Using a combination of 3D-printed and metal parts, Hartlaub created a reinforced but covert structure that could be hidden inside a paper towel tube featuring motion sensors and a soundboard triggering lightsaber effects played through a 40-millimeter headphone speaker as the saber was waved around.
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The most impressive part of the custom build is a hidden blade that automatically extends at the push of a button made of cardboard—or at least looks like it is. Anyone who’s ever recreated Darth Vader and Obi-Wan’s epic final battle aboard the Death Star knows that cardboard lightsabers break very easily. To create a blade with added strength, Hartlaub actually used a coil of spring steel that extends into a long tube when released, and covered it with paper packing tape to make it look like it’s made from cardboard.
The effect is very convincing, and thanks to a clever button-activated spinning mechanism also hidden inside the cardboard hilt that releases the blade by simply loosening a single screw, the saber revealing its self-extending blade is always a surprise to those who don’t know its secret, and a very satisfying one.
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