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Strydur
01-24-2007, 02:31 PM
I still need to take it apart and apply some sort of finish. The Tri-lux setup that ace made fits perfectly inside the basic MHS tubes (not ribbed etc..). All I had to do was make a adapter to lock it in place like the regular MHS setup uses. It uses 8AAA in order to provide enough voltage. The sound is ran off of 4 of the batterys and switchs the LED's on via a relay. This setup is using 3 3watt led's so I am sure k2's would be even nicer.

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/images/temp/trilux1.jpg
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/images/temp/trilux2.jpg
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/images/temp/trilux3.jpg
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/images/temp/trilux4.jpg

xwingband
01-24-2007, 02:56 PM
Hot diggity dang... schweet!

What kind of lighting were the pics taken under?

Is this just a test saber or is it going to someone? The claws are certainly different there.

MasterStoney
01-24-2007, 02:58 PM
SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS!!!

vortextwist
01-24-2007, 02:59 PM
that's what I wanted to do witht he claws, but nobody seemed to get what I was talking about. Darn it Tim. :cry: but now I'm :D

Angelus Lupus
01-24-2007, 03:00 PM
That thing is bright!
(ok, not much for a first post, I admit)

BTW that looks like one of the newly adapted pommels, too

Strydur
01-24-2007, 03:40 PM
The 3 brighter looking pics where taken in my shop with a shop light directly overhead and a window right next to it. The one that looks darker was with the shop lights off but with the window light close by still.

The emitter was a special design I tried out.

xwingband
01-24-2007, 03:48 PM
That's awesome. I can't wait to try one of these out. I'm think of K2 goodness. That RGB setup was sweet though.

supertrogdor
01-24-2007, 03:52 PM
Tim, are you going to carry these Tri-Lux setups sometime soon?
You realize, that we all want to give you more of our money when you do.

Lord Maul
01-24-2007, 03:54 PM
Hot Dang!!! :shock: :shock:
that thing looks so cool 8)
and tim, you have a pm :wink:

supertrogdor
01-24-2007, 04:00 PM
I dont suppose you could post a pic next to an MR for comparative brightness?

Ryma Mara
01-24-2007, 04:04 PM
Diggity damn thats nice.

This on ervs board. soemone put one togeather now, mesa wanna see video!

vortextwist
01-24-2007, 06:06 PM
can erv's board handle 3 leds? or do you run it differently like with the MR's?

xwingband
01-24-2007, 06:17 PM
Nope his board can't. It can only take 9V. That's too low for those LEDs in series.

Corbin's can't handle it either (at least properly)... you'd have to go to a non-saber driver like these: http://www.dotlight.de/shop/index.php/cPath/100_108?osCsid=1d625f5b61ab6049e81f50e44c5e89ee

vortextwist
01-24-2007, 06:24 PM
so your basically going to have to rerout some power if you use an mr board?

xwingband
01-24-2007, 07:12 PM
Yup, like Tim did. He tapped it at the half way point to give the MR a good voltage.

vortextwist
01-24-2007, 07:15 PM
cool, I was wandering would that led mount fit into any of the conversioin kits? Maybe using 3 1 watt leds. Not really to get brighter but maybe a different color. say maybe using 2 blues and a red? Not sure how that would work but it's an idea.

acerocket
01-24-2007, 10:32 PM
Nice.

The blade looks very bright even in the lit (and sunlit) room.

Jedi Ranger
01-24-2007, 11:46 PM
Ohhhhhh.....................yeeeeaaahhhhh!!!

Frakin' awesome!!!

Think these will be available in time for us to build hilts for C4????

Corbin_Das
01-24-2007, 11:47 PM
Well done Tim.
I suspect these things should do well. I'm glad to hear that the outer diameter of the Tri-Lux is a perfect fit for the MHS. I think that should make installing them much easier.
Now I have to decide what type of saber I want to install MINE in. It's been sitting here for a while now. 3 reds. I may try another combo down the road like a couple green cyans and a white, but we'll see.

