That opening clip looked so good I legit thought it was CGI until watching the clips from testing. That's nuts.

keep up the "web shooter that actually lets me swing" project, I'd love to see the completion

Disney: we have the world’s first fully retractable, LED light saber. You have to pay to see it. Herotech:

The spinning gives it an electric looking glow, so awesome.

I’m honestly fine with the side looking semi like a darksaber cause the design is SICKKK 🔥🔥

The Mouse ain’t gonna like this one.

Awesome job, by a group of talented engineers. I saw Star Wars first run in the theatre in 1977 and it blew us away. We were totally obsessed with it and stood in line for a chance to buy the original Kenner action figures. I am amazed at how this franchise is still captivating minds and spurring creativity. When I see young folks doing things like this it gives me hope for the future. Keep up the awesomeness my young friends.

When I saw the lightsaber extending in the beginning of the video, I thought _"OK, this is CGI, it must be the goal they're looking to achieve but it will never look that great without video FX"_ I know you want to make it even better but it already looks amazing! Great job!!

I am a 45 year old man. But this had me feel like a kid again. It is so great that you young ppl working on things I thought I would never see in my life time come true. Plz make a red one. Thank you and your team. May the Force be with you.

Super dope lightsaber! Regarding the overheating of the LEDs, you could look into individually addressable LED strips, you could then calculate which LEDs to turn on depending on how far they are extended. That way, only the exterior LEDs are turned on and the inside ones are off.

Funny enough, spinning the blade with reflective material on it is exactly how they achieved the pulsing, flickering effect on the original lightsabers in 1977.

Feels like I’ve been waiting on a lightsaber design like this my whole life 😭. As a recent engineering graduate, seeing what you guys do is really inspirational and has me excited about getting into the industry and hopefully be apart of a team just as clever!

Finally a retractable blade, barely anyone did this before. Awesome work and hope to see the improved v2.0

When me and my friend were graduating high school around 2000, we planned about this. One of my friends did end up building an engineering draft, but we weren’t able to develop it further. Seeing you guys pull it off really fires me up to call my buds up to start working on it again. Congratulations and thanks for sharing your process! And also congrats on graduating! 😊

Without visionaries like you 3, and with the know how to bring it to fruition, we wouldn't have even half the incredible things that exist. You did a fantastic job so far and cant wait to see how much further you all take it. Congrats on your graduation 🎓 and keep aiming high. You will change the world in truly wonderful ways.

The end product is very cool! Fantastic video as well. Can't wait to see where the lightsaber and channel goes from here

Heyyy!!! good to see you back! And face reveal??!? What!!!?! super crazy bro! This was such a clever idea. I bet Disney is taking notes as we speak! Can’t wait to see more videos from you!congratulations on graduating!🎉

We will watch your career with great interest! That's awesome! Being able to swing it like that already seems to surpass the prototype Disney showed off some time ago, which while it is impressive, didn't seem to be capable of moderate swinging. I can't wait to see how this project goes, along with anything else you guys have! I'm on the hook! You are all absolutely going places... and congratulations on graduating! I'd love to see a short choreographed duel with two of these sabers, just for the fun of it!

There's a Disney Imagineer somewhere very mad you made this. No doubt a DIY is more affordable than what they would charge eventually at Galxys Edge. Great work!!!

Now imagine being in a fight and have the enemies to wait for the blade to open. In my opinion the blade should open instantly and not in slow motion. Same with closing. Amazing work by the way!

Insane that you were the first to do this and that (besides all the brilliant engineering) the design is as simple as an led strip and a magicians wand. Amazing work by all three of you

What a fantastic work dear Jacob , congratulations to you and your team, I’m also so glad to finally find a video about the possibility to build my own lightsaber than hasn’t to be 4 years or more old. Like the dream died long ago, and here you are. Young pleople. Probably half my age creating one. A as I’ll keep an eye on your work , I m still trying to build my own one. You are a great inspiration. Big respect and thanks.

Sweet! So glad to see y'all finished the project! It's come a long way from PIE! Thanks for letting me work on it a little bit in the early days :)

Hey the video is super cool, congrats on solving the challenge. Didn’t go through all of the other comments but 1 suggestion would be to add an accelerometer and tie that input into the hum of a lightsaber when it gets waved around. It would be a real enhancement and give a totally engaging sensation and compliment the great light effect that you achieved. Cheers on such a great project. Interested in the final finished item. Best of luck.

Ok, this is just too good. I am so excited to see what comes next!!

Spinning is actually what they did in the original lightsaber effect. They used fluorescent tape on a long rod, attach that to a Dremel and the dremel to an old camera flashlight and put a light directly over the camera. This is a huge step to actual realistic lightsabers with no vfx!!!

Dude as someone who has watched star wars for about 28 yrs. And watched episodes 4 when I was 6. I have to say this is the kewlest damn thing I have seen. Even compared to the tungsten lightsaber that actually gets hot. I would Def like to get my hands on one of these....keep up the killer work!

