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djobitwan7
01-23-2008, 10:27 AM
I've read most of the threads here and just wondered if anyone has used a BNC connector type to make a quick release? This seemed good to me, but not sure if it would hold a blade good for dueling and such. Any feedback is welcome.

Arm on Fire
01-23-2008, 10:28 AM
What Is A Bnc Connector?

xwingband
01-23-2008, 11:11 AM
BNC is like for coaxial cables... I don't get what you are thinking of using them for. OR you don't understand how an LED blade would work. I can see this for an EL blade but not LED...

Barmic Rin
01-23-2008, 04:04 PM
For the uninitiated....

http://www.wecusurveillance.com/members/897581/uploaded/BNCcon.GIF

I'm wondering the same thing, XW... How would it work with LED? EL, yes. Though i'd prefer a jack/thumb screw set up as that's what 've used in the past..

djobitwan7
01-23-2008, 09:12 PM
I was thinking more on the lines of the locking mechanism of BNC. Don't need the electronics to run through it. More of a custom made one.

Darth_DevilGuy
01-23-2008, 09:49 PM
I'd be worried about compromising the integrity of the blade, the only way's to do it would be to cut the groves out of the polycarb, or to put some kind of clamp on it and have the locking mechanism attached to that.

each method is a problem, if you cut grooves in the blade it'll probably compromise it. If you make a lock that attaches to the blade it can't be as strong as simply using a thumbscrew, because you add extra weak points, making it less duelable.

on top of making it weaker, adding a lock to the bottom will mean that the lock has to get through the emitter and blade holder so it can't be any wider than the blade itself, which is weaker than having the blade mounted in the lock.

the only way I could see it is if the emitter itself was the removable lock, that might work, but it's going pretty far when the MHS system offers an easy and workable system already.

Eandori
01-24-2008, 11:36 AM
There is a very simple answer to this...

A BNC connector exists because of a property of electricity at high frequencies. It's called the SKIN EFFECT. What the skin effect means is that as your signal that your sending over a cable gets faster and faster, the current stops flowing evenly down the wire and starts moving to the outside edge of the cable. Imagine if you painted a cable with thick paint... high frequency signals would be similar to that layer of paint on the outside. Not using the middle of the cable.

The next reason for BNC (sometimes called co-axial or CO-AX) is the issue of Shielding/Cross talk. High frequency wires can interfere with other high frequency wires. THey can induce noise into each other when close to each other. Similarly, they lose more power when they radiate noise like that. The fix is to have your ground wire not only close to the + lead, but have it in the same center axis as the + lead. A co(shared) axis(axial).

That's why your cable TV uses BNC or Co-Axial cables. It's a very high frequency signal. That's why high speed measuring equipment uses BNC connectors, because it's taking readings at high frequencies.

Now... LED's use DC current... Even the one that flicker are so slow that you can SEE the flicker (like what 15 hertz, compared to 2400000 hertz of a high frequency signal?) There is no need for BNC in a saber period. Just use a simple DC connector anywhere in your saber and call it good.

Novastar
01-25-2008, 01:31 AM
I think he meant for the BLADE, Edwin. :)

Although... dude... that is WAY cool to know about the Bayonet Nut Connector (BNC) thing. I always wondered why you were "supposed" to get a better signal on your monitor with those versus... well... a differing connector.

Anyhow... the main reason why a BNC would suck donkey balls for a saber BLADE connection... is... well what's one of the most important things about the LIGHT that shines up into the blade?

Well... being able to Fluckpin SEE it!

DarthFender
01-27-2008, 07:49 AM
I might be wrong, but I think he was ferering to a design LIKE the BNC, but that has not been invented yet. If I were to design a "Quick Release" saber blades, you can damn well believe I would get a pattent before I showed it off to any one. I can't think of a practical design. Anything strong enough will block the light, even if just a little bit. But... I think I see where he is going....

Ghostbat
01-28-2008, 11:23 AM
Hmm... DevilGuy's interpretation, if the entire emmitter is attached to the hilt with a BNC style connection with power wired to the connection on the hilt side and to the LED on the emitter side so you could pop off the entire assembly and switch it out for a new one...

Plus: VERY fast blade switching without undue wear on thread or wire connections. Kind of cool. Blade could be fixed quite firmly if you were to just switch to an empty emmitter for belt hanging.

Minus: A weak point in the hilt when dueling? An expensive part to make when threaded sections can already be had cheaply.

An interesting idea, could work, may or may not be worth the effort.

Darth_DevilGuy
01-28-2008, 12:37 PM
I can see how it could be done in my head, but I don't currently have access to the tools to do it, I would have gone to my uncle's shop, but he now lives about 3-4 hours away from me, in the mountains, where it snows alot, so I'm not going to drive it.

If you had the time, the equipment and the cash it might be worth it, but it's alot of work for that one piece and you'd have to replicate it for every new blade. also you'd have the problem of attaching the blade itself, you'd still have to use a thumbscrew unless you wanted to epoxy it in.

Eandori
01-28-2008, 05:35 PM
It's a neat idea. I like it.

Of course, to change a color you would have to buy a whole new blade mount/Emitter, lense, LED, heatsink, and custom built connector. But that's not super expensive (besides the custom connector).

I'm positive there are ways to do that and still have a sturdy hilt. It's only up to 2 amps that you are ever going to run through the LED on current technology. That's not a huge amount.

Novastar
01-28-2008, 05:48 PM
I'll be honest and say that I don't see much advantage (or speed) in doing this.

Even if you made a new quick-release for a blade... how is a thumbscrew or allen-wrench screw "slower"? And even if it was... so... what... by 2 bloody seconds? Wow. Revolutionary.

