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Topic:
LED Blade Q and A's
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 11:04am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Well, let's see... the blade film is "Ultra/Gelukhan" style, but I made the blade diffuser setup & mirror myself. Blade itself is from TCSS, but it is naturally just polycarbonate. Blade length varies with all the sabers of BOP I, II, and the soon-to-come III. But I think that one is something like 32" that is "seen" and so a total length of like 34".
I vary the blade lengths depending a little bit on the user/wielder... but mostly on the balance. I never build a hilt around the blade length--I first create the hilt and then use its weight to determine the most "proper" blade length for balance.
It doesn't take much extra tube length or reduced tube length to move the balance point a few inches in either direction. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it is certainly best if the balance point is under or close to the forward/dominant hand. In other words, you naturally don't want the balance point in the middle of the blade, nor way down the center of the hilt. But, whatever. Everyone does things differently (or in some cases--people may not even take balancing into consideration).
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 11:54am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
- Date Edited:
12/13/07 12:03pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
TheMuffin
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Welp. Ultras is the only type I haven't used yet. Guess I'll pay his site a visit and pick me up one of his blades. I love the lighting (for the most part) of TCSS blades and difuser but they are so damned heavy compared to one with Corbins wrap. Makes it hard to even swing them with even a little control. So Ultra blades are next.
EDIT: Is there a difference between his Apprentice and Stunt blades? They both have the same exact description.
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
12/28/07 8:45am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Man this place is sorta dead as of late.
Anywho I got my apprentice blade from Ultra on the 24th. This is easily the greatest blade out of the three available to me. They all have ups and downs but this one is the best overall. The sheer amount of light it projects is soooo impressive.
So my saber is done except for some paint and it works great.
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Greybaine
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/1 11:08pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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I'm having one heck of a time finding a 1.5ohm, 4Watt resistor (brown/green/gold). I've only been able to find one supplier. Does anyone know of anymore? Thanx.
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pbmaster000
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/2 8:47am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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i relativly new to LEDs, what is the difference between LEDs and ELs?
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
1/2 10:01am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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LED stands for light emitting diode. Think of it as a miniature light bulb. It even sorta looks like one.
EL stands for electroluminescent. In the case of sabers, it is normally a long wire that you run electricity into and it lights up.
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Jedi-Loreen
Title: OCSWS Secretary
& Master of the Blades
Registered:
Dec '02
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Date Posted:
1/2 10:21am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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He PMed me the same question this morning. 
I gave him a more detailed, but still somewhat simplified (I could go into more detail, if I wanted to  ), answers.
"Put simply EL (ElectroLuminescent) wire is wire coated with phosphorous and it glows when a high frequency AC current is applied to it. The color is determined by the sheathing covering the wire. This wire goes inside the BLADE with a diffuser that both hides the wire and makes a nice, even glow.
Advantage over LED: changing blade colors is easy, just pop in another blade with different colored EL wire inside it. More evenly glowing blade.
Disadvantage: not as bright as LED blades.
Hopefully, you know what an LED (Light Emitting Diode) is. We use super bright ones that are actually classified as a Class 2 Laser, they are so bright, and can cause eye damage if looked at directly.
These go inside the HILT, with focusing optics that shine the light up into the blade. Most people put a mirror, or reflective material inside the tip of the blade to reflect some of the light back down the blade, because it can become a bit dim near the tip, but the various diffusion methods are getting better to take care of this problem.
Advantage over EL: Much brighter blades are possible.
Disadvanage: Heat issues, some LEDs can get very hot, so heat sinking, to remove excess heat is very important for the performance, and life of the LED. Changing colors is more complicated, you have to remove the blade holder and change the LED that's mounted to the heat sink (this is changed as an assembly, with special connectors to make it easier)."
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pbmaster000
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/2 10:59am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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yeah, i know what LED and EL stand for, just wondering hat were the ups and downs of having one, ill prob stick with el. Jedi-Loreen did a exceptional job at describing it!
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
1/2 12:14pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
- Date Edited:
1/2 12:29pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
TheMuffin
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Honestly, from reading up on both and actually completing two(LED), I have to think LED's are the way to go. If you're looking for a saber that just lights up it takes practically nothing to wire up a Luxeon LED. Batteries, switch, resistor and LED. To make it even easier, you can actually buy screw together pieces for the hilt from thecustomsabershop.com You solder everything together and just screw the saber into one piece and you're done. No running of EL wire, no hot gluing in radio jacks, no inverters and the like.
I think with some help from someone like Loreen you could certainly make an EL saber. But if you want ease of assembly and overall practicality I would go with LED.
LED Pros:
-Nothing in the blade. You can beat the crap out of it to your hearts content.
-Can be as simple or complex as you want. Want a flashlight type saber? Can do. Want one that can do everything from clashing to blaster deflects with ramping up and down effects? Can do that to.
-More support. There seem to be a lot more folks who have done an LED saber. Which in turn makes it easier to get questions answered.
-Light weight(dependent on components though).
LED Cons:
-Heat is sometimes an issue without proper sinking.
-Uneven or dull lighting unless using an Ultra Blade.
I'll leave the EL Pros and Cons for someone more experienced with them.
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pbmaster000
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/2 1:06pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
- Date Edited:
1/2 1:09pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
pbmaster000
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yes, but LED is somthing im unfamiliar with, i am also wanting to build a cheap lightsaber i dont want to spend over $70,i used to hook up el wire to cars and such and they were reliable,also is there a LED tutorial?
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
1/2 2:08pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Well first question is what do you want the saber to do? Just click on and off with no sound? Have a ramping up effect of the light with no sound? Or have all the bells and whistles.
The first you can do no problem for under $70 including buying a hilt (unless you have on already).
The second you might have some trouble doing for under $70 if you are buying a hilt.
The third is impossible to make for under $70.
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I am currently taking custom lightsaber orders.
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Evil-Henchman
Registered:
Jul '04
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Date Posted:
1/2 2:09pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
- Date Edited:
1/2 2:15pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Evil-Henchman
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pbmaster000 posted:
yes, but LED is somthing im unfamiliar with, i am also wanting to build a cheap lightsaber i dont want to spend over $70,i used to hook up el wire to cars and such and they were reliable,also is there a LED tutorial?
Yep. Here is a good place to start.
I have made an EL blade and I have made a Luxeon LED blade. The Luxeon LED blade is by far superior to the EL blade.
The only thing I would use an EL blade for is if I was making a Star Wars fan film and filming the saber fight at night. That way I could see the blade for rotoscoping purposes. One may wonder "Why not use the LED blade. Simple, Luxeon LED blades are so bright in dark settings that when on camera, the light from the blade is "blown out" making the blade look 3 times wider than it actually is. I'm not even sure that a really good high end camcorder could bypass this problem.
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pbmaster000
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/2 3:42pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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any others?
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Evil-Henchman
Registered:
Jul '04
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Date Posted:
1/2 4:11pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Well, the forum I linked you to has many different threads regarding LED blades. I just linked you to the most relevant title-wise. There's lots of good info in those threads. You could also try looking at several of the threads here and if you know French (which I don't) you can also try here.
I'm sure there are other sites regarding this topic but hopefully that will get you started.
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"Why are there no lumberjacks in the city?"
"Ninja kick the damn rabbit!"
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pbmaster000
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/2 5:42pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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i found a site that cleared everything up so im going to make 2 lightsabers, a EL and a LED i might make some films so ill take your advice
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