Getting a blade tip to light up fully?

[CGompertz09]

So I recently got a blade in the mail for my hilt (Ultrasaber's standard midgrade with bullet tip) and I've been messing with it to try and get the tip to light up. Out of the box, the tip did not light up at all, which I expected, so i looked up and followed this small tutorial http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=21282.0 to try and get it. I did the last method he talks about, cutting down the reflective disk a lot, but the attached pic shows what I'm still left with. Keep in mind the blade here is being lit up by only a Mini-Maglight.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/viperboygts14/IMG_0243.jpg
<a href="http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/viperboygts14/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0243.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w124/viperboygts14/IMG_0243.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Any ideas of something else to try?

[FenderBender]

Remove disc, replace with two layers of mylar film (anti static bags work great). Done.

[CGompertz09]

I'll give it a shot. I'm assuming that's how you set up your blades? Cuz all videos and pics I've seen of yours look perfect! haha

Edit: And I'm assuming this stuff is reflective yet transparent?

[directorcass]

Yes, they are the little plastic bags that a lot of small electronics come in. They look like see thru sliver pouchs. Go to RadioShack, Walmart, Meijer, etc. Ask the person in the electronics department if they have any they are throwing away (from another customer purchase) and you should be able to get some for free.

[Knighthammer]

Remove disc, replace with two layers of mylar film (anti static bags work great). Done.

Ok time for brain dead (or lack of coffee) question.
So your saying remove the reflective disc on the tip and putting 2 layers of mylar file in its place? How do you attach it in place? Silicon or ?
Like I said - brain dead question...

[CGompertz09]

I'm starting to wonder if maybe the tip itself has something wrong with. I took it back off, removed the reflective disk, cleaned off all glue, then held it against the flash light just by itself and the damn thing STILL didn't lit up all the way. Seeing as US kinda messed my order for the blade anyways, it wouldn't surprise me too much if that is the problem. Might just make my own blade with TCSS stuff and keep this one as a spare... or, hey FenderBender, does Vader's Vault sell their 'dual diffused blades" individually? haha

[directorcass]

The tip will never light up like a blade beacuse it is solid, not hollow like the blade. The blade has diffuser in it to bring the light to the edge. The tip does not have anything inside to diffuse the light to the edge. Sanding the tip does not help much because your diffusing past the light source on the "outside". The possible sollution would be to have tips 3D printed in the translucent white material.

[CGompertz09]

Just an idea that came to me from seeing that the cellophane within a blade looks chrome-ish. Would cutting and layering a few disks made from cellophane wrap work as a reflective disk for the blade tip and still let light through?

[FenderBender]

I dunno what your problem could be. Whenever I do a shine through tip, it lights up. All the way. The only exception to this is the white tips. I don't even think the flash from a nuke could light those up.

[Gucabe]

I think we need to have a hollow tip similar to what the MR or hasbro tips are, if the tip is hollow we could sand the interior or coat it with reflective paint or film and it could have a better looking tip.

i'm going to try and mill an extra bullet tip i have to see if works. To be honest i always cut off the tip in the pictures, i hate how it looks so different to the blade.

[Boj-Vaati Mau]

I would think that would work well for a display blade but maybe not for dueling/choreo. Couldn't hurt to try it anyway...maybe the solvent cement could hold it in dueling...

[Gucabe]

Just got the bullet tip back from the machinist, i'll give it a try this afternoon. Basically he just drilled a hole deep enough not to reach the tip and he left about .100" wall on the sides, so it still goes in the tube and attaches normally, but now has a hole in the middle about .625 diameter and conical towards the tip. Pics to follow this afternoon.

[Gucabe]

wow wow wow wow... have i got some pics to show...

This bullet tip now has a new meaning for me... I have a poliC blade (unsanded) with celophane or giftwrap inside and here are the pics

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/95b92c4f.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/de6a51f9.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/6dee1676.jpg

As you can see the tip is now fully lit... it looks as bright as the bottom of the blade... and on the third pic you can see the policarb tube and how it transitions to the tip....

