With the last installment of the Star Wars movies now in theaters we decided to create some fun classroom projects to go along with them. While noodling project ideas we were reminded of some fun lightsaber cards that MakerSpaces.com created back in 2015. While we like the idea we also knew we could improve and expand on the idea thank to the capabilities of our Maker Tape.

If you're interested in making any of these cards you can find them all in our Project Database as free templates with directions. You'll just need some 5mm clear LEDs, Maker Tape, batteries, and clear straws.

The basic mechanics of the cards is the same as what MakerSpaces put together; using a clear LED and shoving it into a straw for a simple 'light pipe' or fiber optics effect. What we didn't like about thew original idea was that it required you to use colored straws to get a color effect and also required a mechanical switch to be purchased. 

For our designed we used clear straws with colored LEDs to get a cool laser beam or lightsaber effect. We use hot glue (melt glue) to hold the straws down which also provided another surface for the light to reflect off of which made our lightsabers look really slick. Since we're using Maker Tape we were able to tape down the battery for a simple battery holder. We used a small gap in our circuit along with a strip of tape on the other side of the card for a simple and effective switch.

Once we had the basic framework down we set out creating some cards. Since the holiday season was at hand we created some holiday themed cards alongside generic versions of them. We have an AT-AT, single lightsaber, dual lightsaber, TIE Fighter, X-Wing, and Darth Vader. We'll probably swing back around and make some more of these later in 2020; if nothing else we HAVE to make a Darth Maul card and 'Han Shot First' card.