transparent ABS. In case of breakage it is fast and easy to glue with acetone / dichloromethane and is perfectly machined (sanded to get more even light from LEDs).

Well, if that's all too much for you, you can always order ready-made items at https://designedby3d.com/product-category/star-wars/.

Thank you for your attention, and may the Force be with you.