Building the ULTIMATE Lightsaber with SOUND
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Let’s make a lightsaber with ALL of the coolest features: NeoPixels, flash on clash, sound fonts, and blaster deflection!
If you need any help, just reach out 👉 / discord
RESOURCES SECTION
Code: github.com/D4Q...
3D Model (chassis): www.tinkercad....
Arduino Board Manager URL (paste this into Settings/Additional URLs):
github.com/ear...
Schematic: github.com/D4Q...
Written Tutorial: COMING SOON!
IMPORTANT!
I’ve put together a KIT that contains everything you need to make this lightsaber! Check it out: sabercpp.com/l...
MATERIALS SECTION
// Amazon - I’m an affiliate, so I get a little bonus if you use these links (at no extra cost to you) Thanks!
RGB LEDs: amzn.to/4cPryli
Arduino Board: amzn.to/4aEP032
SD Card Reader: amzn.to/3vOuqyf
Speaker Driver: amzn.to/3VMgKhP
Boost Board: amzn.to/4cP7tLQ
Battery: amzn.to/3xuEr42 (this one has 5000mAh, so it’ll last a LONG time!)
Wire: amzn.to/3XXikyp
Resistor: amzn.to/3W0NgLp
// The Custom Saber Shop
Battery Holder: www.thecustoms...
Speaker: www.thecustoms...
Momentary Button: www.thecustoms...
Latching Button: www.thecustoms...
Blade Plastic: www.thecustoms...
Blade Diffuser: www.thecustoms...
Blade Foam: www.thecustoms...
Blade Caps (You need 3!): www.thecustoms...
// Ali Express
Crossguard Hilt (Get round charging): [www.aliexpress...](www.aliexpress...)
HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!
Want to see more videos like this? 👉 / @danovation
Ok, now you can keep scrolling👇
KEYWORDS AND DESCRIPTION FOR BOTS (or very, very bored people)
Discover how to craft your very own mesmerizing lightsaber with Arduino in this step-by-step tutorial! Join me on an epic journey as I unveil the secrets behind creating a stunning lightsaber prop with features like smooth swing, neopixel LEDs, flash on clash, blaster deflection system, and tip drag.
In this captivating video, I dive deep into the process of assembling this extraordinary lightsaber, from sourcing components to coding and assembly. Learn how to integrate a gyroscope for precise motion detection, a speaker for immersive sound effects, and an Arduino Nano RP2040 for seamless control. Unleash your creativity as you customize your lightsaber to sound like iconic sabers such as Obi-Wan's or Vader's.
Follow along as I tackle challenges like finding affordable components, designing a chassis to house the electronics, and optimizing power delivery with a boost converter. Witness the magic as I solder intricate connections, cut and assemble the blade using polycarbonate tubes, diffusers, and foam.
But that's not all! Stick around till the end to learn about pre-ordering a complete lightsaber kit with everything you need to embark on your own lightsaber journey. Don't miss out on this opportunity to delve into the world of DIY electronics and unleash your inner Jedi!
Pre-order your lightsaber kit now at sabercpp.com/l... before May 13th to secure your spot. And for more in-depth tutorials on using your lightsaber and starting your own electronics projects, check out my other videos.
Underrated video
Thank you so much!
(nice pfp by the way)
hell yeah! thanks for showing your process, this helps a lot with my own d.i.y project.
Of course, if you need any more help just drop a comment!
Or join the Discord!
Hi, cool project, just discovered your videos after I started to build my own. They have definitely been very helpful, huge thanks for that.
Now, I have been using 2S 18650 li-ion batteries and a 5V voltage regulator to get a consistent 5 volts while drawing around 2A, and I’m happy with the result, except for the added cost of one more battery and the 2S charging circuit which is hard to find locally.
Before that, I was using a boost converter like you (specifically the MT3608). However, my boost converter couldn’t maintain the voltage at 5V under those current draws and just dropped down to whatever the battery’s voltage was. And that caused the leds to be at %15 brightness at max. I’m surprised you managed to make it work.