If the BNC setup refers to taking off the blade AND the emitter as one unit... well... if you ever want to remove the blade--you'll STILL want a blade screw or two. The advantage might be making a "quick color change" setup. Which might be nice... but still not worth a lot of hype and hoopla.

For quick-disconnect solutions that don't require TOO much work...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DUT9bDUOVdk

You could also do this with simple resistor only sabers if your resistor "followed" the LED when you swapped it out... and you used LEDs that can be powered by the same kind of battery solution. I've done this before...

Ghostbat
01-29-2008, 10:36 AM
I don't see much advantage either, but that doesn't necessarily mean there would be no advantage, or that the "Nifty!" factor wouldn't be worth it to someone :)

Personally I feel that the ease and cheapness of the already existing parts and quick change kits far outweigh any other consideration here, I'm just much more amused by playing "well ok, what if we did this, how would it work, what would the problems be" rather than just saying "Nope."

By examining the hypothetical design ideas, even ones we have no interest in actually implementing, we can seed other ideas and solve problems we don't know we are going to have on projects we haven't conceived of yet.

Novastar
01-29-2008, 03:15 PM
I did not simply say "Nope.", lol

I'd say I'm pretty open to new ideas and also practical on implementing some of them. I also try to provide some good reasons why something might be more trouble than its worth. I think I did--but maybe not. :)

Ghostbat
01-29-2008, 05:30 PM
I have been known to be prone to swings of oversimplification to massive exaggeration :)

Eandori
01-29-2008, 06:12 PM
I thought what he was saying was a quick change setup where you remove the blade, blade emitter, luxeon LED, lens, heatsink, and heatsink screw all together in one twist-and-unlock motion...

So it's not the same as changing a BLADE, it's changing the whole emitter assembly complete with wiring. In my video you can clearly see it takes 1-2 min to change luxeon LED's. I was understanding this to be a 2 second method instead of that whole 1-2 min method.

Seems like it has value in my eyes.

Novastar
01-30-2008, 02:09 AM
Agreed (in some ways), but... I already have made a setup (quite similar to yours, Edwin) which allows a swap out in about 30 seconds.

I did this when I taught two small classes on building a "basic" saber at a budding tech school in the SJ/SF bay area some time ago. Ironically, this was when I had JUST learned a little bit, wasn't really ready to teach things, but the owner was a GREAT guy, encouraged me to go for it, do something simple... so... I figured "why not".

In the process, I had an idea for people to be able to literally "swap" emitters with other classmates, just for the heck of it. This worked out great since two brothers were in the class. :)

Anyhow, it's essentially very close to what you did, Edwin, only it used the "MHS 2 sinktube" connector, where only two screws were needed to swap it out--and since they were "dumb" sabers with no driver, the resistor "followed" the LED, optics, heatsink, and a short quick-disconnect. I also made sure that everyone wired their connectors the same way, so that the "male & female" ends would always match.

True, a BNC would be neat--but for it to be super-effective, the connector lock itself would have to close the + and - leads... at least--in my bizarre thinking. :)

djobitwan7
03-10-2008, 09:56 PM
Well, what I was shooting for was the emitter I have (style 3) would have the same properties as a BNC. When viewed, nothing changes really. The I.D. would have the same 2 little notches and would have the same path cut through, but it would be a bigger custom version. The middle section would just be hollow. Just attach something to the blade, something like those spring thingy's, where you press them both in at the same time to get the path started and they follow until it locks in.

Granted, I know this would be time consuming and a bit expensive to make, but this was just more of a suggestion than what I would do. You guys have all had great ideas and I wished to make a possible known. I don't know a lot about electronics and such, but can still figure out potential ideas.

My way of thinking, was to drill out 2 holes for the springs and they would be inside the blade, instead of something needing to be attached to the OD of the blade, then no wobbling since the blade almost feels secure without the thumbscrew or anything else. Granted, this could be bad for the blade as well, but maybe someday I can experiment with this and try it out. I don't have companies or know anyone to even attempt to make this for me, much less know how to make it myself. If I do, I will let you all know if my blade breaks or what not, LOL. Thanks for all the input thus far about it though.

BlackDOG
03-19-2008, 07:41 PM
To make things even more complicated.....I was thinkning of mounting an LED emmitter inside the blade......backed up by a honkin' big heatsink that would have lots of surface area to xfer the heat by conduction......mounting LEd via thermal tape (Like ERV) and and tunneling th ewirs thru to a plug of sorts.....you could reduce the diameter of the assembly down to the diameter of the blade....say for an Obi Wan ANH :)

The reason I see this a important is that the overall length of the blade secured inside the hilt would spread out the load from the blade impacting something......the red line would be where "break" or "weak point" would be in a typical LED setup (at the optics).........but with this design, the whole thing is further down in the hilt....

Now you could do this same thing and have the LED at the base of the blade, WAAY down inside the hilt, but then the brightest area of the blade is hidden by the hilt.......

Silly idea prolly, just thinking off the wall.......................

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/Birdlaw/Sabers/inside.jpg

PLease make sure your thrown tomatoes are USDA approved.............

BD

Dark Helmet
03-19-2008, 11:38 PM
that idea may be off the wall, but bnc's are very good under stress, just keep in mind that the ground will be on the shielded side which grounds the body of your hilt should it touch anywhere... that would create the need for a major re-design of the blade holder also... i have tons of bnc's packed away from when i did security cameras, but the connector itself is considered antiquated at best. also, mounting the optics in the blade will cause additional problems, consider the size of the lens and holder, you would have to remove a lot of blade material, weakening the joint to the bnc itself... I like the idea, i just think it would be better in an EL blade... but let me know if you need some bnc's, i'll donate some if you need...