Lightsabers & Blasters LED Blade Q and A's

I, for one, am extremely interested in 1/8" walled 1"od polycarb tubes, and assuming you could just change your blade holders (or offer 2 kinds maybe) to accept a 1" blade, I would think you could switch completely over to 1".... The 3/4" is just a little whippy for my tastes and I would think 1" would be a little more stiff....plus, they would stand up better size wise compared to MR blades I would think, so that if you were dueling someone with an MR saber, their saber wouldn't appear to be twice as thick as yours.
Just a thought....I for one would have always preferred 1"od, and if you carried it before, that's what I would have bought from you, and I think if you switched over to 1", I think people would like it... Or maybe offer both, if you have the link to getting 1/8" polycarb in those sizes.... I wish I could find polycarb in that size local to me, but, alas, I cannot.
BTW, I build that saber last night...I took me like 5 hours, lol, but the reason was either sad or funny depending on how you look at it. I took the blade completely apart and put it back together 3 times, as it wasn't working at all. Until finally, when I decided that the problem had to be in the hilt, I popped off the endcap, pulled out the battery pack, and BAM, the blade lit up....the batteries keep popping out a tiny bit, they wouldn't stay in...that was the problem, and I kept taking the whole thing apart 3 times before checking the batteries....so I wrapped the whole battery pack in electrical tape as tight as I could, and it worked, as long as I don't wave it around too much, when I do, one of the batteries still finds a way to pop out of place, even with the tape...I'll have to figure something out...then the aluminum endcap was contacting the bottom of the battery holder and shorting it out, lol, but that was an easy fix, of course I got a nice zinger of a shock, lol.

 

It does give a good bite doesnt it.
Sorry about the battery holders, I wish they would build them better.

 

I'd be interested in the 1" tube when you carry it.

 

The problem with using a 1" tube with an EL blade is that is won't be compatible with Parks and Lightech sabers anymore.

I'm going to coat the inside of a blade tube with white latex today. Should be interesting, so wish me luck.

 

Who cares about compatibility, we're here to make our own, lol....
J/K.....Or am I? But seriously though...
Strydur, No problem about the battery holder... Whatya' gonna do. Do you think that you might start offering 1" polycarb tubes, and maybe some blade holders that would accept a 1" blade...I could always bore out your existing ones, but I'm not sure I have the tools for that.... I don't think my cordless roto tool could handle that, but maybe I could get some kind of attachment for my drill that would do it, who knows... the good thing about your blade holder and endcap was that they were such a tight fit that I didn't need to hold them in place in screws...For the blade holder I just banged it in with a rubber mallet, worked like a charm. And for the endcap, you can pop it halfway on by hand and it doesn't go anywhere, and it gives you a nice lip to grab on to for pulling it off, and personally I think it looks better than if it was all the way in. Let me know if you decide to stock the 1" polycarb, I'd rather not go to Mcmaster-carr if I don't have to, I'd rather support the small businessman. I think I might wanna try an EL blade in 1" too, but for LED, it seems as though 1" is definitely the way to go...plus, as I said earlier, 3/4" is a little whippy for my tastes...Anyway, Cheers, all.

 

I will surely design and build some custom blade holders for 1" PolyC that will hold the LED with built in heat sink etc... But dont expect me to start selling them tomorrow I will be experimenting with the LED's and such over the next few weeks. I am hoping to get 1" PolyC down to the price mcmaster sells it for or lower, but without the shipping fees of 8 foot long pieces. But, at the moment I am trying to juggle a full time job, fill all the orders I am getting, be a father of 3, and a good husband. So, doesnt leave allot of time for R&D.

 

No problem, no big rush...being a good daddy is more important than selling blade supplies, lol. But as soon as you do get around to it, I'll be making an order....I really like the machined holder and endcap...they were awesome, and that's the only way I'm gonna fly from now on, so you have at least one customer for that stuff, and making them to accept the LED with built in heatsink...well, what can I say, you're on the ball as usual... I must say, I was surprised to find the blade holder was already built and designed for the mono plug...it was a nice and unexpected surprise....the thing pretty much built itself, lol. Good stuff, and ya, that whole 8 foot lengths thing is another reason why I'm not crazy about ordering from Mcmaster-carr... Kept up the good work.

BTW, the new style 4 emitter looks awesome... Gotta try that one next, lol....Good work!

 

I recently ordered some 1" polycarb in a 4ft length, they actually sent me 4'3" but whose counting. I remember that there was an 8' minimum about 2 years ago, but I dont think they do that, at least not for the tube i ordered

 

I just tried it, says you must order in 8 foot sections.

