Even weeks after the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" release, people still have not been able to stop talking about anything related to the "Star Wars" franchise. Practically everybody wants to be a Jedi, and anyone who's made their own lightsaber can genuinely call themselves one.
Such is the case of YouTuber Drake Anthony - also known as styropro - who made his own lightsaber using lasers - which gives it the ability to cut through wires, in addition to destroying some other stuff. Watch his video here.
Apparently, Drake was inspired by someone else's lightsaber. Mashable reports:
"Inspired by Allen Pan's flamethrower lightsaber, Anthony decided to put his own spin on the Jedi weapon using a 7-watt blue laser in place of fire. The result is a lightsaber that's powerful enough to cut through object and light them on fire."
Not only that, but the lightsaber, although cool, is pretty dangerous. In the video, Anthony notes that the laser is "several times over the limit," so much so that it can instantly blind one's eye.
"This beam is so awesome... it totally reminds me of the scene where Gandalf says, 'Use the Force, Harry,'" Anthony joked. Just in case you didn't exactly understand the reference (it intends to offend four different categories of geeks at once), take a look at this photo.
Building your own lightsaber is truly a challenge, and will require a lot of knowledge on electrical engineering. Even though Anthony doesn't exactly give an in-depth explanation on how he built his lightsaber, he does reveal some key factors others could probably use:
"My device uses a Nichia GaN laser diode, which was overdriven to 7W of output by running it at 4.6A with a couple high efficiency buck drivers in parallel. An anti-reflective coated glass lens focuses the beam, and the whole device is powered by two unprotected 18650 batteries in series."
The lightsaber is definitely on the most impressive ones we've seen out there. However, Anthony promises that he's working on much bigger ("and more badass") laser projects.
In fact, he claims he's already got a "laser bazooka" in the works, as well as another "ruby laser," which projects a beam through a 1,350-carat ruby crystal. Apparently, it's also powered by explosives!
