CROWDFUNDING REAL LIGHTSABERS?
As the only company actively researching and developing real lightsabers, it's our job to bring them to reality and you can help!
Our brand new second generation Mini-Saber brings you lightsaber power in pocket form and just by buying it you'll support the continued development of full-size lightsabers!
We want to make real life lightsabers, and we need your help to make it happen.
Lightsabers are the pinnacle of sci-fi technology. Ever since we saw lightsabers on the big screen, we wished they were real.
"Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age."
When toy companies first came out with prop versions, they sold out immediately. Everyone wanted them. A plastic tube with bright LEDs and sound effects was cool enough at the time.
Since then, we've seen several iterations, including lightsabers with intricate metal hilts, improved SFX and fancier blades... But, can’t we do better?
Disney sells over 10 MILLION toy lightsabers per year.
That means there are at least 100 MILLION toy lightsabers in the world, or approximately 1 lightsaber for every 70 people in the world.
That’s a lot of toy lightsabers.
But, lightsabers should be able to cut through things.
They should actually work.
SO LET'S MAKE IT REAL.
Since our company’s inception in early 2016, it’s been our mission to bring lightsaber technology to real life. Over seven years in the making – starting in a garage with barely any resources.
We experimented with solid blades at first, with our first iteration using Kanthal heating wire, much like how a toaster works – except ours drew over 10kW of power, the equivalent of a dozen toasters!
It didn’t look great turned off, but when it was on, it glowed orange hot right before your eyes – and was capable of cutting through some materials. The biggest issue with this design was that it was rather fragile, and could overheat – quite literally melting itself into a pile of molten metal.
We knew we were onto something...
From that design (and a close 911 call due to a fire incident...), we went back to the drawing board and developed a novel method of creating a heating element that retained its rigidity even when it was red hot, something that was previously thought to be impossible.
We could have patented it if we wanted to, but we chose to share the design with the world for free instead.
It consisted of a Tungsten-alloy core, sheathed in ceramic high-temperature insulation, with an aero-space grade titanium tube over the top.
A low-voltage, high current power source could be used to turn the titanium yellow hot, while the tungsten remained rigid, providing structural integrity to the proto-saber blade.
The main problem?
It wasn't retractable
But we knew we were onto something – and the internet was starting to notice too...
We were becoming well known for our research. Could a real life lightsaber really be possible? We were going to find out.
In 2020, the world changed. The pandemic rocked society and even the most basic things in life we took for granted became difficult. But luckily, in our little workshop bubble, we kept working on our lightsaber designs.
Utilizing a completely different method, we developed a retractable plasma-based proto-lightsaber, utilizing propane and oxygen through a laminar flow nozzle to create our most realistic lightsaber yet, and at over 4000°F, capable of melting through almost any material.
We even received a Guinness World Record for it.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
We’ve successfully built the world’s first fully-contained… lightsaber pike:
It’s not quite a traditionally sized lightsaber hilt, but it’s still progressing toward our ultimate goal, and we’ve come up with many ideas on how we can downsize it even further.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss the video when it comes out!
But why do we need your help?
We’ve gone as far as we can with off-the-shelf hardware, and now we need to start developing even more custom manufactured components to make the dream of a real life lightsaber a reality.
It’s likely the final version will need to use LIQUID OXYGEN, which takes this project far beyond your run-of-the-mill science experiment. Which means... it's literally ROCKET SCIENCE.
It's probably the most dangerous project we've ever taken on.
We need to raise approximately a million dollars to develop a fully-cordless, portable, lightsaber-sized-lightsaber.
That sounds like a lot of money!
Yeah. Who would have thought developing fictional technology would be expensive? If only someone like Elon Musk would fund us...
In fact, we estimate that over the past 7 years, we've invested well over half a million dollars already into our proto-lightsaber designs!
To accelerate our progress and goal of having real life lightsabers, we need to raise a million dollars for one year of research and development.
The funds will be used for some of the following:
- Cost of backer rewards for campaign supporters (up to $330k+)
- Research & Development Engineering labor ($100-$300k+)
- Liquid Oxygen infrastructure at H.E.R.C. ($100k+)
- Facility Operations overhead expenses ($100k+)
- Specialized Engineering & Consulting Services (~$75k)
- Liquid Oxygen training and safety equipment (~$50k)
- Specialty rocketry & LOX components (~$50k)
- Professional Video documentation of the entire project (~$40k)
- Outsourced advanced manufacturing capabilities (~$30-50k)
- Estimated bill of materials for one lightsaber (~$25k)
...plus considerable unforeseen costs (insurance, perhaps?)
Now if you've been tallying up the totals, you might notice the expected costs are potentially more than a million dollars!
Yup. We're invested in making lightsabers real, and more than likely, it's going to cost well over a million dollars to make it happen.
But don’t worry, we haven’t come to you with empty hands asking for your support!
In secret, we’ve spent the past year and a half developing the next generation of our Mini-Saber, based on our original proto-lightsaber, and it is an amazing product - we know you'll love it - and you'll get one with your support of our campaign!
The MINI-saber Second generation
It features an all-metal hilt design, a larger flame, a butane gas tank that lasts up to 15 minutes, and it can have a red flame instead of blue! (We’re also working on green and purple!)
By supporting this fundraiser, and pre-ordering a new Mini-Saber, you’ll help ensure we have the time and resources to make real life lightsabers!
Plus don’t you want the bragging rights of being a part of the team that brought lightsabers to life?
We love your attitude!
Without further adieu, here are the pledge levels and their rewards.
All tiers include monthly email updates on the progress of the lightsaber development, and access to a backer-only Discord channel to chat about all things lightsaber with the Hacksmith team!