Corbin Das

Jay-gon Jinn
01-25-2007, 12:32 AM
Wow, that's bright! How do focus the light from the three led's with this set-up? Or did you just not bother with a focusing lens?

Corbin_Das
01-25-2007, 01:09 AM
Hi
There's 3 separate lenses that fit tightly together. The entire unit is 1.25" in diameter, so you can imagine the size of these lenses. They focus the light as well or better than the usual type we use on single LED setups.

Corbin

james3
01-25-2007, 08:19 AM
Ok, you have done and gotten me excited about building sabers again! Very awesome.

xwingband
01-25-2007, 08:49 AM
I'd love to give just the optics a whirl as Ace showed me a comparison pic with the standard collimnator lens vs. the itsy bitsy ones he found. The difference was a bit shocking. The blades really benefit from having the optics less then the ID of the blade.

jjshumpert
01-25-2007, 08:55 AM
i've seen an improvement from a 10 degree to a 5 degree collaminator, enough to switch to the 5... i would love to see ace's compairisons, have them on file xwing?

xwingband
01-25-2007, 09:23 AM
If Ace gives me permission or he can post it himself as he knows the shot I'm talking about.

I haven't noticed a 5-10 degree difference, and most haven't but in the pic it was glaringly obvious that the smaller optics helped.

acerocket
01-25-2007, 09:56 AM
Xwing, if you have the picture go ahead and post it. I am work right now and don't have access to the pictures. Plus, getting ready to head out for a week's vacation this weekend so I doubt I will have time to find it and post it here when I get home.

jjshumpert
01-25-2007, 10:26 AM
granted my eyes are super sensitive, but i set up 2 mr ani rots boards with bin 3 royal blue k2's and new batteries, one 10 degree and one 5 degree lens. shining on the wall my eyes see no corona around a square core of light with the 5 degree lens where there is a corona on the 10 degree. in an mr diffusor type blade both are even but the 10 degree has noticibly more flare at the base of the blade.

xwingband
01-25-2007, 10:31 AM
Yup, I still have the pic from the e-mail.

http://www.incomsabers.com/images/1vs3green.jpg

It's blurry as all heck, but you can see the massive difference the little optics make.

Ace told me it was a retrofitted 3C maglite on the left and a plain old Lux III on the right with the smaller optics. 8) Even with a smaller blade you can see that the smaller optics just blow it away.

jjshumpert
01-25-2007, 11:12 AM
asuming these are running similar led/driver/battery setups, size of the blade not being a factor obviously from the pic... WOW ...

so ace, when you get back home you were planning on sending a few of these too me right? we'll work out all the shipping details after your trip, be safe and have a good time brother! :twisted:

Corbin_Das
01-25-2007, 12:55 PM
Hi all
Yeah, these optics are something else. Small as hell and very little side spill. They have some great potential. I've already got a project or two in mind for them. Be sure that you'll here about it on these forums.
I plan to be spending much more time in these forums shortly. That's not to say you won't see me other places, but I'll likely be spending the bulk of my forum time here.

Corbin

acerocket
01-25-2007, 02:23 PM
A few things.

In the comparison picture, the short bladed saber is my son's - direct drive 3 watt green with a resistor and 4 AAA non-rechargeable batteries. Batteries were brand new only minutes before that picture was taken. The Maglite is your Garden variety off the shelf 3 C powered unit with a green 3 watt emitter in place of the bulb. It too runs direct drive but with only 3.6V, it doesn't use a resistor since it self-regulates. Both blades are Corbin's double wrap blades. The short one being 30" long and the long one at 40". There is 4" of blade inside the saber but there is no blade mount on the maglite so it is entirely exposed. (hey Corbin, does the shroud on the maglite look familiar?) For a bonus of 5 points, who can tell me what I was drinking when I took the pic - maybe that's why it's so blurry.

When I get back from my trip, I will be posting some update info about the Tri-Lux and it's availability. Just need to sort out a few loose ends first. I will try and have on my trip - I am mixing a little fun with business since we are actually headed to Idaho do some house hunting and talk to a few real estate agents in preparation of our upcoming move. I am hoping to get over to Yellowstone and check it out in the winter.

