If you're into building tech toys, you've probably wondered how easy it would be to make a light saber from off-the-shelf parts. Turns out it's actually pretty easy, and not very expensive either.

And now you can learn how to do it from io9 pal Dave Calkins, who has built his own R2D2, looks really hot dressed as a stormtrooper, and also runs the amazing RoboGames every year with Simone Davalos.

Here he is on Systm, talking to geeky show host Patrick Norton about his recipe for a kickass lightsaber. Even if you aren't going to build one yourself, this is fun to watch - Dave has got a lot of great trivia about how the original ILM team built the first sabers out of old camera flash devices and windshield wipers.

via Systm