How a lightsaber works.....

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Rogue Jedi
Here's a cool illustration.....

Baylin
Cool! Where did you get the picture from?

yerssot
star wars essential guide to weapons or something like that

Julie
very very large picture...but thanks anyway

Ushgarak
That is the model of Dr. David West Reynolds sketch of the inside of a sabre from the Visual Dictionary, which I shall provide below. He said:

"I had always wanted to see the inside of a lightsabre, and I had been working on a design for years, this project came along, and I thought, I bet I can get my lightsabre done. So I handed over a detailed design to Don Bies of ILM, and he followed my plan exactly and did a beautiful job of bringing the cutaway sabre to life. It was quite a trip to have an ILM modelmaker executing my design."

He based his description and design of a lightsabre on West End Game's description of one in their Star Wars role-playing game- defintions WEG made up without any reference to Lucasfilm whatsoever.

Bob Brown notes the following about this interpretation of sabre design:

- the crystals are mounted about halfway down - well away from the emitter - they may in fact never be anywhere near the actual sabre blade, which could be generated at the tip.

- the crystals are NOT jewels - they are rough and irregular with NO clear facets and obviously NO simple optical function.

- the crystals SEEM to be some sort of linkage between the power source and the blade generating components.

- the segmented bronze rods in the forward half of the sabre are said to produce the 'gyroscopic' effect ... which may be some sort of field effect designed to contain the blade, or to assist it in its self-containment properties.

It does, of course, contradict the only canonical evidence we have of what is in a lightsabre, but that is not very important as this was never envisaged as anything other than a personal project of Reynold's that ILM agreed to make a model of for him.

(BTW, I shrank the original pic so the thread was still readable)

Ushgarak
Bob Brown also notes the similarities with this, equally un-canonical and very contradictory 'inside of a lightsabre' diagramme provided under similar circumstances for the magazine MECHANISMO in the late 70s. Dr Reynolds changed several ideas.

This sabre interpretation apparently had:

- A 'neucleonic pill' power cell (embedded in a 'resinated organic shield') at the base of the hilt

- a series of degausing lenses in the centre of the hilt

- a directional coil assembly (electromagnetic?)

- a 'rubionic' laser crystal

It was an Optical model sabre which even further contradicts the films.

No doubt there will be further EU interpretations of sabres as time goes by...

Bespin Bart
Here's Maul's, while we're at it. wink

LeAtHerRFace
If you want to see real cool custom lightsabers go here http://www.thesaberworks.com/leftframe.htm

Darth Revan
Just to add to what Ushgarak said about the crystal never being anywhere near the part where the blade is projected from-In the back of the Dark Horse comic book entitled Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi The Golden Age of the Sith #0 of 5 there is a really weird picture of a lightsaber. It has a "power cord" attached to the end and teh crystal is shown as a sort of "nozzle" I thought that was really weird

Ushgarak
There are EU sabre shots with crystals sticking out the hilts, aren;t there?

Basically there are a great deal of EU sabre descriptions.

Darth Revan
Why aren't there other "light" weapons like "light axes" or "light pikes?" Looking at the labels in the original picture, there is a sort of dial titled "blade length adjust." It seems like if you found a crystal that was the right shape or chisled one down you could get it to project in a different shape.

yerssot
there were whipes wink

Ushgarak
Blade length adjust is, again, an invention of West End Games subsequently adopted by the EU.

Other weapons really just don't fit the style of the thing. If you want some logic, though, a lightaxe would be a rubbish weapon- you only made axes in real life if you were using it as a tool rather than a weapon or if you did not have the sophisitication to make a good sword. And pikes are only any good in formation. Jedi normally fight more personally, where the sword is the superior weapon.

SlayerChick1188
Wow, those models look great...

But we all know we'd prefer the real thing sad...

