Lightsabers & Blasters Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial

Hmm,

That opens up a bigger avenue to look at and try. I was looking around the net and I found some more sites that sell the el flat.

http://www.luminousfilm.com/
http://www.novael.com/

http://world-electroluminescent.com/new_EL_products.html

www.e-lite.com

sporty

 

well i found another forum and i wanted to post the link to it on lightsabers, I think it can help us in building a light saber. Or gathering info.

I also wanted to note that some of the sites that sell el wire that I have contacted. some have agreements with online biz or people making and selling el lightsabers. coolight.com is one of them. so because they have some type of agreement. They may be limited to helping people wanting to build there own.

I have done alot of searching and looking and for the el wire blade it is easy to find the polcarbonate tubing and el wire and inveter and polyethelene for around $36.00. this does not include the male and female connector and other things needed.

But like styrder mentioned $50/ $55 for a blade is very resonable and fair, he made the nice offer for a limited time to make one for people.

just some thoughts.

http://www.fxsupply.com/products/hemis.html, has ends for tubes,

Sporty


nothing like making your own saber !

 

Shoot, I ordered the ISW 3306-GR inverter from coolight, will that be able to run 10 Ft. of EL wire bright enough? Otherwise I will send it back for the IFW 5681-2K.

 

You can try it and see if it works.

I recommended the 2 khz inverters, not the 400 hz, like what you ordered.

 

If I buy one of those hemispheres, what would I use to make sure it stays on during duels? Would super glue be best?

 

I like epoxy glue, myself, it works good and is strong

 

Hmm, I wonder what size hemisphere I'll need...

Not really gonna worry too much about it until I get my Parks Saber, which should be in July sometime since it takes 8-10 weeks to ship...

 

highttechmagic sells a el kit, for a small fortune.

but they have a pic of the el wire, inverter.

Here is the link to the pic

http://www.high-techmagic.com/bladekit.jpg

Sporty

True, time is running out for me to have a el lightsaver before may19th. I dont know when ill get my polycarbonate tubing in the mail, not likely before may19th. we will see.

Either way I have my plasma one. Alot cheaper going thru amazing1.com then hightech magic, for the sab24 kit.

 

I also found on high-techmagic.com, a tutorial for making el blades, wire or film, looks alot like jedi loreens one.

you may want to check it out, has some pictures as well, its free to download at this time, in pdf form.

 

Some good news, Ill have my polycarbonate tubing on wednesday. woohoo.

And I went to a local machine shop. I am gonna have a piece of aluminum machined for the blade incert with a nice flange to it. I am doing 1 for starters and if I like I will have him make more.

I think he would be interested in doing more for people. Hes charging me $22 for the first one. And he said likely $4.00 cheaper for the next ones.

and I will post pictures on my web site when it is finished. I will have to get it most of it done thrusday afternoon, my movie time is 7:45 pm.

sporty

 

Anyone know the diameter of the Parks Sabers blade? I want to buy one of these hemispheres for the end, but I dunno what size to get. They go from 0.5" to 6" diameter.

 

parks are 3/4" OD..so ya need 3/4" ones..

I think i have a lead on buying some 3/4OD 1/2ID polyc but it would be a big bulk order. I would like to know how many of you would be willing to buy some at $5.50 per 48" piece plus shipping, Because i have to buy 140 pieces to get this price. Let me know.

Strydur

 

wow,

thats a price for the polycarbonate, where you going thru, is it the 1/8th or 1/16th ?

i went thru us plastics

sporty

 

Could using one of these color transparent acrylic rods from http://rlsasabers.com/blades.htm for the outer tubing and white EL wire with the diffuser possibly make a blade that has the "white core" like the sabers in the movies.

 

hmm,

pretty kewl, I took a look, $25 bucks tho.

You are asking if you will have a white core look to the side with a glow of the color from the tube with using a defusser.

I wish i could give you a answer, being new to building lightsabers and not tried it yet. Have you contacted the website with that questions, they very well may know.

I think you would have a white core glow, the question i would have would the glow give off enough past the defusser and the tint of the tube to give a good glowing color of the tube.

I will guess and say no, to not getting enough glow of the color of the tube, with a defusser.

you could buy and try also and get some colored el wire or film, it may inhance the glow of the same color.

sorry cant be of more help

sporty

 

High-tech Magic has a blade turtorial? Hmm, I must have missed that when I was perusing the site.

I don't think it's possible making a "white core" for a blade using standard EL materials, otherwise it would already have been done. It would probably take something more high tech, like LEDs or something to achieve that.