Yes, the optics are real small. It was a great find there that has allowed the Tri-Lux to actually happen.

Tim, what is your opinion on the Tri-Lux unit? Have you noticed any heat related issues in your saber? Do you have any pictures of it compared to single LED sabers? In the dark?

Corbin_Das
01-25-2007, 02:31 PM
Hi Ace.
As a matter of fact, I DO recognize that shroud. :D

For the rest of you, Ace and I have been working together on making another ancient brass saber, only Luxeon powered. It's been a project a year or two in the making. I'm hoping it'll be done soon-ish. :wink:


Corbin

supertrogdor
01-25-2007, 03:26 PM
Where about in Idaho Ace? That is my neck of the woods, and i may be able to give you a heads up if it is in my area. Yellowstone is grand this time of year, if you have a day to kill there the snowmobiel trip to old faithful is a nice ride if you like trail riding. Last time i made the trip we had to pause several times for buffalo and other wildlife to migrate over the trail

Strydur
01-25-2007, 03:36 PM
I will have to come visit or vise versa once you get moved ace.

To be honest I dont think the tri-lux comes close to what you would expect from 3 led's compared to one but it is brighter non the less. I think the largest benefit will be from being able to mix colors etc.. Mine could also be suffering slightly from the space between the LED's and the blade on the MHS holder. Some testing will need to be done for sure. I held it next to a 5w cyan I did the other day and while the blade looked a tad more evenly lit it didnt look shockingly brighter. But the colors wherent the same so that messes with your eyes also. Either way it will be a good option to have.

MasterStoney
01-25-2007, 04:03 PM
you could probably make a sweet lookin purple without having to sacrifice lumens.

acerocket
01-25-2007, 05:42 PM
When I originally designed the tri-lux it was for the rgb setup. Logically it could do double duty as a single color unit too. I know what you mean about it not being as bright as you would expect. I was originally a bit bummed by the performance of the single color but it does make a difference versus a single LED (not three times as bright but noticable). My guess is there is some loss due to the edges of the three optics being covered by the blade itself. I tried to put a taper in the end of one of my blades to see if it would help but I still need to do a bit of sanding and polishing before I put the blade film back in. I need to pick up a thin wall blade and see if makes a difference also. Like you said, the tri-lux will do much better as a color mixing unit. I am going to do one soon that has a red, a royal blue and a regular blue to see if I can get a nice purple color. I might also try one with two greens and a red for some interesting yellow/orange colors.


Supertrogdor, whereabouts in Idaho are you? We are looking to move to the Idaho Falls, Pocatello area (my wife found one house she really likes in Inkom). We haven't really decided yet so if you have any info you want to pass along, feel free to shoot me an email or PM (let's not derail Tim's thread with it).

Tim, it would be great to get together. I haven't met any of the people I have 'spoken' to via the various forums yet. I believe you are in Washington state, right? I will be on the east side of Idaho but maybe we could meet half way or something (I'm told it only takes a few hours to drive across the state - it takes me a few hours to drive 12 miles home on Friday night here in California). I was just thinking about the green vs cyan thing. A 5 watt cyan is like 160 lumens and a green 3 watt is 80. I suppose with some losses due to the partially covered lenses, they would probably be fairly close.

darth ney
01-25-2007, 06:03 PM
can you do a true orange blade? and how much brighter is it than the white K2?

987654321a
01-25-2007, 06:15 PM
that is an amazing saber tim nice job man.

Strydur
01-25-2007, 07:41 PM
You will be about 10 hours from me if you move to inkom.

Jay-gon Jinn
01-26-2007, 10:40 AM
Are these smaller optics going to be available in someone's store, or is there another place where we can get them? They sound like they would work great for someone with limited space in their hilt, like say an EL saber that they're converting to an LED saber and retaining the 3/4 inch blade diameter.

darth ney
01-27-2007, 09:52 PM
Think these will be available in time for us to build hilts for C4???? what is c4?

