![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1057.jpg)
First you gather your materials and blueprints.
Then, you work out the various "main" components, like
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1063.jpg)
The "power cells",
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1064.jpg)
The emitter,
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1060.jpg)
The pain-in-the-ass lantern that your "friend" insists on but ends up taking more time than anything,
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1067.jpg)
And the cool extra bits.
You work out roughly how it goes together:
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1108.jpg)
And your friend is happy, and stops bugging you for a few weeks. In that time, you start to work on the details, like
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1109.jpg)
A cool looking motor interface for the controls,
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1111.jpg)
An awesome looking porthole, with rivits that you didn't even ask for but flipped out over,
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1112.jpg)
Then you complete the emitter and start to make it look real.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1120.jpg)
You darken the leather in the handle, and finish the "controls" using antique radio parts you ordered specially,
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1121.jpg)
Then you put in the masterpiece, which is a painted-quartz crystal that you cut by yourself with a diamond bit, on your first try, because you've decided that you ARE THAT MUCH OF A BADASS!
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/CaptainChewbacca/Star%20Wars/IMG_1117.jpg)
And then you're done. You've built, unbuilt, and met and surpassed all your friend's needs/requests.
Seriously, this is the coolest thing ever, and I've only seen the pictures. He's still going to custom-build a case for it, and then I'll get it on Friday. If he were charging me the non-friend rate, it would cost me $250, as it took about 100 man-hours and its pretty damn awesome. But, its good to have a friend who loves to make things and needs only ideas.
P.S. This Saber was inspired by the planet "Ganath" from the Dark Empire II series, a planet with lightning guns and steam-powered starships.