General Kaliero
I don't know much at all about this stuff, but wouldn't it technically be possible to create blades of different thicknesses? Depending on style, maybe you'd want a thick blade to go with your powerful wide swings, or maybe a thin blade for speed and versatility?

Or perhaps a rogue Jedi-turned-assassin would carry a lightdagger for close and efficient kills?

mephistodesigns
the blade doesn't really affect much, so I'm not sure what benefit that would bring. The blades are said to be weightless so you really only have to worry about the hilt's weight and all.

Darth Revan
Actually, in KotOR, there is a crystal that you can add to your saber which makes the blade a little thicker and longer. Still, mephistodesigns is right. The blade is weightless, so a larger blade would not have any effect on your dueling style. I think I read somewhere that the red crystals the Sith use are synthetic, more powerful, and more difficult to control. So, there are things that affect control, but blade size is not one of them. The crystal that I first mentioned would just make it easier to reach your opponent. Here's a question for people to argue about: since a saber blade is weightless, couldn't you theoretically line up a whole bunch of crystals (say 6 or 7) and have a really, really long weapon? The hilt would be quite long, but the idea is that you would only do as many as you could fit in a single hilt.

Captain REX
laughing out loud

I could think of some weapons that might be SOMEWHAT good as lightweaponry. But, Jedi being Jedi Knights, I think the lightsaber fits them fine. I've seen ideas for a lightscythe, lighttonfas, and lightmace, though I could see some flaws there. The lightstaff was welcome though...

Also, what do you think of this idea?

Darth Revan
Whoah...Sweet...triple-bladed lightthingy of doom!!

Darth Revan
And Ush, axes are not only used as tools. Ever heard of a battleaxe? I should hope so, for your sake.

Captain REX
Trust me, he's heard of a battleaxe...

Though I think I'd prefer a sword to a battleaxe. More agile.

Darth Revan
Don't worry, I know that he's heard of a battle axe. But that comment about a light-axe being a "rubbish weapon"....That burns. And yes, a sword is more agile, but an axe is capable of inflicting some pretty severe damage if it is handled properly. Plus, a "light axe" would be much lighter, since the blade would have no weight at all. I agree though, I would still prefer a sword. By the way, what is a "light staff?"

ps: if you were referring to the fact that a light-axe is unrealistic, any "light weapon" is unrealistic.

Ushgarak
Yes, I have and compared to a sword it is rubbish. That is why everyone stopped using them as soon as they developed swords that would not break. Axes were only used as weapons because iron bent and axes use less metal. Once you had steel- it became swords. Axes became weapons of rarity- very old fashioned.

And cutting power is of no relevance to a lightsabre. You do not need power behind a blow with one.

A Lightaxe is a dreadful idea.

Gotwa
Hmmm.. Atleast you don't have people saying that lightsabers don't have heat. I read a post on one forum about it. Of course, if it doesn't have heat, why is it able to melt and spark against metal? It's simple really. o.o IT has heat. XD I can go in detail.. but.. yknow..

Ushgarak
No, actually, that's not so dumb to say, looking at the films, that is true, lightsabres do not seem to emit heat- if they were hot enough to cut through doors like that they would burn your hands off when you turned them on. The snow all around on Hoth should have meleted pretty damn fast as well.

Just because something causes metal to melt, does not mean it does it
by being hot. A Microwave cooks without using heat, after all.

Mind you, doesn't do to try and analyze too closely. No matter how it melts that door in TPM, the heat from the melting door itself probably would have set fire to QGJ's clothes, in a realistic sense... as ever, best to hang the sense of it all.

However, if you ARE going to be techy about it...one of the first conclusions you reach is that they are clearly not heat weapons. I shall turn to mad old Bob Brown for this one- you old hands will know who I mean by this guy... shame his site is gone, but I saved it all first!

BTW, Bob Brown liked to shout a lot, so be prepared for a lot of capitals.



