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ArcGunner
05-11-2015, 09:37 AM
Hey, long time reader first time posting.

I have been doing my research on the best options for attaining a BRIGHT yellow blade for my first custom lightsaber.

I have a few options before me, but the best option I see is using a multi-led and mixing colors.

My saber is using a resistor, (no buck-puck) and no soundboard.

Most led color mixing sabers I have seen use a board, hence my asking for help.

This saber will be stage combat only, with no sounds. Does it require a board to mix LED colors?

As I said, i am a noob, and this is probably a ****e question, but any help, or directions to threads explaining this better would be GREAT!

Bark
05-11-2015, 11:02 AM
I have no first-hand experience, but a quick Google says that RED and GREEN mixed produces YELLOW. If true, I would think get a R-G-B tri-color LED, like the Red/Green/Royal Blue Cree XP-E2 CopperNova (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/RedGreenRoyal-Blue-Cree-XP-E2-CopperNova-P1016.aspx), and wire the Red and Green dies but not the Royal Blue one.

No muss and no fuss, but again I don't know first-hand either the apparent color of the mix or its brightness. On the other hand, if it doesn't work and you have to explore other options, the tri-color LEDs may still prove useful. It wouldn't be a complete waste.

Yoshi-Taka
05-11-2015, 11:09 AM
I've done yellow a few times via colour mixing. Red and Green dice are the way to do it, it's just a matter of using the right resistors to accomplish the right shade of yellow. I personally resistor the Green more heavily as I've found it drowns out the yellow. If you use a [normally] optimal resistor on the Red and a heavier resistor for the Green (let's say, a 4.7ohm 5w resistor), you'll get a nice shade of yellow with a slight green tinge at the bottom of the blade. This is assuming you wire the dice in parallel, of course.

And yes, you can do this with a buckpuck or a soundboard, or neither. You don't have to use a board or a buckpuck... although higher-end soundboard do make life a little easier if you know how to wire up a colour mixer. But for your first one, just the plain old resistor or buckpuck route will work just fine for you.

ArcGunner
05-11-2015, 11:32 AM
Since you have experience getting different shades of yellow through color mixing and use of resistors, can you tell me what setup would be optimal to achieve a Temple Guard yellow?

http://41.media.tumblr.com/ef126a4902e6346e69875c9b9a3536b6/tumblr_muy06vNWuk1qao1lqo3_500.png

Yoshi-Taka
05-11-2015, 12:45 PM
That I cannot tell you, as I've only done a single shade of yellow before. I can tell you, however, that my resistors were as such.

For the Red die - 2.2ohm, 2w
For the Green die - 4.7ohm, 5w

As I said above, you'll have to play around with resistors to figure out what shade you like the most. But those are what I used for yellow, when using a Tri-Rebel RGB. The Red was running at 700mA, the Green was running at 1000mA. I hope that helps, because that's all the information I have for you.

Star Bird
05-11-2015, 12:53 PM
The Lime rebel is very bright(slightly green) but you could try mixing it with a PC amber.. But I think the Amber Cree Xpe-2 from the store would be pretty close to your picture

Cire Yeldarb
05-11-2015, 03:56 PM
I would personally resistor the Red as normal, and then put a potentiometer on the Green (wired up basically as a variable resistor), such that you can adjust the amount of green you are resisting until you find your optimum shade of Yellow.

Ty_Bomber
05-11-2015, 04:22 PM
Honestly, the yellow always shows too much green for my tastes.

I have personally been very happy with WARM white LEDs. It gives a very natural yellow color, more golden yellow without having that sickly green tinge to it. If you're running a stunt setup its worth a look.

ArcGunner
05-12-2015, 11:36 AM
@Cire Yeldarb

Should I get a potentiometer from radioshack (or the like) or are they available in TCSS?

Silver Serpent
05-12-2015, 11:53 AM
TCSS doesn't carry pots at this time, and RS is going out of business. Your best bet is one of the various online electronics parts suppliers. (I'll leave finding one up to your Google-fu)

ArcGunner
05-12-2015, 11:58 AM
Only reason i MENTION radioshack is because my local one is still up and running for the moment.

ArcGunner
05-12-2015, 01:08 PM
I think I'll be going with your option.

Which resistors would you recommend work best, and for which sides?

Cire Yeldarb
05-12-2015, 03:39 PM
The resistor you choose for the Red die will depend on your battery setup (sorry if you posted it already and I overlooked that detail). You can use FJK's post about Ohm's law to figure out the resistor value or use the calculator in SS's signature.

For the Pot, I can't say exactly what you'll need either. Personally, I popped over to the Fry's Electronics by my work and got a Pot with a range of 0-1k ohms (simply for the reason that all of the other ones they had had even higher maximum resistance values, and for what I was doing, even the 1k maximum was unnecessary). I wired it up in-line with my LED and, starting at 0 ohms, worked the resistance up until I was happy with the color that had been mixed. If you have a volt meter, you can then just measure the resistance of the Pot and replace it with a comparable resistor once you know the ohm value you would need, but that is not necessary.