Kirby Made His Own “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” Lightsaber

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One of the cool things about working at SOLIDWORKS is the chance to get to know all of these people in our community who host a bundle of ‘ands.’ What do I mean? We have people who, by day, work as engineers in production environments and, by night, use their talents for good in community-build projects. People who, by day, work as designers and, by night, work on maker-centric video content showing what ‘more’ you can do with the power of SOLIDWORKS.

Kirby Downey‘s ‘and,’ in this case is that he also likes to make wickedly awesome lightsabers – this one, to commemorate Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker!

As a content creator and SOLIDWORKS user myself, there are a few things I really loved about this as an individual. Kirby made the entire video using an iPhone 11 (using iMovie) – mostly to prove a point. The point: that anyone can make clean videos using the latest smartphone technology. As a SOLIDWORKS user, you’ll notice Kirby making some interesting choices to problem solve and design. He models all of the Adafruit components and models the lightsaber housing around them, and he opts for more of a multi-body modeling approach than an assembly-driven one.

Once he gets everything modeled and programmed correctly, he moves to 3D printing on his Prusa MK3s. This is also one of my favorite parts: watching someone paint and glue where/how necessary. Kirby does a great job of showing the audience how anyone can try to make their own lightsaber, using materials that are readily purchasable online – or even in your local hobby shops!

What about you? Have you ever tried designing your own lightsaber in SOLIDWORKS? There are a lot of different routes one can go, you know. A good friend of mine named Aaron Winthers actually designed one that was controllable via an extremely robust design table once! Let me know in the comments!

Sean O'Neill

Sean O'Neill

As an Industry Process Consultant, Sean's role is to help amplify the 'best of' both our products and our community, via the stories we showcase on our livestreaming programs (like SOLIDWORKS LIVE) and other digital outlets. Sean is also the creator of both the SOLIDWORKS Champions Program and the SOLIDWORKS Influencer Program.