“This project started as part of my Halloween costume, and then expanded…a lot. I ended up making two lightsabers - a Kylo Ren style saber and a Rey / Anakin Skywalker style saber, and creating different Arduino code to simulate each. And, I decided to go beyond the normal lightsaber, and create a party mode with colorful animations on the saber. (You definitely want to watch until the end of the video to see Kylo’s reaction when he tries out his newly constructed saber, and finds out it also has the party mode.) Now that the work is done, this Instructable shows how you can create this saber with inexpensive parts (about $75 for each saber), and simply upload the code I’ve linked to in this instructable, rather than having to code for the Arduino yourself.
Note on the code (links later) — I was particularly happy with the code for the Kylo Ren saber for a couple reasons: (a) it imitates the sparking look of his unstable blade better than others I’ve seen, (b) the power on effect delays the side blades until just after the main blade powers just as in the movies (for those not obsessed with sabers, the side blades are exhaust vents for Kylo’s unstable blade, and thus do not come on until the main blade is lit). Also, both blades have a sinusoidal power on effect that I think is a bit closer to the effect in the film than the linear power on effects I’ve seen in a lot of sabers.
These hilts are not intended to be replicas by any means (after all, every jedis rite of passage is making their own light saber). Instead, I wanted to focus on making something that looks high quality and cool, with a metal hilt and LED control button, at a reasonable cost.”