My question is, how did you do it? Did you do something different with the boost converter, or is mine just low quality and I should get one of yours? I’m at rock bottom here, and I would be very happy if you could help me. Thanks.
Yeah so my boost converter had the opposite problem! I was able to get around 5V out of the boost converter (enough for the board to run well) but it wasn't able to supply as much current, so the LEDs aren't as bright as they could be and the Arduino has trouble running the speaker at the same time (especially as the battery dies and grows weaker).
I think using 2 18650s is the best option, I haven't tried it but it sounds like it would solve both problems (although it does add to the cost and would be harder to fit into a hilt).
Another option I've thought of doing more recently is buying a 5V USB power bank off Amazon or somewhere (they usually use an 18650 but can output 5V at 2.4A, that seems to be the standard for phone chargers) and then powering the Arduino over USB. I used a power bank (this: amzn.to/3Wqb6jX) for a super cheap saber build and it was able to run for over an hour supplying more power than I think the WS1812 strips take. I will try it with this saber build at some point to see how well it works.
@@danovation The problem is that your stepup converter brings max 0.480 amps, but only one WS2812b Strip with 144 Leds/Meter needs for max. power around 8.6 amps. For 2 Stripes thats around 17 amps. The only way i see is to use a step down converter like "cinkomega" says, with more amps. Much easier to get, as a step up converter with much amps. But to fit two 18650 in a hilt can be a problem. The most Lightsaber builders uses 18650 Batteries, wich provide max 10 amps. Seems to be enough, because green, blue, red and so on needs less amps as white. A bit less brightness should be not that noticeable with 10 amps. But the 0.480 amp step up is a real problem. The powerbank (with built in step up converter in most cases) is a good idea. The 2.4 amps can be enough for a bright lightsaber. Maybe better, if you dont want to make people blind on a Convention/Party hehe
@@ListerStorm22 I'm curious, where are you getting that it's 0.48 amps?
Also yeah, people seem to be able to pull of powering a saber with a single 18650, but a lot of sabers use less than 144 LEDs/meter and most blades aren't quite a meter, so they can get away with a little bit less power.
Also like you said, they're not trying to melt the eyes of fellow fans lol
@@danovation You showed in your video that you used a T64 Step Up converter. Wich has a max. rating of 480ma. But beside of that all small step up converter with that board design got typical max. 480ma.
@@ListerStorm22 ah ok. That does explain the problems!
Hey! Im doing mine here
Im doing it differently, and was wondering if i could get some help
Im using 2s li-ion battery that provides 7.4v to arduino and to a step down to 5v that can supply the 144led/meter
For the sound Im connecting an old hasbro lightsaber module that have an accelerometer and a speaker
The problem here is not the connections, it works better than what I expected
But for some reason Im not able to make the led strip and the module activate at the same time
Even got the code to chatgpt, gemini and copilot but nothing seems to work
Any tips?
Btw thank u for the content, I got into making my lightsaber bc of u, saw that video of making one for 60 bucks and got me thinking, damn i could really do this one thay
Got into university last year and decided to make my own and learned a shit ton of things, but coding isn't my best yet
Love the content keep it up
That’s so awesome, I’m glad I could help bring you into this!
So I don’t know much about old hasbro sound modules but it sounds like you’re just powering that module from the Arduino and the module is handling the rest? If that’s the case, programming shouldn’t have anything to do with it, you should probably just power it off the 5V line and a GND pin and then don’t worry about it in the program.