I honestly am glad you put videos of the build...I would not have known it was not CGI. Amazing job once again!

spinning the blade to make the glowing effect was the first way of making a lightsaber in the movies.... funny that its sort of like poetry they rhyme

Gotta make it extend and retract faster and quiet down the sound of the motor.

So, @9:48 you brought tears of joy to an old man's eyes! I've considered some of the other options mentioned for various reasons but the idea of hiding the tube until just the right moment (Cons and such) never appealed to me. Now, I'm glad I waited! This is doable and much more appealing to my "DIY" self. I'm sure my wife will understand why I suddenly had to purchase a 3D printer. "Subbed" of course!

That’s what’s up! Thought I’ve never see the day someone actually makes one that retracts from its case.

Has to be the coolest thing i've seen all year! Keep up the amazing work Herotech!

I would love to see something like this be finalized and mass produced.

Glad to see you posting again! This was an amazing project and I love the thought process break down. The webshooters were super cool but the versatility in doing other projects is something I can't wait to see more of!

Disney's saber is thought to be EXTREMELY delecate. In the show at the hotel, the actress puts it on the ground and swaps it out for a neopixel or force fx or something to use for the duel. This is impressive, since you can actually use it.

This is so well done for the difficulty it presents! Can't wait to see how it turns out on the upgrades 🌌

Wow! This is definitely a turning point in lightsabers. I can't wait to see how yall improve the lightsaber! 👍

I’m always amazed by engineering folks who do what they do. The amount of left brain work these geniuses do is just incredible. I am totally not inclined that way and have awe and respect for these folks. My own brother is one!

Hearing the coming fixes at the end sounds really promising! Can't wait to see

I really hope Disney doesn't step on these kids for outdoing them

This is incredible. I can't wait to see where this project goes, it looks like it could be the future of consumer cosplay & trick sabers for sure. Excited to see progress on the web shooters too! Keep it up 😊

This is amazing! One thing I would love to see is a faster retraction, a smaller hilt, and a silent retraction as well. I can't wait to see what you guys do next.

Kinda fitting that in your quest to make a realistic lightsaber, it also ended up burning through the plastic. More authentic than you planned on.

Dude sick build! always a pleasure watching you man!

The boy did it!!!

I love it, I actually gave up on a similar design that used an extendable staff I'm so happy you made it work it even inspired me to retry (promise I won't steal the same design) Also thanks for introducing the team.

A bit more speed, more duelable and this is perfect!

I wouldn't be surprised if Disney calls you. I know they came up with their own lightsaber, and I wonder how similar it is to your design. Good Luck with everything!

The props in the original Star Wars had spinning blades to reflect light for their very basic effects. FYI; Disney hilts might be official, but they are not screen accurate to the ones used in the movies. The movie ones are between one and one and a half inches in diameter.

it's taking Disney forever to build a real one to buy, yet you simply print it. so cool.

Spinning the blade is a brilliant idea, and would replicate how the saber looked like in ANH more than anything. The original lightsaber prop was a spinning rod of reflective projection screen material that bounced the stage lights making the bright shimmering blade.

By far the most impressive lightsaber I’ve seen thus far! Great job guys

HACKSMITH WHO?

wow this is almost exactly how i was designing mine, glad to see itll actually work irl and not just on paper

Making it spin and come out faster will literally make this so good. Subscribed! I can't wait to see the next vid.

this is so sick, and I hope that in the future there will be a version it's possible to duel with because then we would really get the full experience

I have been working on something like this for the last 5 years now. Nice to see a different approach.

The fact that the blade is pretty much just an LED strip gives the blade that feel of weightlessness.

It’s crazy how much better this is than what Disney came up with for Galaxy’s Edge

Hey folks, new member here. I am hopeful for the future of humanity when I see young people like yourselves thinking outside the box. Keep up the great work and I look forward to digging into your library and what comes next. Thank you!

Incredibly impressive! Congrats on this build. Looking forward to see your progress as you refine the design.

Huge congrats to the whole team! This is amazing work! And OMG IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!!!!

as a neopixel lightsaber fanatic, super cool to see your employment of the proffie board

As soon as my saber fully extends, you're done for Vader. Don't you move. Give me a second.

for a version 2 id suggest having a heavy duty fishing line to pull the magic cane back down in sync with the led strip tension as i personally think the rubbing back and forth will end up breaking the leds over time , also it would smooth out the extension and retraction of the blade if across 2 motors instead

A truly wonderful display of idea to concept and concept to fabrication. Keep up the excellent work work, I am very impressed by your workmanship and by your resilient attitude when it came to the inevitable fall downstairs and engineering challenges. Well don't to you all, can't wait to see the improvements that you mentioned. Thanks for sharing and all the best to you all for your futures, they took look very bright. Congratulations

Amazing!! Excited to keep following along on your journey. Congratulations to you all!

made it too real that it melted the first hilt material, that was something xD nice work guys!

