The Official Lightsaber Hilt Thread

Not hilt specific...but over building in general...

I finally got my LED & junk installed & wired...and it's giving me a dark area. Right now I have 4AAA into a 2.2Ohm resistor to a LuxIII LED...and this is what I get:

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/madhorizons/My%20Nihilus/saber.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/madhorizons/My%20Nihilus/saber2.jpg]

I've ordered 2 700mA buckpucks to see if I can bump this guy up (the red LuxIII lambertian emitter wants 1400mA/1.4A). Any other ideas/suggestions???

 

Go to thecustomsabershopDOTcom and get some poloyP and cellophane, that'll brighten your saber up and even the light out.

 

That's where i got the blade. I'm thinking of putting mylar in it since it's uber-reflective. I just don't want it to end up "coring" like Corbin's blades....while they look great, the white "core" in it isn't for me.

 

You pretty much have to have something in the blade to even out the lighting. It also helps to have a reflective backing on the tip so that light reflects back down the blade. TCSS sells both of these things.

To even out the lighting you could use blade film like Corbins (which you said you don't like) or a blade diffuser tube. Personally I like the blade diffuser tubes that TCSS sells. It's brighter than blade film and evens out the lighting more but does not have the coring look that Corbin's blade film provides. I used blade diffuser tubes in my double-bladed saber. They are very thin walled (1/32") and flexible so you can still spar with your PolyC blade with diffusers inserted with no problems.

Another option that might work to even out the lighting (but I doubt that it will work well) is to heavily sand the outside of your PolyC blade.

Now, on to the blade tip. TCSS offers two solutions for a reflective backing for your blade tip. One is a round mirror-reflective sticker (which is what I use). Since it's a thin sticker, some light can pass through it but not much. It allows just enough light to light up the tip. The other is an actual mirror that light cannot pass through at all which must be glued to the bottom of the tip. I have not tried those so I don't know how well they work. If you have already glued your blade tip on, I suggest that you replace the blade and blade tip to that you can apply a reflective backing to the blade tip.

Since I have not yet glued my blade tips to the blades in my staff (need to find some Weld-On #16 or #3 first to do it "right") and the fact that I have extra blade tips that do not have a reflective backing on them yet, I could take pics showing the difference between having a reflective tip backing and not having one if you like. Please let me know if you want me to do that.

For now, here are some pics I took showing the difference between a single wrap of Corbin's blade film (no PolyP wrap added which admittingly does make blade film blades look better) and a blade diffuser. I took them against black cloth so the blades don't look as bright as they normally do. The top blade in both pics is the one using a blade diffuser tube.

[image=http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/Lightsaber%20hilts%20and%20blades/BladeDiffuservsBladeFilm-FlashOn.jpg]
[image=http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/Lightsaber%20hilts%20and%20blades/BladeDiffuservsBladeFilm-FlashOff.jpg]

 

Watching your work progress Evil-H. is always mouth watering.

EDIT: I love the last blade photo, how the glow changes from white to orange, I might use some technique like that when I roto another saber fight to make my sabers less blah...more unique. Back on topic, great work man!

 

This blade *IS* the TCSS battle blade, which is complete with diffuser in the blade and the sticky reflective tip stuff in the tip...i didn't assemble this, TCSS did, so it has all the parts you've mentioned. My buckpucks are en route, so we'll see if that helps....after doing the math, 6v through a 2.2Ohm/5w resister is only ~.8A. This means that it's nearly 50% underdriven. The Red LuxIII LEDs call/ask for 1.4A (1400mA). With the two buckpucks I'll be putting in, I'll be overdriving my green safely, and giving the 1.4A the red asks for...so i'm hoping that pushes it. A lot of the main problem is that the blade is 40" long. Even the folks over @ TCSS forums have never seen a TCSS blade with this set up be so dim near the tip and they're attributing it to blade length.

Sorry to de-rail the thread.

 

Thanks.

Hmm, that is odd, your blade should be lit up nicely then. The length your blade is at shouldn't be an issue. Also, according to this, you have the proper resistor for your LED. However you did mention that this particular LED needs more mA but if it was an issue you'd think Tim would sell a different resistor with the kit for the red Luxeon III LED as well as upgrade the resistor chart. My red/orange LEDs are using the same resistor and the same voltage (4 AAA Energizer lithiums) but they are a brighter color than red and also may not need as much mA as the red LEDs. Sorry to hear you're having this problem as it just shouldn't be occurring with the setup you have. I'm sure the buckpucks will help but you might also consider removing the blade film and replacing it with a diffuser tube. I think you'll like the change.

Another possible issue is that you may have some short of electrical short from the aluminum backing of the LED contacting the aluminum heatsink. After reading a lot of forum threads regarding Luxeon LEDs, it would appear that only the red and red/orange Luxeon LEDs tend to have this problem. As such, using a non-conductive AND non-capacitive thermal grease between the LED and the heatsink is strongly recommended. I used Artic Alumina for mine. Mind you the odds that this is your problem may be very slim as the problem people seem to be having is shorting out and frying the LED and not lower light output.

Oh and you're not derailing the thread. This thread is about buying the materials and making/assembling lightsaber hilts and blades and everything else that goes into that so it's right on topic.

 

The length can be an issue, possibly with a combination of the optics used.
Are the batteries fully charged/ new?

 

While I agree that length can be an issue, 40" should not be long enough to cause the problem in question. However, like you stated, the optics in conjunction with the blade length and blade wall thickness can be an issue. madhorizons, are you using a 5 degree lens or a 10 degree lens? I ask because the 5 degree lens works better for any thick-walled blade over around 30 to 35 inches. However, the down side of using a 5 degree lens is that the lens holder has to be modified for them to fit together properly.