If that’s still not working, it may be a power issue (the LEDs suck a lot of current and I don’t know how much your speaker/soundboard needs to run, but that is often an issue). That’s a little more difficult to solve, but as a last resort you could try swapping out the batteries. Not all 18650s are created equal, so you might try to find some that can supply 15A (I don’t know what these are used for aside from lightsabers, so they’re a little harder to get as you have to buy from a saber shop)
Or maybe some data does need to be exchanged between the Arduino and the hasbro module and I’m completely missing that, in which case maybe it is a programming issue and we can try to solve that
@@danovation Hey man! Yeah there's not much programing going on outside turning on and off the LEDs
The module already does everything just fine
When I press my activation button the first time it turns on and works amazingly, but when I press it again the LEDs turn off but the module doesn't
so I have to press it a couple of times to get both off
Powering is alright, the battery Im using is 10A max but the LEDs is on half brighness so isn't the problem
Really just thinking is a skill issue lol
@ oh I see, you just need to activate/deactive the module so it doesn't make sounds while the lightsaber is in its off state.
it's hard to say why it's not working without taking a look at the physical design or the code, but I would guess (since it's inconsistent) that it might be a wiring issue?
The programming should be pretty straightforward, if the sound module is connected to a digital port (say D4) and GND, then just activate that port in the activateSaber() function with digitalWrite(D4, HIGH); and deactivate it in the deactivateSaber() function with digitalWrite(D4, LOW);
Hey there! I'd like to do this myself and had this question when i saw the converter/booster. How much amps could that type of booster handle? are there any drops on the voltage that will affect the led brightness if i set it to a stable/steady setting?
edit: Saw the comment here 4 months ago about the power/batts. so does the 5v converter works well on the project or just makes the thing work but not for a long run?
it will work but with 2 caveats (due to limitations on current and capacity):
- the saber will be less bright (actually you will have to limit the brightness on the LEDs in order to be able to successfully run the speaker at the same time)
- the saber won't last that long, with sound and lights running, it will likely only run for about 15 minutes, because the power we're drawing from the battery is a lot so it can't last that long.
thats so freaking cool 🔥🔥🔥
Thanks!
Can you do a kit for a regular style lightsaber with sound as well?
Yeah the kit I’m already doing will actually work perfectly for a regular lightsaber, you can just have a longer blade of up to 40” (typically people do 32 or 36 depending on what they like). Of course you would need a hilt, so maybe I can find one and put it on the listing or you can just get a no hilt kit and get the hilt separately 🤔
Bros the real kylo ren🔥
🫡
Better
Hey, I got a couple questions for my own project. How did you make tip drag work. Like what systems and sensors did you use for it? And how would i integrate a charging port into this? And would using a rocker switch instead of the latching button be fine? since with the hilt im using im much more limited in space. Thanks!
Ok so the tip drag is basically faked (a lot of sabers do this) so when the saber detects a hit with the gyroscope, if it’s on tip drag mode, it does the tip drag effect, and when it detects a swing it goes back to normal. So you still can’t have clash effects and tip drag at the same time 😔.
Integrating a charging port isn’t too difficult but you have to integrate charging circuitry that will charge the battery from that port without exploding it, so if you have a 3.7 volt battery I’d search ‘Arduino 3.7 volt battery charger board’ and see what comes up.
A rocker switch would be a fine replacement for the latching button, you can use anything that makes a good connection between two wires as a switch and it will work (of course your probably want something latching, like a rocker, so you don’t have to hold it!)
@@danovation pushed in a bit when its in contact with something and have a force sensitive resistor tied up to it that would detect it and have the tip drag toggle on that. Pretty sure that would work but I'm not the best at designing circuits I'm just learning everything for this for me and my friends. Thanks again!
Yeah that would be amazing! Very hard to do and still have a sturdy blade that doesn’t jiggle or come out of the hilt though…
I think UA-cam did something to my comment, I was saying have a custom tip that would be able to get pushed in a bit to trigger the resistor, if you can mount the blade tip right it wouldn't affect the blade strength.
@@minecraftpro9848 yeah that might work, it would still be quite tricky, but worth a shot at some point!
Epic video
Thank you so much!
How can I make smomething like that but with only one main blade ?