Corbin_Das
01-27-2007, 09:55 PM
C4 is Celebration 4 in Los Angeles. It's a 4 day Star Wars convention.

http://www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/

darth ney
01-27-2007, 10:06 PM
sweet! :twisted:

DACOTA
01-30-2007, 12:48 PM
Yeah its sweet.Oh my gosh Tim thats the coolest thing ive seen.One question though, could you post pics of the setup of the 3 leds so I can understand fully what its like and how it works?Thanks.
[EDIT]-Nevermind I found a cgi prototype pic somone made, its not the same but it gives you the general idea.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/DACOTA007/ensamble3me2.jpg

xwingband
01-30-2007, 03:24 PM
I remember that but it's not what it actually is. The thread in one of the LED forums has a better picture.

It's three lenses like what we currently use but much smaller. Each emitter has it's own honeycomb to sit in and that also keeps the lens centered.

Lord Maul
01-30-2007, 03:39 PM
here be linky (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1897&start=0) :wink: :D

DACOTA
01-30-2007, 08:42 PM
WoW!Thats sweet,cant wait for it. :P

Ryma Mara
03-18-2007, 03:26 PM
Any updates about the avalibility of the trilux?

Novastar
03-19-2007, 04:37 PM
If I end up getting somewhere with my board design, I've been wanting to take the Lux Triad thing into account...

Now I just hope Corbin & Tim (and Erik??) help give me the info I need in order to support such a thing.

Lord Maul
03-19-2007, 04:40 PM
who's erik novastar?
i look forward to a soundboard from you :D

acerocket
03-19-2007, 05:26 PM
who's erik novastar?
i look forward to a soundboard from you :D

I'm Erik. Hold tight just a little longer for an update about the Tri-Lux.

Ryma Mara
03-19-2007, 07:15 PM
but we cant wait :(

*throws a fit*

lol :P

supertrogdor
05-16-2007, 01:25 PM
A bit of thread revival i know, but do we have any updates on availability of the Tri-Lux?

Novastar
05-17-2007, 07:21 AM
Revival my butt! EVERYONE is probably waiting with baited breath, super-T.

We want to all be burninators with flaming LED flashlights of 3x the death and napalm smack down.

lol!

supertrogdor
05-17-2007, 07:47 AM
In defense of my word choice it had been almost 2 months since we have had a post in this thread. With as much anticipation as we all have on this product i was wondering how much closer we are to being able to manufacture our own bunch of tripple dosed burninating goodness.

Novastar
05-17-2007, 08:15 AM
YES!!! Yes... let us burninate. Scorch the earth--err, I mean Coruscant. :D

Seriously though... let's see:

1. Luxeon Rebel.... hmmm....
2. Quad-Lux, anyone?
3. Still tough on heat output no matter how you slice it...

So no matter what--it's going to be a tough ride. Still--should be worth it, especially if it "fills" the tube up more.

My guess is that everyone is expecting all the LEDs to be maxxed out in the setup. I think that will NOT be the case. It might be best for people to look at where "turning up the volume" on the light output starts to geometrically/drastically increase the heat output... and dial it in *just* below that place.

I could be wrong here, as light output may be in DIRECT relation to heat output... but I don't think I'm wrong when you are trying to "push" more out of an LED. It will get to a point where "more" is really just a tiny bit more light + a THRONG more of heat.

Please Erik (Ace)... step in and slap me around a bit if I'm way off.

I think we'll be seeing something ROUGHLY (read: "roughly", not super accurately) like this though (as a few examples):

LUXEON REBEL (Trifecta):

Red-O @ 2.90 Vf to 700ma (100 lum)
Blue @ 3.15 Vf to 700ma (48 lum)
Green @ 3.15 Vf to 700ma (145 lum)

About 9v... drive with 11 to 14v.. In my thinking, going to be like 300 lumens.

LUXEON III (Trifecta):

Red-O @ 2.90 Vf to 700ma (@90 lum)
Blue @ 3.90 Vf to 700ma (48 lum)
Green @ 3.90 Vf to 700ma (80 lum)

About 11v... drive with 14v... ouch, hot. In my thinking, going to be about 240 lumens.

