Realistic Lightsaber-Replicas incl. Crystals

Hatte ich am Wochenende schon gesehen, aber zu schnell mit „Och nee, nicht noch ein Lichtschwert-Nachbauer“ weggeklickt. Aber die hier sind awesome! Bradley W. Lewis baut die Dinger nämlich aus denselben Teilen wie die, die in den Filmen verwendet wurden. Und er baut da auch leuchtende Kristalle rein. Leuchtende Kristalle!

Von Slashdot:

These aren’t your average cheap pieces of plastic, in fact they’re more authentic than the Master Replica sabers: Brad tracks down the pieces of equipment actually used to build the original props — or, when they’re unavailable, very close replicas, that he further customizes with a metal lathe in his garage — and puts them together with loving attention. My favorite part is the embellishments he does add, on the inside of the saber — his replica of Luke’s saber from ANH can be opened to see authentic-looking internals such as a glowing crystal (as well as another surprise — an autograph from Luke himself, Mark Hamill).

Wie Lichtschwerter funktionieren

Nur für den Fall, dass man sich eben mal schnell ein Lichtschwert selbst basteln muss, weil das alte immer noch im Sarlacc verrostet und grade zum unpassendsten Zeitpunkt ein dämlicher Sith einen zum Duell auffordert, hat HowStuffWorks einen tollen Artikel über die genaue Funktionsweise von Lichtschertern gepostet. Und Lichtschwerter sind selbstverständlich echt, ich hab’ sie schon selbst gesehen und die Technologie wird nur von der geheimen Weltverschwörung zurückgehalten, weil sie die Menschheit noch nicht reif genug dafür hält. Jedis, die neuen Terroristen, und so.

The four major components inside any lightsaber include:

* The power cell and associated components
* The crystal energy chamber
* The energy channel and blade arc tip
* The controls

The Power Cell
Obviously a lightsaber contains a tremendous amount of energy — far more than a blaster, for example. Any device that can melt its way through a three-foot-thick reinforced blast door in a matter of minutes obviously has access to tremendous energy reserves. Estimates range as high as several megawatt-hours of stored energy.

The source of this energy is a diatium power cell — a device no larger than a roll of LifeSavers®. Diatium power cells are available from a variety of military and some civilian sources.

Surrounding the power cell is a power field conductor and the power vortex ring. These two devices work in concert with one another to move the available energy toward the energy gate. The energy gate controls the flow of energy into the crystal energy chamber.

The Crystal Energy Chamber
Really the heart of any lightsaber, the crystal energy chamber is responsible for primary energy conversion. At least two crystals (typically of the Adegan variety) are used in the energy chamber.

The first crystal is known as the primary crystal. It converts the energy channeling from the power assembly and then transfers its output to one or more focusing crystals. The focusing crystals are held in place by the focusing crystal activator.

The crystal energy chamber is the reason why all lightsabers are built by hand, and then only in the latter stages of Jedi training. The builder must align the crystals perfectly or risk detonation of the lightsaber upon activation. Only through the use of the Force can the proper alignment be guaranteed.

With several megawatt-hours of energy on tap, detonation is of course a catastrophic event. For this reason, initial activation is normally done remotely with an inexpensive droid.

The Energy Channel and Controls
The energy channel is where the actual lightsaber blade is generated. Energy flowing from the crystal energy chamber is converted to the arc wave that will become the blade. The arc wave flows up through the blade energy channel and past the cycling field energizers. These energizers are responsible for the gyroscopic effect discussed earlier in the article.

The refined arc wave makes its way to the blade arc tip and from there becomes visible as the glowing blade of the lightsaber that is so familiar.

The on/off switch, also known as the activation matrix, as well as the blade length and power adjustment controls are typically located near the cycling field energizers. Using these controls, the lightsaber’s owner can tune the blade for specific applications.

Ich sehe grade, das Ding ist schon so alt wie Yoda. Auch egal.

How Lightsabers Work (via /.)