Stay away from acrylic rods to make blades out of. It's just for looking pretty, not for dueling with. Polycarbonate is a much stronger plastic, acrylic is too brittle.

 

How long are your blades? I have about 40 inches and it seems when I'm dueling the blade has a lot of play in it. Is this normal? What are some of the standard lengths?

 

Thank you for your reply. I never said I wanted to "duel" with the saber. I don't think you would get a WHITE core but at least a significantly brighter, lighter colored core.

 

here is the link for the page of the el tutorial book.

http://www.high-techmagic.com/ebook/viport050104.html

its called lost jedi secrets, i believe. the image has a picture of yoda


sporty

 

Long time lurker 1st time poster. I'm working on my 1st hardware sabre and I have decided to try my luck with one of these blades. Big thanks to Jedi Loreen and all for this awesome post. With everything I have so far this project is costing me right around $70 and will be pretty cool. Any extra tips before I start putting it all together. I got my tubing from McMaster yesterday (ordered Friday). I'm still waiting on my coolneon order (also Friday). I found another source for the 3/4" acrylic half balls for the tip http://www.delviesplastics.com/acrylic_balls.htm I called and she sent me a free sample. A pack of 100 is $17. I went with the original recommended tubing 3/4" OD, 5/8" ID Poly C and 1/2" OD, 3/8" ID. Now I see why people are experimenting. Does the EL wire do anything to stiffen it up? The Poly C may be strong, but it seems a little too flexy. Maybe the thicker walled stuff would be stiffer and also give less play with the diffuser tube. I figured the recommended 10' of the 2.5 HB (blue) for do three strands of 39 inches would do nicely for my first blade. I had some thoughts on power supplies. The pipsqueak is stated to handle 13.8 volts. What if you some how rigged up a 9v and three AAAs. Has anybody considered a rechargeable solution? Maybe something rigged from a cell phone battery and charger. Anyway thanks again for the post. I should be finishing up my hilt tonight. Maybe my EL and driver came so I can work on the blade as well. I'd love to have this ready by weds night for the premier.

 

so far my source for the 3/4od 1/2id polyc isnt comming through..

as far as how many strands to use, I like 4 strands much better than 3 and yes the 1/8" wall polyc even though costs allot more is allot stiffer.

Strydur

 

Well this is most intreasting, i had first thought of remaking a hilt i made to hold 1 LED and send light up into a normal acrylic tube but this seems far better. however theres 2 things i wonder

can i use 3x 3V batteries instead of a 9v battery to power it?
and secondly, what does the inverter do? do i need it? or can i somehow do without?

 

Here is a link to understand about inverters and how they work, It may not be the best link, But I did find the information to of use.

http://www.magnumenergy.com/faq%20answers.htm

my thoughts on a inverter that it does a couple of things, change dc current to a/c current. some of them also amplify the output. Also wave length.

Examples. 900 hz, compared to 2.4 hz. (cordless phones)

the 900 hz phone will not work as far as the 2.4 hz phone.

basically, if you can imagine a 1 inch square box with lines going up and down inside the box /\/\/\. However its more a wave in reality ~~~~~

The more wave length inside that box the greater chance of innerference. So if you made the wave length just as long but in a 1/2 square box, it has a less of a chance for innerfence.

Now this is just a simple mention and example of how frequency works.

NOW WHEN I WAS PLAYING AROUND WITH THE EL WIRE. BASICALLY PUTTING IT INTO THE POLYETHENE TUBE. I GOT A IDEA THAT I MAY TRY. I THOUGHT I WOULD HOLD THE EL WIRE AS STRAIT AS I COULD INSIDE THE TUBE WITH FISHING LINE ON EACH END AND USE CLEAR 5 MINUTE EPOXY TO TRY AND KEEP THE WIRE STRAIT AND EVEN AS POSSIBLE.

PERHAPS SOME OTHERS HAVE SOME TIPS ON THIS ONE.

SPORTY

 

hmmm because one of the problems i am having is that i live in sweden, and for some wierd reason i cant find a good inverter around here, all that i find that is availble in sweden are big boxes.

 

9 volt battery is still a 9 volt battery correct there ? or the do not have 9 volt dc battereies there ? only your a/c current is different correct ?

those inverters pretty easy to come buy, e-bay, coolight.com, and so forth with just doing search, You cold also contact the makers to ensure thats gonna work for you.

I would think that even if sweden dont use 9 vold dc batteries, easy to buy and order over here. along with the inverter, Btw the inverter I use was only $5.oo american. not including shipping tho

sporty