Now i tried it with a white policarb whitout celophane and was i impressed.... it looks just like a beam of light... at least on the picts it does...
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/fdad8bb4.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/47d14631.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/e9df512c.jpg

So quite honestly??im going to drill all the tips from now on...

[Gucabe]

sorry for the messy hair... i just got out of the shower...

here are some pics of the drilled bullet tip.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/5b347847.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/201f5769.jpg

You can see how deep it went.
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/9f03ed6c.jpg

[Gucabe]

OK ok one more trial before i call it quits for today... So i dont like the white poliC blades so i sanded the transparent one. Plus i added the reflective film (anti static bags) two layers on the tip to reduce the amount of light and reflect some back... I totally love it now... its a great compromise... in person looks a lot better... and for the first time (at least to me) it looks like a complete blade from emitter to tip...

Unlit
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/c75e9d59.jpg
Blue P4
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/4e7d1103.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/03ee3fc2.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/cb0fc710.jpg
Deep Red Ledengin 10W
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/ed2918bc.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp35/gucabe/926dec23.jpg


Off to bed now.

[infa008]

I've been brainstorming on how to get a perfect tip for a while now but unfortunately i have been way too buisy in the past 2 years to get close to sabersmithing again. My first instinct was to ball nose out the tips and mylar it. Just the same as drilling but it is a ball nose endmill to match the contour of a round nose. Since you are talking about and are a fan of bullet tip, I can also custom grind a drill bit to follow the bullet tip contour precisely also. I can grind a bit down like that in a few minutes flat. You are the first person I've seen hollow one out though and it is great to see the final product and success of what I have been thinking about for a while. Another theory I had was to make a heated die mold to fit an existing pollycarb blade into and either friction melt the end into a hemisphere or just use heat. friction could be done on a lathe with just rpms but I would have to experiment with speeds and lubrication as to not burn the polly and just get it hot enough to take shape and weld itself shut. Maybe if I can free up soon I will try. If anyone else has tried this let me know what your setbacks could have been.

[Gucabe]

Yeah if you can follow the contour of the tip that would give best results, however your idea of modifying the tube itself would be awesome because that will effectively give you a one piece deal. I've been watching a lot of lightsaber scenes and there is definitively some taper intended...I guess that because of what they used as a base (dowel pins or aluminum rods) for the duels they had to cover it all with light, but now in the digital era, they added the pointy tips to the lightsabers. Heck even the concept and first pics had the light sabers ending on a pointy tip...

Last change i did that i did not post was that i sanded the bullet tip to match the poli-C tube, this makes the tip look more soft and the transition from the tube to the tip is less visible... I will be doing more experiments in the near future but for now im very happy on how it turned out. I wont crop my pictures again LOL

[Gucabe]

Now that i think about it, anyone here from TCSS team that can source bullet and round tips hollowed? Thanks.

[CGompertz09]

Wow, looks pretty good. For mine I took FenderBender's tip (no pun intended) on using the anti-static bag for a reflective disk. It worked pretty well, the very tip is brighter than the rest of it, but the whole thing lights up now and looks a lot better than it did before

[Gucabe]

Previously I had done the same, however i can tell you this makes it light up a lot more... ideally the ring that will fit inside the tube could be not much thicker than the gift wrap's inner diameter so that it could not attract much more light than the end of the tube... if it follows the contour of the tip that could also make the lighting more even...

for now im very happy whit how it looks... no more rounded tips for me.

[infa008]

i agree your bullet tip is pretty clean, best tip light up I've seen.

[DarkarNights]

Looks awesome, I wonder if Tim would consider adding drilled out tips to the shop?

[Crystal Chambers]

I'm not crazy about bullet tips but it lit up great. Let's just say they often look kinda bulbous.

The EASIEST way I found but obviously not the best since I haven't messed around with them too much....is to use the mirror for 3/4" blades in a 1" blade. It looks ok depending on the saber and lighting conditions. Some of my pics came out perfect.