this week, we had to come up with and somehow model an idea for our final project. it seems highly unlikely that we'll all stick with what we decided on for this week, but so it goes. given that my current life goal is to make not-cool things really cool by putting blinky lights on them, i figured it would be a good plan to pursue that goal further in this class. as such, i'm currently toying with the idea of making a large plasma lightsaber. it doesn't get more badass than this, folks.

possibly with sound effects.

clearly, this would be a fun project. i actually got the idea from a book of mine, called Electronics Projects for the Evil Genius, so i have somewhere to start from. i'd get lots of good CAD/modeling experience for designing the handle, some circuitry building, and some who-knows-what magic to make a transparent housing for the plasma tube. but the real question is: what colour to make the blade? blue, green, and magenta are all options, but that would make me one of the good guys. and that would be BORING.

i think that red is really the only viable option here, don't you?

images for inspiration

UPDATE: i'm still planning on doing this for my final project! i think i should be able to work on various parts of it in the upcoming weeks: i'll do the handle during molding and casting, the shaft during composites, and the board the next time we do electronics production. i should probably order parts soon, but i'll wait until i have more of an understanding of how funding for final projects works. in the meantime, i'll be working on CADding up my handle, which is proving to be a very challenging endeavor. pictures to come as soon as i have them.

updates from the beginning of december

final project time is nearly upon us! so far i've completed the interior part of the handle (composites week) and a basic prototype of the board for the blade. things are looking good--it seems like a feasible project. to cut down on stress, i'm going to keep the electronics simple: i'll use a linear potentiometer (not sure whether or not i'll make it, yet--it depends on power considerations) to control the brightness of the LEDs. i may not even need a microcontroller, but again, that depends on whether i make or buy the pot. i'll also need to make the LED ladder for the blade (easy, just lots of soldering), make the sheath for the LEDs (i'm hoping james will have some ideas, because i haven't the faintest idea how to do this), design the aluminum housing for the carbon fiber handle, and finish by figuring out a way to hold everything together. lots of work ahead, but it seems doable. i'm looking forward to it!