PDA

View Full Version : Idea for a new Blade design



mick6150
06-27-2010, 11:59 AM
Just an Idea I had scrolling thru the posts. High wattage personal lasers and a pc tube filled with aerogel. heres a link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgiris1TdOI

I have a limited experience with aerogels, but you can play with the density and cloudyness to fine tune the effect, But you would get a very bright, even diffusion effect.

Your thoughts. I want some feedback before trying it

TimeRender
06-27-2010, 12:19 PM
The brightness of a visible laser beam depends on the laser's intensity and how diffusive the medium through which you are shining it is. Aerogel, like smoke, is not very diffusive. A laser beam shone through smoke is not terribly bright. The solution would be to use a material that is more diffusive. However, a more diffusive material will scatter the light too near to the source. This will result in a very uneven blade. The only way around this would be to engineer a blade that is only slightly diffusive at the emitter and which gets gradually more diffusive down the length. Laser etched acrylic, like those illuminated keychains and paperweights, could be etched in such a way as to produce this effect. The properties could probably be calculated mathematically by someone with experience in the use of those materials, but unfortunately I do not.

What you will find, however, can be predicted. Laser beams seem very bright because the light is so focused. However, once that light is diffused you will see that the LEDs in a laser aren't that much more powerful than a standard accent LED. Brighter lasers are on the market, but they are "wicked" expensive, and even these play by the same rules. Using a laser instead of a high intensity LED will dramatically increase the cost of a saber, but will not yield significantly greater results.

I'll go ahead and correct myself now. If you use a standard 1 inch blade, the results will be weak. A laser COULD produce a much brighter blade IF the blade was much narrower.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Rhyen Skytracker
06-27-2010, 12:37 PM
A big downside to aerogel is it is very brittle and would probably break when ever the blade would bend during a swing and also break when you impact the blade with something.

Skottsaber
06-27-2010, 12:48 PM
Brighter lasers are on the market, but they are "wicked" expensive,

:mrgreen:
LMAO!

Sunrider
06-27-2010, 12:51 PM
I think Timerender is right. Today's lasers aren't any better than the leds that are available. Filling a blade with aerogel would be super expensive & Difficult.

Besides it being brittle like glass.;)

mick6150
06-27-2010, 12:58 PM
A big downside to aerogel is it is very brittle and would probably break when ever the blade would bend during a swing and also break when you impact the blade with something.

aerogell is only brittle when not made correctly. thats why its call aerogel and not aerobrick! It abosorbs sound, heat, and concussion very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel

just so we're all on the same page. The only real downside is cost! there is a malaysian scientist who has found a way to cut the cost from 300/g to 60/g

mick6150
06-27-2010, 12:59 PM
I think Timerender is right. Today's lasers aren't any better than the leds that are available. Filling a blade with aerogel would be super expensive & Difficult.

Besides it being brittle like glass.;)

Refer to link in next post!

Skottsaber
06-27-2010, 01:00 PM
Just pointing something out here....
I said this to somebody else who wanted to try and make a revolutionary new blade.

Why don't you go and make a prototype, make it work THEN show us.


And PLEASE use the Edit button so as not to double post. It shows courtesy and respect to the forum owners. Thanks ;)

mick6150
06-27-2010, 01:09 PM
I see where the confusion is. I'm talking about using it in its grainular form or beaded. I know it would be wicked expensive. but some of the guys on here are spending Thousands of dollars on authinticity. An maybe an LED setup would work better. I think it would be one of those trial and error deals. But I really do think I might be on to something with using the aerogels as a diffusor. There are stabilizing agents to add strength to the lattice. click on the wikipedia link and look under uses.

Sunrider
06-27-2010, 01:20 PM
Granular aerogel would not diffuse uniformly & light transfer would diminish very quickly. Like when we use crystals for chambers we don't want fissures cause that part of the crystal would not illuminate.

mick6150
06-27-2010, 01:36 PM
OK, Solid aerogels are back on the table! found a video of a piece being dropped from 3 feet. No issues, no shattering, and no deformation! I think it could be a central core for a blade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnen2nSmDY

I'm new to posting so forgive me if i screw up along the way.

Sunrider
06-27-2010, 02:06 PM
Cool video but the only reason it bounced & didn't break is that it weighs nothing. When you see the guy break a piece in half you can see how it would shatter inside a blade on first impact. :confused: 2000 bucks in 2000 nano seconds. :confused:

TimeRender
06-27-2010, 03:03 PM
I know nothing about the durability of aerogel, but there are OTHER reasons it wouldn't work, as I pointed out before. The plain truth is that there is a reason the community has used EL wire, single LEDs with hollow diffused blades, and LED ladders rather than using laser technology. Still, if you were interested in making a narrow blade I would be very interested in seeing your results. Your idea is at very least plausible and worthy of some experimentation.

Rhyen Skytracker
06-27-2010, 06:09 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnen2nSmDY&feature=related

Matt Thorn
06-27-2010, 11:09 PM
Hey, I'm just grateful to mick6150 for bringing aerogel to my attention. I had never heard of it before. Practical for sabers or not, it is way cool. :cool: Every photo I found of the stuff looks like a computer graphic! I'd love to see it in person, close up.

I've seen wackier things suggested in the "New technology discussion" section, and I think that's just what the section should be: a place for people to toss out any kind of idea at all, regardless of practicality. If it's cool and (fairly) new, it's okay with me. ;)

My favorite idea so far is the "three-dimensional images in the air (http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/latest_research/2006/20060210/20060210.html)" technology developed at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (http://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He2QTpelAjE

Of course, the hardware needed to project this is probably the size of a Hummer and requires a few kilowatts of electricity. :p

Skottsaber
06-28-2010, 03:06 AM
single LEDs with hollow diffused blades,

Speed of light through air: 299 704 644.53915 metres per second
(0°C and 1 Atmosphere)

Speed of light through sillica glass (the closest I could come to a firgure for aerogel)
205 618 969.82167354 metres per second

Thats a difference of 94085674.717476457 metres per second.

I'm not saying that it will make a difference, but it does prove that while having a solid blade may give you more diffusion, but its overkill. Because we are only looking at the OUTSIDE of the blade. And the more thats in the blade the more 'stuff' there is to get in the way of light.

TimeRender
06-28-2010, 10:55 AM
What does the speed of light have to do with anything Scott? The reason we need our blades to be hollow is so that nothing interferes with the light until it reaches the end of the blade. It keeps the blades evenly illuminated. The truth is, you CAN have a solid blade as long as the material does not diffuse the light. You would just need to rough up the outside to diffuse the light.

Shadar Al'Niende
06-28-2010, 08:44 PM
just look at the clear cane that Sidd made (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=10985). Proves this concept nicely :cool: