Quote - I have a few of the sabres as well but haven't used them in a render. Is the light portion a 3d object or a plane object, which looks like a texture with a bunch of transparent area?

Looks like 3 intersecting planes, which if that is the case, then what J said below makes sense why a 90 degree spin addressed the issue.  Thanks for clearing it up!

Quote - Mesh emitters in Lux only shine along the normal, they do not emit on the backface. If it's several planes intersecting, the it won't light up along certain angles.