Back in October, RGBSaber v1.5 debuted, presenting the first functional iteration of this project. While it worked, there were many improvements to the hardware that could make it better. Those improvements were rolled into the RGBSaber v1.6 boards, which have now been assembled. A couple of photos of the assembled hardware follow:
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Just in, the RGBSaber v1.6 PCBs have arrived. Today is a fairly busy day, but expect construction to begin either tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Version 1.5 of the RGBSaber project was released back in November. At the time, there were a number of improvements that could be made to the design to improve the functionality of the device. Things have been pretty busy here working on other things, but I am happy to announce that RGBSaber v1.6 is officially released today, and PCBs have been ordered. Finalized layouts for v1.6 can be seen above.
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A little while ago, I posted an update to the status of the RGBSaber project. A few weeks back, I successfully installed the electronics into a saber hilt and built a fully operational rgb lightsaber. I’ve been busy the last couple of weeks working on build videos and documentation. Today, I can proudly announce the completion and release of RGBSaber v1.5.

Full documentation, including a parts list, CAD files, and software source code is available on the RGBSaber project page. More videos, detailing the entire build process, can be found on our YouTube channel.

It’s been some time since anything was written about the RGB Lightsaber project, but this shouldn’t fool you into thinking there has been no progress made whatsoever on the RGB Lightsaber. This post is to update everybody on the progress of the RGB Lightsaber project up till now, so that some of the more interesting work can be talked about in subsequent posts.

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The RGB Lightsaber prototype is nearing preparations for production.  The board faithfully performs correctly under 4.5-5.5V, the voltage range one generally expects from 4 rechargeable NIMH batteries. Still, in order to verify that that claim is indeed the case, I performed a round of power tests today. The tests consisted of testing each of the single colors (red, green, and blue), followed by testing all of the 2 color combinations (red green, red blue, and blue green), and then a 3 color test (red green blue). A “test” consisted of turning up the selected color (or colors) all the way, and then leaving em on full bore for 10 minutes. In summary, the tests were very successful, the saber having passed all of them. Photos from the (continue reading…)

Prologue:

Long (a couple years) ago in a galaxy (movie theater) far far (no more than a few thousand miles) away, I went to the opening night of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The movie was pretty good, and alongside the commercial success of the movie, a number of commercial products were launched. Of particular interest was the ForceFX Lightsaber, produced by Master Replicas. Being a huge Star Wars fan, I grabbed one for Christmas.

The box clearly states that the lightsabers are for display purposes only, and not to be used as toys. I went ahead and ignored this, however, and as these sorts of things go, my lightsaber eventually broke. At this point, I wanted to get a new one, but in order to buy one I had to choose a single color. After some thinking I decided not to pick a single color, but rather to create my own version in which I could adjust the blade to be any color I wanted. Thus the RGB Lightsaber was born!

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