Mini LightSaber - New Version with Stronger Hexagonal Telescoping Blade

This is a completely new design, made to improve the blade strength.

Recently I did a remix of a nice model by Gwions :

• Gwions original : https://www.printables.com/model/131720-mini-lightsaber-toy/files
• My remix : https://www.printables.com/model/541379-mini-lightsaber-re-mix

One drawback of both of our designs, however, is that the telescoping blades are printed in an orientation that results in a potential for breakage along the layer lines, and since these a kids toys the potential for breakage is high. To address this issue, I designed a telescoping blade with a hexagonal cross section; the sections can be printed “lying down” so that the layer lines are oriented along the length of the blade sections, resulting in a stronger blade. An additional benefit is that the sections can be extended further, resulting in a longer blade.

Print Instructions

Print in PLA using the 3mf files provided; otherwise :

• Handle and Pommel
  • printed on textured build plate
  • 2 perimeters
  • 15% rectilinear infill
• Blades
  • printed on smooth build plate; make sure the blades are flat on the plate
  • 2 perimeters
  • 0% infill
  • brim (I found a brim to be necessary, but you may be able to do without it if you have better bed adhesion than I did)

After printing the blade section, I cleaned up all the “corners” with a deb-burring tool (a razor knife would also work). Due to the angle of the top surface when printing, the surface will be “stepped” - I smoothed this out a bit by scraping with a razor knife.

CAD

The OnShape 3D CAD files for this are here :

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/b85616387bb6efce9b2625ce/w/0b62b748fbf26263f0e6dc24/e/2497fdada3ca2741498cc1d3?renderMode=0&uiState=64cd81eaa15b630fafe269bd