 

Cool LED hilt, You just reminded me of a super duper cool After Effects trick that was originally created by the user Mae on this forum....

AND I SHALL PASS THE SECRET UNTO YOU KINDLY FOLK

basically, you film yourself in a pretty darkish enviorment with your Led saber ON. Import the footage to AE, and then go effects>threshold, and adjust the number higher and higher until all of your footage except for the lightsaber led blade is blacked out. Then you can simply use that "thresholded" composition as your rotoscoped track! So technically, if you only shot scenes with led blades in dark enviorments, you would never have to mask a blade again.

 

Gotcha...i thought it was a diffuser in there....guess it is the film.

They have a product that's "LED blade diffuser for 1"OD 3/4"ID 1/8" walled Polycarbonate.
The diffuser is 40" long and are made to fit the 1" thick walled PolyC we sell.
Might have small blemishes when lit."

Is that what you're talking about?

 

Tried that, doesn't work all that well most of the time though.

Yes. I love those and will not go back to blade film unless a customer requests it. Diffuser tubes FTW.

 

Done that trick for at least 3-4 years now, and I'm by far not the only one. I don't think it was Mae who came up with it around here though, I vaguely remember Blake Atkins doing it. (Batkins182 I think)

 

I added two buckpucks into my hilt and took the resistor out. I'm not 100% sure if I hooked everything up right. The blade is only a little brighter, but barely noticeable.

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/madhorizons/My%20Nihilus/CRW_2006.jpg]

Basically:

4AAA Battery holder
Red LuxIII (with silver thermal grease between it & heat sink)
40" thick-walled blade
Diffusion Tube

Battery(+) --> switch --> VIN+ on both buckpucks
Battery(-) --> VIN- on both buckpucks
Both Buckpuck LED(+) --> LED(+)
Both Buckpuck LED(-) --> LED(-)

it sux...i did it in visio and have no idea what i'm doing...but...
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/madhorizons/My%20Nihilus/hilt_electronics.jpg]

I'm at a loss...but really don't like having a dim area that's obvious in it. Also, i've seen Red LuxIII be brighter than a MR Vader or Maul...but this one is not. It just seems I'm not getting the most out of it and it's beginning to be frustrating.

Any ideas?

 

Damn man, that sucks. At this point it looks like blade length may be the issue after all. However... there are two other things that may (I stress "may") be causing the problem.

One is that the thermal grease you are using is most likely capacitive and may also be slightly conductive. Red and red/orange Luxeon LEDs are known to have a problem with parts of the aluminum backing connecting to the metal in the wafer board of the LED thus causing electrical shorts when the LED is placed directly against metal so using a non-conductive AND non capacitive type of thermal grease is highly recommended.

The other is that that there are different bin codes for Luxeon LEDs. The lower the bin number, the brighter the blade. In other words, the lower the bin number, the more the color spectrum changes to a lighter color. Therefore with a red LED, the lower the number the more orange-ish it gets which should in turn make it brighter. Perhaps red Luxeon III LEDs with a high bin number aren't all that bright to begin with. I just dont know.

Red Luxeon III LEDs come in 3 different bin numbers for color wavelength. Those numbers are 2, 4 and 5.

BTW, my sources for this info are here and here.


I do happen to have an uncut blade, an uncut blade diffuser, a blade tip, a reflective disk sticker and a "never been wired up" red luxeon III (Bin 4) LED that I can use to see if I get the same problem as you or not. I'll rig it all up in a day or three and post pics of my results.

 

I'm going to be adding some polyp/cellophane to the inside too to see if that helps

 

I forgot one thing... the lens. TCSS sells 5 degree lenses and 10 degree lenses. A 5 degree lens is better for blades over 35 inches (I mentioned this in an earlier post). You may be using a 10 degree lens. The primary way to tell the difference between the two is that on the top of the lenses, the 10 degree lens is flat and the 5 degree lens has a small recessed area in the center.

If you have a 10 degree lens, switching it to a 5 degree lens may help.

As I mentioned before, the lens holder needs to be modified to fit the 5 degree lenses properly (I tried modifying the lens itself once... bad idea). I'll post pics of said modification when I have time.

 

It's a 5 degree....i had to do some work to get it to fit properly too...but very little.

 

Hmmm... Have you checked the wires, one might have come undone or something.

 

Question: What is the best way to secure a carbon fibre tube in the hilt?

 

Ya...i checked...thought that *may* have been the issue, but no luck. I'm going to disconnect & reconnect everything over the weekend, including soldering the wires together in the joint.

 

Hey madhorizons, have you fixed your blade lighting issue yet?

Regardless I tried out a 40-1/2" long blade lit up using a 1 watt blue Luxeon LED (Luxeon I) and a Luxeon III red/orange LED (I haven't wired up the red LED yet). Both LEDs work fine with this long of a blade. I have a feeling that the red LED will work fine as well but who knows, it may just be too dark of a color to work with a 40" blade.

[image=http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/Lightsaber%20hilts%20and%20blades/40inch-01.jpg]
[image=http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/Lightsaber%20hilts%20and%20blades/40inch-02.jpg]

 

Those are soo Freakin awesome E_H!
Selling any of them?

 

Please check your PMs.

 

I really haven't checked. One thing I thought of too is different camera settings yielding different results. It could just be I had my shutter speed up too high or something...b/c it doesn't look like the photos in person. I'm trying to get the picture to reproduce what my eyes are seeing, but no luck.

But to officially answer your question...no, I haven't. I'd like to sand the inside of the blade and add some polyP to see if that helps or not.