LUXEON K2 (Trifecta):

Red-O @ 2.90 Vf to 700ma (100 lum)
Blue @ 3.85 Vf to 700ma (@17 lum)
Green @ 3.15 Vf to 700ma (60 lum)

About 10v... drive with 12 to 14v.. In my thinking, going to be like an abysmal 170 lumens (for a Lux Triad setup). :)

I think the best solution will be to find a way to use the Luxeon Rebels.

The Lux IIIs would be good... but not as nice as the Rebels (plus the Rebels are smaller, and could be configured for a thin choke point better)... and the K2s at 700ma would suck. Granted, maybe at 1500ma they'd be good... but that would be some SERIOUS heat coming out x3!!!!!!!! YIKES!!!

Someone with some REAL experience please chim in. Hint, Erik... hint Corbin... hint Erv??? lol

supertrogdor
05-17-2007, 08:22 AM
I also wonder about the advantages of using a BuckPuck, would it be capable of supplying the juice adequately. I could be wrong here, but as i understand them a puck can supply several LEDs with the same amount of mA(350,700,1000) as long as sufficient current is supplied to the puck. Would it be ideal to run a 700 mA puck to your three LEDs? I know DoClo had done quite a bit with pucks perhaps he has some input, or Master Strydur, or Corbin, or Ace... We crave more input.

DACOTA
05-17-2007, 08:24 AM
I think the best solution will be to find a way to use the Luxeon Rebels.


I agree.

Novastar
05-17-2007, 09:21 PM
I also wonder about the advantages of using a BuckPuck, would it be capable of supplying the juice adequately. I could be wrong here, but as i understand them a puck can supply several LEDs with the same amount of mA(350,700,1000) as long as sufficient current is supplied to the puck. Would it be ideal to run a 700 mA puck to your three LEDs? I know DoClo had done quite a bit with pucks perhaps he has some input, or Master Strydur, or Corbin, or Ace... We crave more input. This could certainly work my burninating friend... question is... how many amps can those things shoot out? I think 1A is about the max (each).

I believe you'd need to wire up several buckaroo bonzais to get the "desired" result. Since we'd be looking to pump out >1A easily. More like 2A or more (say 700ma + 700ma + 700mA).

Or 3A if you're a burninating FIEND with a rather GIGANTOR HUMONGOUS heatsink in your pants.

erv
05-18-2007, 10:40 AM
Glad to announce that I THINK I found the solution for a tri lux controller... with sound of course.
I've been thinking about this for more than 2 months, trying to find a clever way to merge crystal focus with a tri lux project.
I actually have the optics and everything to start... except time. The idea is to build a crystal focus extension. SD will handle the behavior of all the 3 LEDs, split in 1 (on CF) + 2 (ext. board).
I hate the need of high voltage to get those running, I'll make something that works out of a 2.4 Ah li-ion battery pack for instance, Luxeon being run in //. If limiting the use to 700 mA, it can be nice. 2/3 brighter than a single K2 in monochrome for instance, and of course, RGB is possible.
More news when I'll have an ext. board made !
Erv'

Marsupial
05-18-2007, 12:21 PM
I can't wait to see the result. Configuration should be tricky - what color you want, what color flicker, what color flash, etc.

Can be fun to play with ^_^

Novastar
05-18-2007, 04:46 PM
Whoa...

That would be SIIIIICCCCKK!!!

:)

Looking fwd to it!

erv
05-18-2007, 10:20 PM
yep, configuration is an issue. Impossible to implement ALL the possibilities, but I think I'll create a second configuration file for the RGB application.
For each color, we can think of
- normal current
- shimmering depth

and for clash :
- current
- random (alteration of the current during clash = subtile color variation)

and this for the 3 colors. For each sound bank. Lots of parameters to configure !

Novastar
05-19-2007, 08:20 PM
Erv, you might want to consider driving an RGB to simply glow WHITE when it gets the flash on clash thing...

Well.. really alternate between its "normal" color setup and white I suppose.

Granted--easier said than done!!!!!

Man, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO stressed about BOP II I can't even tell you. :(