It's even easier! Instead of making the side blades, just connect the plug from the main electronics directly to the plug for the main blade (and change like one or two lines in the code).
If you need any help, I'm happy to offer it (feel free to join the Discord too: discord.gg/uj7yGF7eVK)
What if I bought a battery that suported 5V would I still need the boster of could I skip it ?
You can skip it! I’m thinking of doing this with one of those 5V battery banks off Amazon at some point…
I used ardino nano with asselerometer , can i use same code
Even better, you should be able to use the original version of the code (that I had to modify for the RP2040): github.com/Protonerd/FX-SaberOS
Also I think it expects a DFPlayer for sound, so if you are doing sound you may have to use a combination
But if you don't have sound set up yet, I'd recommend getting a DFPlayer it's much more convenient than what I did in this video
@@danovation thanks bro , the ardino you use is not available and is little expensive for my budget and iam using . df player , can you provide the wiring image of all the components
yeah it's the most expensive arduino I've bought, and if I were to do it again, I'd probably just go with a cheaper board + mpu6050 + dfplayer as I didn't really end up using the BLE or WiFi functions on the board anyway
@@danovation can you help me with the conection of ardino , all the wiring or any image
@@immortalgaming6912 yeah have you seen the image on GitHub? It's sort of a schematic: github.com/redsaber42/FX-SaberOS-RP2040Connect/blob/master/_FinalLightsaberSchematic.png
Any suggestions to change the code for a rgb blade?
Yeah, for my last lightsaber build (no sound) I had a program where you double clicked to start a color shift mode that went through all of the colors and then clicked again to have it hold a color, here's the code for that: github.com/D4Q2/RedSaberLightSaber/blob/main/FinalLightsaberCode.ino
You might be able to combine the stuff from both of these programs to create a constantly color changing saber blade.
The basic idea for color changing is if you have three integers for red, green, and blue and you take turns decreasing one (say red) and increasing the next one (say green) and once the first one is 0 and the second one is 255 you switch so the new first one (now green) is going down and the new second one (now blue) is increasing.
If you need more help we do have a discord where it's easier to communicate about code and there's more people to help as well: discord.gg/uj7yGF7eVK
@@danovation thanks. i'll let you know how it goes.
@@robf1784 Of course, let me know if you need any help!
Can i use a 4AAA battery pack with 6v, instead of using the booster? Is that a recharging port in your wiring diagram
?
There’s no recharging port but yes you can absolutely swap out the battery and boost board for 4AAAs if you can fit them, that should work nicely!
@@danovation Hi there, thanks for the detailed information. I almost completed this project, but I'm getting a "compilation error I2Cdev.h No such file or directory". I added the I2Cdev.h file to the sketch but with no luck . Any help would be appreciated.
What is momentary switch used for?
It’s used for controlling the saber, so activating and deactivating the blade with a cool animation, color changing, changing to blaster deflect mode, changing sound fonts, and all of the other settings. (You use it in combination with the gyro for some things.)
What resistor did you use for the button?
I used a 100 ohm resistor for that and it's been working great!
What color wires do I use for the sd card reader and the speaker driver.
It doesn't matter, I like to make each wire a different color in the schematic (there's a link in the description if you want it) so it's clear but in real life I just make it all the same because I don't have a bunch of wire colors
Ok thank you
One more question. Can I use a 9v battery instead?
can we use raspberry pi pico rp2040 instead, the arduino one is too expensive:(( and im from vietnam so the taxes is...
Yes as far as controlling the saber goes, but if you want a gyroscope, then you'd also want to pick up an MPU6050 so the saber can detect swings and clashes. (Also you wouldn't have WiFi or Bluetooth, but the program currently doesn't use either of those, so that's fine)
I definitely need tutorial with code bcs this shii is too hard for simple man like me.
It can be complicated BUT I did link to the code if you want to check it out. I will also make a tutorial on programming basics again at some point (my last one was pretty terrible)