--- title: 3D Print a Crossguard Star Wars Lightsaber description: A video that demonstrates how to 3D-print a crossguard lightsaber, as seen in the new "Star Wars" trailer. canonical: https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-08T19:56:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:14.666Z og:title: Here’s How to 3D-Print Your Own Crossguard Lightsaber og:description: Lasers not included. og:url: https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d58b73c5834441/69876d74e53aba7f244d6681/screen-shot-2014-12-08-at-2-54-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=740&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 740 og:image:height: 416 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-12-08 at 2.54.55 PM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s How to 3D-Print Your Own Crossguard Lightsaber twitter:description: Lasers not included. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d58b73c5834441/69876d74e53aba7f244d6681/screen-shot-2014-12-08-at-2-54-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=740&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here’s How to 3D-Print Your Own Crossguard Lightsaber > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d5f6d369-e370-460d-8b27-97f3e06897b5&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Customizable Crossguarded LightSaber [Watch (HLS stream): Customizable Crossguarded LightSaber](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dhmvJ8C0.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2014-12-08. Customizable Crossguarded LightSaber_  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2014 7:56 PM UTC  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2014 7:56 PM UTC The crossguard lightsaber introduced in the [trailer](http://time.com/3609579/star-wars-force-awakens-trailer/) for _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ raised eyebrows among skeptics as much as it elicited drools from those excited by the weapon’s redesign. Attacks on its impracticality were so [widespread](http://www.dailydot.com/geek/star-wars-force-awakens-new-lightsaber/) that Stephen Colbert took time out of one of the final episodes of the _Colbert Report_ to [defend the genius of the design](http://time.com/3614258/stephen-colbert-star-wars-lightsabers/). But now you can test it yourself, as a group of designers has shared instructions for 3D-printing the controversial laser sword. According to designers at le FabShop, which distributes Makerbot 3D printers in France, “As Makers, we couldn’t help but try to find out by ourselves if this ‘crossguard’ design was a good configuration or not.” They’ve made files available for download — the lightsaber requires assembling a handful of configurable plastic parts — on Makerbot’s design community, [Thingiverse](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:572485). Though the finished product is certainly a quality replica, the designers did not, after creating it, weigh in on its practicality. The 3D-printed version does not involve actual lasers, so there’s no risk of burning off your hand. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/"},"headline":"Here’s How to 3D-Print Your Own Crossguard Lightsaber","datePublished":"2014-12-08T19:56:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:02:14.666Z","description":"Lasers not included.","url":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Star Wars","3D printing","star wars: the force awakens"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d58b73c5834441/69876d74e53aba7f244d6681/screen-shot-2014-12-08-at-2-54-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d58b73c5834441/69876d74e53aba7f244d6681/screen-shot-2014-12-08-at-2-54-55-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-12-08 at 2.54.55 PM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/","name":"Here’s How to 3D-Print Your Own Crossguard Lightsaber"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Customizable Crossguarded LightSaber","description":"Customizable Crossguarded LightSaber","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dhmvJ8C0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-08T20:25:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dhmvJ8C0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3624003/star-wars-lightsaber-3d-print/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```