 

I wonder if you could order 8' but get them to cut it into 2 4' lengths and send them to you that way... I doubt it, but there is something there that says "cut to length"...so mybe, but if they're gonna double the price just to cut it in half, it would hardly be worth it...but maybe I'll contact them and see... I'm in no big rush to get the tubes right now anyway, so....

 

I used the cut to length option and I think that the prices were per foot.
BTW P/N 8585K35 over there at mcmaster

 

I guess that answers it...thanks UltraSWG.... Oh, and thanks for that post way back when in the EL thread that started this all.... I still like EL but I'm really excited about doing a 1" LED blade/saber...plus it seems like it will be soo much easier to do, no jamming EL wire into a skinny little tube, lol.... no wire-stripping, etc., and I admit I was always convinced by the detractors that LED wasn't practical for all the reasons you seemed to disprove. Kudos.

 

Yeah they have that on there now....
But I DO have an invoice for about 4 feet from about a monthe or two ago..
I see that they have a different product numbers for per foot lengths. but in anycase it DOES appear that NOW you have to purchase 8 ft lengths.

 

Where is everybody getting their resistors from? The closest I could find is a 10 ohm 1W resistor, now if I use that with the 4 AAs it is going to limit the current through the LED .... if I use it with a nine volt now my current is rougly 560ma which is above the maximum rating according to the website. Any suggestions?

 

Well, I've managed to find polycarb tubing, 1" OD 1/8" thick here locally (1/2 hour away)... They will only sell it to me in 8' lengths, and charge 6.50Cnd/foot, which isn't a great price, but I think it's a whole lot cheaper than buying an 8' piece from mcmaster at 3.50US/foot + shipping on an 8' package, plus duties at the border, etc... plus, no waiting for it to be shipped, as they have it in stock. So assuming I can't find a local supplier of LEDs, once Corbin is back (as he seemed cheaper than other online vendors for them) I'll order up some LEDs, some nice odds and ends from Mr. Strydur (his machined endcaps are excellent), and I'm going to make an LED saber and/or staff, or 2 or 3, lol, since I'll have all that polyc, and I'll post my results back here...or I'll be posting back questions half way through when I'm stumped on something, which is more likely, lol.

Anyone have an idea what I could use for an inner core tube? Would polye work? Of course, the place I found doesn't have any high density polye, but I'll find some somewhere... Any ideas on the dual tube design?

 

This is what you need:

8.2 Ohm 1 Watt 5% Carbon Film Resistor
Part Number: RG8.2
Price: $0.14

And here is where you can buy it:

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/2535

They are right around the corner from me and are good people to do business with. They also sell color filters:

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/3371

 

Would you use the colour filter if there was no LED in that colour, ie, purple? Would you just place the slide over the white LED for a purple blade?

 

Ultra

When you compared your sabers using the star/o to EL blades are you sure the EL blades where built with the High Bright wire? I got my LED's in today and hooked up the green one using my MR blade tube and was not impressed. I am sure the luxeon 3's are allot brighter though. I will post some pictures when I have time.

 

I have red Star/o's in my MRFX blades and they are by far much brighter than red HBEL. My green sabers use Corbin's lightfilm, which give a different effect, but are still brighter than EL.

 

Ya I am sure the red would be brighter than EL. They both have a different look to them. I guess for ultra bright the brighter luxeons would be the choice but as far as star/o and EL go, I would say its more a choice of what look you want than the brightness. I still plan on doing more research into the LED's but I will probably move onto the brighter ones.

 

Hey Strydur, there's one other thing you could try since you have the MR blades handy. Replace the 8.2ohm 1watt resistor with a 2.2ohm 1watt resistor. Then step the voltage down to 4.5 volts (3AA's). That should get the LED up to 491ma, rather than the relatively low 315ma you're running now and increase the brightness.

 

Thanks ...

$10.00 to ship a $0.14 resistor There must be a place around where I am to go. But I appreciate the link

 

Where would I get a battery holder for 5 batteries? I've never seen one... 4 I've seen and 8, and even 6 (though it wouldn't fit in a hilt), but I've never seen a holder for 5)... If I'm gonna make an LED saber, I'm gonna go 3 watt... 190 Lumens for red/orange just sounds too good for me to go with 55, but I have no idea how I would power it with 5 batteries. Any suggestions?

 

Not an expert at this but I think using a 9v @ 1400ma you would need 44 ohms of resistance probably 2watt resisitor as this is going to put out a little heat