My 15 year old son, Who has Asperger's Syndrome(A form of Autism for those who have not heard of it before), is a huge Star Wars fan and just after Christmas he asked if he did some work with his uncle during the school holidays and saved up his wages would he be allowed to buy a Lightsabre.
We initially thought he meant one of the Hasbro toy ones and asked him if he was a bit old for something like that, But we were so wrong!, he wants a full blown custom dueling sabre with sound and clash lighting effects.
So we looked at what was available and came across a few sites that sold complete sabres, custom sabres, or sold everything needed to create your own, but the prices are unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, they are probably worth every penny but for what my son wants his to do, he was looking at well over £250, and compared to what he could realistically afford to get, lets say his dreams of having the sabre he wanted were shattered and you could see the disappointment in his face.
I thought nothing more of it till about 2 weeks ago when out of the blue he came to me and asked if i could make one for him, which made me so proud that he believed I was capable of doing it and that he actually trusted and wanted me to do it, Unfortunately he had more belief in me than I did and told him I didn't think i would be able too, but seeing his hopes fade away again has really been getting to me since and I decided to see if I could do something about it.
My initial thoughts were get his ideas down on paper and go from there, So I got down what he wanted and started to look for things I could possibly use on ebay to make the hilt, after finding a few things he said he wanted in the design, I incorporated them into a rough drawing and got his approval and off he went happy, But I then realized that most of the stuff we had looked at for design ideas would not work together or couldn't be adapted to work how he wanted it and I felt like I was going to have to tell him I couldn't do it again.
But I was not going to be beaten yet, I've redrawn a new design that still incorporates the things he wanted and got his approval, I then designed a second sabre(For Myself of course 
), but although I have the designs there are no dimensions due to not knowing how much space would be used by the electronics yet alone what I would be using for them, well there are plenty of kits out there that do everything he wants his sabre to do, but by the time I've added a power supply and charge circuit, amp, speakers and the lighting it could be in excess of £150, I've looked at some other sound fx boards like the Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board + 2x2W Amp - WAV/OGG Trigger -16MB but again after considering the cost of everything else needed the costs rise a fair bit.
Well after seeing fvan's Raspberry Pi Zero AirPlay Speaker, I began think about how I could use the Raspberry Pi Zero I got with the MagPi issue 40 and be able to store far more sound fx and use that as the brains, which as led me here today to see if any one has any suggestions or ideas how i can achieve my goal. so far my idea is to use the Pi Zero with the Pimoroni pHat Dac, add a small stereo amplifier and some small oval laptop speakers. I would need a battery powerful enough to be able to power everything for about an hour of actual physical dueling and also be able to recharge the battery without having to remove it, I need to include a accelerometer and impact sensor to control movement fx and clash effects, then there's the blade side of things, I want him to be able to chose what colour he wants his blade not be stuck with just one, but he would be happy with just a purple one. I cannot decide whether to piggy back around 90 super bright leds up the inside of a diffused blade, Or whether to use a RGB cree or similar at the base. Would I need a led driver?.
As you can see the idea is there and I would like to think it is achievable at a fraction of the cost of other established boards but I need some guidance or recommendations on whats probably the best way to go regarding the parts I use and making sure its safe for purpose.
Once the electronics side of things are ironed out I will be able to complete my designs with dimensions and try find someone with the equipment needed to make them for me. Its looking like majority of the parts will either be lathed or cnc'd with a few smaller parts 3D printed which I expect will take up most of what little budget I have.
I've given myself till his birthday in November to finish this project and as long as costs don't spiral too high and make buying a ready made one practical I'm hoping to be able to make him a pair at a fraction of the cost for the one he wanted originally.
Any help, ideas, guidance ect would be greatly appreciated and thanks for taking the time to read this.