Bro at first I was skeptical as hell but as the video kept going it became a beatiful work of art. Even though its not combat ready and not a plasma based one like the hacksmith team did its really cool to se a realistic and safe option made

The end made me smile so much. Also the spinning is how they made the original lightsabers in 1977! Really cool what I would love to see is you being able to smash two together because even Disney can't do that. But your video is Inspiring and fun and I loved seeing the process.

Wow i Thought this was just some CGI or Undersized flamethrower but it actually looks really good! you need to make more videos about this lightsaber.

That's crazy! George used your rotating idea back in the 70s and here you guys are making it retractable 😂 I love it!

I cannot stop coming back to watch this video. I must have one. Green to be exact.

This is a cool design and a great effort. But I do think that the best way to build this is using the dual "tape measure" design that Disney did for the theme parks. It just uses two recoiled electro-illuminescent measuring tapes with motors that retract them out. Because each one is cupped like half a dome, combined together they make a full circle with no gap. Plus it's extremely sturdy and can even take a few light wacks.

I have an empty hilt just waiting for you guys to make the inner casing... with light-up buttons.

Easiest sub of my life. I can't wait until you guys add to this project.

Besides the project which is good "Be ready to fight! -Hold on a sec My lightsaber is loading"

Very cool Some ideas on cheaper simpler design Skip the motor, use a wind up retraction spring Use button brakes like on tape measure to release extension and retraction Wind up can be anything but I think fastest would be a rip cord, 1 to 3 feet long, pull a few times to wind up retraction spring You could also make a wind up base, eg attach a handle rip cord winder thingy Also I think springs could be much quieter And on extension you would only have the cane pushing up so practically silent, Retracting the cane I imagine people would be more ok with noise For a super simple design you just throw a string in for controlled brake extension, put a weak spring on string to keep it tidy And users manually press cane into handle For lights over heating you could program them to light up as they extend, once they are spread out and in the air they should dissipate much better, and could save some battery life , Also you could make cool flicker effects turning off some LEDs along the blade For stronger blades , You could over lap multiple canes or Find manufacturer that can make stronger, thicker material, or wider material

awesome vid and i love how you guys show the entire process and acknowledge the faults of the lightsaber

Love it. The only thing that kinda makes it bad is the retraction speed, it's kinda slow. However, I see a huge amount of potential for this. For now, I'll give it a solid 9/10 rating!

Nice Saber! Instead of spinning the LEDs, which could cause more heat to be generated in the saber, could an inflatable, opaque plastic tube work? Similar to an Inflatable Robot Snake. It can be inflated by pumping air into it, or just thought the LEDs pushing it out (however this could cause the tube to be loose/floppy) and then deflated by attaching it to the LEDs at the tip of the saber (so when it retracts the tube is pulled down) and then a fan or vacuum system to aid in pulling and loose bits back into the hilt. This might not work though I know very little about engineering

In the words of Yogurt of Spaceballs, may the Schwartz be with you. Well done. I'm looking forward to the rotating version. I see wobble as the biggest challenge, but you'll be fine.

Damn, this project is absolutely great! By the way, the thing I wish you’ll make with this lightsaber is to make it durable enough to actually fight with it, so it won’t break after a few clashes with the other lightsaber

Impressive… most impressive. I’m very curious to see how the blade fares in an actual lightsaber duel though! Well done indeed!

Great Job. Now I just wish Disney would stop playing around with the movies and get back to what made Star Wars Great.

This is a great idea. It looks pretty cool and the brightness you chose is spot on. Kudos.

Sick as hell, TAKE MY MONEY!

Too cool. Definitely worthy of a subscription. Cannot wait to see the next iterations.

At first I thought it was cgi but yeah… it’s real omggggg. you’re the one who make it so realistic 👏🏻🔥

Found this on a Hackaday post. From my brief experience with COB LED strips, I can confirm, they are absurdly bright.

I love how your next one will spin giving it more life like in the original trilogy.

Excellent work, however the fun is in the function. The great thing about owning a lightsaber and the major difference between your saber and, say an Ultrasaber is that you can actually use it in combat. I love what you've done and where you going with your modeling. And I for one would love to see a fully functional combat ready lightsaber. Just my thoughts. Keep up the great work. "We will watch your career with great interest"

Looks so amazing 😊Maybe for the next iteration use rit to penetrate the plastic, maybe a way to make it faster , and a way to be able to smack it on stuff ^_^

This is so awesome! I saw the new retractable disney lightsaber and wanted to make it but i didnt have the means to. You guys did an incredible job!

When I first saw the intro I thought, "There's no way that's not CGI", well it's real!

Oh my god that is absolutely fuckin cool! The lighting also stayed consistent when swinging and twirling it. Wish these could be mass produced

Bro how do you not have 1 mil I am a kid who aspires to be an engineer and this channel is awesome

If anyone could pull it off it would be you. That's incredible, well done everyone involved.

Nice. The sound the lightsaber makes when it's waved around would improve it further.