A real-life working lightsaber has been awarded the Guinness World Record

Alex Burkan, a YouTuber has been awarded the Guinness World Record for creating the first working, retractable lightsaber.

Any Star Wars fans would know the feeling of wishing for the day that they can wield a Jedi’s most feared weapon and it looks like it might be sooner than later.

The social media star has now been internationally credited with building a lightsaber that is pretty close to the real deal.

Alex’s lightsaber can produce a one metre-long plasma blade that can reach temperatures of more than 2,800°C.

It’s quite hot that it can even cut through steel, and can also attract lightning and other high voltage charges.

He was working on hydrogen generation equipment when he realised he could transfer some of his knowledge into making a lightsaber.

“Every single step during [the] development and building process was a challenge. For many years I have collected ideas and spare parts for my lightsaber and power equipment on the internet markets and [from] scrap yards. The key component of my lightsaber is an electrolyser. An electrolyser is a device that can generate a huge amount of hydrogen and oxygen and compress the gas to any pressure without a mechanical compressor,” he explained to Guinness World Records.

He was already using this electrolyser for his motorbike, however, he manipulated it to produce the shape of plasma blade that he needed for his weapon.

Alex managed to get the main components for the lightsaber ready and then he realised he’d need one more part.

“The most challenging job was to squeeze the whole gas distribution system in a lightsaber handle,” he recalled.

“It is the Starkiller lightsaber from The Force Unleashed game!”

The longtime Star Wars fan went through a lot of trial and error to get his machine up to where it is now, but he admits there’s still a long way to go until it’s properly ready.

“This is the first prototype so it has lots of limitations,” he said.

“It works for only 30 seconds on full power, the hydrogen torch is not as stable as it could be and you can easily see it when it moves. Sometimes the lightsaber just blows up in your hand because of hydrogen flashback.”

Alex isn’t the first person who has tried or who has won a Guinness World Record for trying to bring the Jedi weapon to life.

However, he is the first inventor who has been recognised for making a plasma-based, retractable lightsaber.

He’s hoping he’ll be able to tinker with his invention until it can last longer and look closer to the movie version.

Source: Agencies