Lightsabers & Blasters EL lightsaber

Uh, whats an inverter ?

I was planning on doing mine as simple as possible (direct feed from batteries to blade, etc etc)

 

I think this was covered somewhere in this topic earlier. The inverter is needed to change from AC to DC. The battery is one, the blade needs the other. The inverter is needed for that.

 

An inverter changes the DC voltage coming from the battery, into high frequency AC voltage needed to "drive" the EL wire.

I would not recommend that you use what elwirecheap.com has for inverters. The mini 9 is really meant to run on 12V, it's a lot brighter that way.

I recommend Coolight, and the IFW 5541-2K inverter. It's also smaller than the mini 9.

 

Ah, well unless I do EL I wont need one, cool.

And I was reading tut's for sabers in the fanfilm fourm, one linked tut brought up an intersting point.
If youre doing it on the cheap, go to a bike shop for the main pipe for the hilt, you can get a section of tubing intended ofr a bike at much lower price.

 

can someone please tell me where to find a tutorial on buildng EL lightsabres
Thanks

 

i will step in for a moment if the blademistress will allow. the parts to an EL lightsaber are pretty simple.

parts:

a tube to hold the electronics. this can be as fancy as a machined aluminum tube or as simple as a sink pipe

a cap on the end to keep things from falling out. again this can be machined or a simple chrome hole cover from your nearest home emprovement store.

the emitter sleeve. this can be bought for about $40 or made out of metal or pvc. this holds the blade in place with a thumbscrew.

mono female plug recepticle and housing. this is part of the standard kit that can be purchased. its basically like a headphone recepticle and the lightsaber blade plugs into it. the housing is aluminum and has a bolt in it that screws into the emitter sleeve [from the kit] a similar housing can be made from a shower pipe.

the inverter. various places sell these. [the one that comes with the kit is the best ive found so far]

the switch. this costs extra, but comes from the same company as the kit. any small on off switch would work. however this switch is the best weve seen so far.

the battery clip. comes with the kit. basically something to plug the battery into. can be bought anywhere.

the battery. typical 9 volt alkaline, i prefer the M3 from duracell.

thats about it. you need a drill to drill the holes in the tube to mount the thumbscrew and screws that hold the emmiter tube. also for the switch.

if you get the kit with the optional switch then you have everything you need except the tube and end cap.

the kit comes with a blade or you can order it without one. PM me for any other details....pretty simple huh?

please note that what you end up with is simple chrome or aluminum tube with a switch and cover on the end. this will hold and light an EL blade. whatever emmitter shrouds, grips etc. are up to you.

 

does anyone know where i can find a good round end cap for the end of my parks blade...the goofy clear chair leg thingy looks odd.

 

Plastruct sells them.

3/4 inch clear acrylic dome is product code VHH-24. Sells for something like 65 cents.

It would be in their Tubing and Fittings category of the online catalog.

 

thankies mucho

 

Good job, Don.

You stated what needs to go into making an EL saber very simply, without any uneccessary things that people might not care about, like I probably would have done.

 

Also, for hte blade hilt, youmight want to go to a bike shop and buy a peice of tubing meant for a bike, you'll spend approx $5 instead of $10-$15 like a nice peice of plumbing pipe.

 

hey thenx for the help but can someone tell me bout the circuitry.

and Jedi loreen can u please tell me about building an EL blade?and is it durable enough to duel with?

 

As theyve said many times before, YES EL blades can dual.

 

i was wondering if sombody could tell me which el wire is the best/brightest. Sould i get the 2.3 3.2 or biger is it the biger the brighter or does it matter.

 

Does anyone know if radio Shack delivers in Europe?

 

Hello everyone! I am "the new guy", and I just got to this section of the force.net. When I saw the words EL Lightsabers, it caught my attention right away!

This may sound stupid, but what is an EL lightsaber? does the blade really cut? I don't think so...

can someone plz respond?

My E-mail adress is alastor_35@hotmail.com and my name here is Jedi_From_Taris

Thanks for your time!

 

unfortunialy it does not cut (tear..tear) but it looks insanly real(like the one depictided in the movies)

 

Helps if you read the thread.

 

Sorry I asked such a dumb question... as i said, i am new. even though they don't cut, maybe someone can help me get used to this site?

 

clik the lower link in my my signature below...i got some good close ups

 

The best EL wire to get is High Brightness, Long Life wire. It is about 2.5mm in diameter. It doesn't come in all 10 colors yet, but they seem to be working on it. They just came out with it in white, in the last few weeks. They just need to make orange, and teal, then it'll be complete.

Both Coolight and Coolneon carry it.

 

maybe someone can help me get used to this site? I PM you with the link. PM is a private message. Welcome Jedi_From_Taris in here.

 

hey pattty

can u help me out here?

If u know how to make Hilts Of Lightsabers-can u tell me about what to do with the circuitry?

Thanx

 

how big in diameter should the hilt be for the mini inverter fit into it .i think the mini is 1 inch in width but not sure....can anybody answer my quetion on how big the dia. sould be.Thanks all replys are welcomed.and thanks for answering all my questions before i even ask them Jedi-Loreen, you are very helpfull and are aprecated by many im sure..and i will be looking forward to that tutorial if you have not all ready made it

 

the inverters, both the mini from CN and the larger one from LT will fit in either 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 diameter hilts. i prefer the larger one, as it is brighter than the smaller. [see my tutorial earlier in this thread]

my partner loreen and i made an EL lightsaber in 5 hours sunday. we used the adapter and EL kit from LT. the hilt was made of 1 1/2 chrome plated brass sink pipe. the inner sleeve to hold the machined aluminum adapter was made from cut down 1 1/2 pvc. we only needed to do slight modifications to mount the adapter. a chrome hole cover was used for the end cap. we also brought the optional on/off switch from LT as well. pm me if you need any hints for help.