"NOT Thermal

The sabre is NOT a thermal effect. At least, if it is, it is CONTAINED. The blade does not put out any discernible heat near its boundary. The hilt is NOT hot. Regardless of excellent insulation technology that probably exists in STARWARS (starship hulls and armour etc) - it must be recognised that the sabre is not a 'heat' weapon.
HOWEVER: objects that have been CUT by a sabre exhibit burn-like symptoms, and MOST cuts on organics are cauterized.

There is clearly a heat-like effect at work within the core of the sabre blade - as you'd expect from a 'pure energy' weapon!

HEAT is simply the excited motion of molecules ... heat MAKES molecules move, and visa-versa if you can make molecules move, you get heat. This is the principle of magnetic-induction cooking ranges - and of microwave ovens. The 'burning' seen on cut objects may not mean that the interior of the blade is 'hot' per se, perhaps it merely excites the molecules during the cutting process!

REGARDING "HOT" SABRES
and that
~ MELTING DOOR ~

A number of people have written to me citing a canonical incident from ''The Phantom Menace'' where a sabre blade is seen to ''melt'' a metal door.

THIS DOES *NOT* PROVE THE BLADE IS *HOT* ... if the action of the blade in destroying the fabric of the metal EXCITES the molecules around the point of destruction, then heat will be INDUCED from this excitement. The door is actually MELTING ITSELF.

This is NOT such a strange notion ... after all, INDUCTION COOKTOPS exist that heat metal saucepans without being ''hot'' themselves ... MICROWAVE OVENS cause heat in food without actually pumping "heat" at them, they simply EXCITE the molecules within the food ... if you apply a metal-file to a work-piece of metal, BOTH get hot, but NEITHER was hot to start with!

in short: you dont need HEAT to make something HOT! :^)"

-

You know, I don't think he needed to put 'Microwave Ovens' in caps... still, the guy is mad, but he did the best analysis of sabres ever. And his point is well made, you don't need to be hot to make something heat.

VengeanceGOD
Back to the lightaxes for a minute, I heard a strange rumor that someone would be using one in Episode III. Probably crap, but interesting.

Gotwa
Oh and for the heat, it's only emitted on touch, I don't know if I mentioned that. But you do debate well. smile

As for the lightaxe, it's probably fan-made ideas.



-edit- The molecules of the lightsaber blade move at such an increased speed it would tear apart the others of the more solid objects. Just a hint. That's where the heat is from.

Ushgarak
Ah well, I have a lot to thank Bob Brown for when it comes to sabres. He even listed the exact amount of frames it took every sabre to turn on or off in the first three films and TPM. He must have had a lot of time on his hands.

Darth Revan
Excuse me for my ignorance on the issue of non-existant weapons.

Gotwa
Now now, the lightaxe existed, and a lightstaff is simple, but kinda hard... the.. okay i dunno about the staff.. but.. yknow embarrasment

Darth Revan
*is confused* I was talking about the fact that there is no such thing as a "light weapon" of any kind.... therefore it is somewhat stupid to argue so fervantly about how they work, etc

Captain REX
That's just because you're wrong. stick out tongue

Darth Revan
*is still confused* What's because I'm wrong

The Force
those aren't real right?

anakin skwlkr
does any one know if this can be done.........can a light sabre be created?

DarthMandalore
there are such things as Vibroblades and Vibroaxes.

and, yes it is possble to create a lightsaber, just because we don't know how wiith our knowledge right now, doesn't mean it can't be done in the future.

leowyatt
the website is closed i checked it out.. the blades looked cool tho

Kyron Dotuue
I know I'm new here, but does anyone know whether or not it is possible to create anything in today's world that is anything like a lightsaber? I thought about a cutting torch type device, with the flame extended to be a little longer. But that idea got shut down because of all the equipment invovled in a cutting torch

Kyron Dotuue
Hey is anyone there? anyone at all?

Kyron Dotuue
OK. Guess I'll blast off then. May the force be with you all.

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