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View Full Version : New Video: Making an evenly lit luxeon lightsaber blade



Eandori
02-20-2008, 01:46 AM
Hey there Saber Smiths,

I just figured instead of showing pictures or talking about making an evenly lit blade I would take a bit of time to make a video and compare 2 blades side by side.

- A blade without Polypropolene (cellophane)
- A blade with Polypropolene (cellophane)

Both setups were using a thin walled lightsaber tube. Both used a 5 degree lens. Both had mirror tips. Both were cut to a 32" viewable blade. Both had a layer of TCSS film that was first inserted.

Here is the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyJVyRDm0Y4

Thoughts? Comments?

Hasid Lafre
02-20-2008, 02:14 AM
It was pritty cool, but creapy when you said now where here in the dark. lol

TorLinWaDur
02-20-2008, 03:50 AM
Wow, thanks for the video :) very informative

Treadingwolf
02-20-2008, 04:48 AM
Awsome. I have been thinking about trying that, now i'll stop thinking and just do it! lol

Eandori
02-20-2008, 10:30 AM
Glad you guys like it so far. Nothing fancy, just a quick video showing the method. :)

Big props go out to Erv' Plecter for creating this method and being cool enough to give away all his secrets freely.

Hey Tim, have you considered selling rolls of Polypropolene on the website? I would also reccomend selling a 42" thin lightweight tube of some type that saber smiths could roll their film onto then insert it into their sabers.

DACOTA
02-20-2008, 10:30 AM
Oh man, I didnt even watch the vid but here is a pic just to show you how effective cellophane is. Its a mr maul fx saber with a k2 but its only as bright as a lux lll. Pic 1 is with no cellophane, pic 2 is with one full wrap, and pic 3 is with two full wraps. Notice how the tip gets brighter while the blade at the emitter gets dimmer. The light is being evenly spread out.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/DACOTA007/Bladecompare.png

Eandori
02-20-2008, 10:39 AM
Great pictures. Yeah exactly.

Every time I see a saber video or comparison and somebody is talking about how bright the saber is... I always sigh a bit when I see a flaring hilt because so much light is lost that way.

Hey, if you go for the flaring hilt then great. But I truely believe if you want the brightest and most evenly lit luxeon out there it's Polypropolene + an outer "finishing" film. TCSS and Erv film both work great.

Another quick side note... Erv's film and TCSS film both seem to be the same stuff. But what I notice is that Erv' cuts the film so the "lines" are along the blade. Tim cuts the film so the "lines" are around the blade like little white ribs.

Logan Cade9
02-21-2008, 08:48 AM
Hey Guys, great site you have here.

I’ve been lurking for a while and have been experimenting at home with some of the info I’ve gathered and I’m a little confused on this whole single and double wrap thing.

When you are referring to a single wrap of Poly P, are you referring to just enough material to cover the inner diameter of the blade and a double wrap would be 2 layers?

If so, I’ve also read where some people are using 3-6 feet of Poly P wrapped on a dowel and inserted in the blade. In my estimation, that would literally be “dozens” of wraps.

What are the opinions and theories behind these different applications?


Thanks

Jay-gon Jinn
02-21-2008, 10:02 AM
A single wrap of polyp really wouldn't do much in my opinion. I usually use 4-6 feet of it myself. And yes, that means it wraps sveral times around the inside diameter of the blade. The only blade film that you would want to use a single or double wrap of is the Corbin film, or the TCSS standard diffuser.

Logan Cade9
02-21-2008, 11:46 AM
Thanks Jay…..I gotta agree with you.

What made me question it was Dacota’s post showing the white blades. It was there that he mentions a single and double wrap of cellophane. Maybe that is all that’s necessary when using it in conjunction with the Corbin material?

Hasid Lafre
02-21-2008, 12:39 PM
I cant wait to find out what tcss style diffuser tim is gonna come up with for the thinwalled blades.

Eandori
02-21-2008, 02:43 PM
I tried just cellophane, that didn't work well. The light at the end of the saber was too bright. Nothing was along the blade to "grab" the light as it went up.

I tried TCSS wrap and 1-2 layers of cellophane. That also didn't work as well. It was hardly different then just TCSS wrap.

I tried a THICK section of cellophane, that didn't work. It clogged up the middle of the saber too much, it was too heavy and made the inner layers crinkle more, and didn't add any more evenness.

I tried 2' wide of cellophane (making many layers in the saber). Seemed great for evenness but the blade remained a bit transparent. Again though, for bright and evenness it's great at 2' wide.

3' wide seems to be the optimal I think.

Eandori
02-21-2008, 02:45 PM
I cant wait to find out what tcss style diffuser tim is gonna come up with for the thinwalled blades
???

I'm using thin-walled blades in my sabers and I'm using TCSS film and cellophane right now (including that video). So... I don't understand your comment.

Hasid Lafre
02-21-2008, 03:01 PM
A TCSS style diffuser not the corbin film which is the "TCSS film" that you talk about.

With my thickwalled blade with a tcss diffuser and about 2.5 foot of cellophane I got an awsome evenness effect and it lit up brighter than any exparament with cellophane/cobin film combo.

xwingband
02-21-2008, 03:19 PM
A TCSS style diffuser not the corbin film which is the "TCSS film" that you talk about.

With my thickwalled blade with a tcss diffuser and about 2.5 foot of cellophane I got an awsome evenness effect and it lit up brighter than any exparament with cellophane/cobin film combo.

Which is essentially what I'm doing with nylon. I still use Corbin's film though, because in my experience alone wasn't half as good as with.

killphil
02-21-2008, 08:32 PM
The best recipe I've found so far is a quad wrap of corbin film(the film that Eandori calls TCSS film) and aprox 40" of poly P. This gives the single most solid blade look. If you want a little more of the Corbin effect(i.e., a subtle coring effect) use only a double of corbin and the same amount of Poly P.

How you apply the reflective material to the tip greatly affects the performance of your blade as well. Use to much, and the tip will flare noticeable. You should only apply so much that it encompasses the inner diameter of the tip. Let there be a little"no mylar" border. If you don't want to mess with this, Ultra sells the best pre-mirrored tips of all the ones I've sampled.

One more thing I thought I'd mention. For those of you who want a poor mans blade thats extremely even(still more even than an Ultra blade IMO), simply reuse a stock MR blade(without the foam or LEDs, of course) but leave the plastic diffusion in. Then roll up about a yards worth of poly P and stuff that down. You do not have to replace the tip or do anything to it, though the tip will light up no better than a stock MR, it will not have any flaring or bulbing.

And if all else fails, just buy a blade from X-Wing. Easily the brightest and most even of all the blades I have ever witnessed first hand.

Novastar
02-21-2008, 09:40 PM
Another thing that will almost NATURALLY create an evenly lit blade... is USAGE of the blade, heheh... :)

I think some of the main reason why the Flange III sabers look so nice... is simply the fact that the blades are SOOOOO beat to high hell. I mean no joke, I did some calculations recently regarding a staged combat battle... on average:

* about 250 "hits" occurring on the sabers per run-through
* about 2-5 run-throughs during a day
* about 1 rehearsal per week, plus a little bit from some classes I teach
= 500 to 1250 hits per week... not including the classes, so...
= let's say 1000 per week
* 1000 x 4 weeks per month

= about 4000 hits per month on each of the Flange III sabers.
If THAT doesn't "diffuse" your blade... nothing will. :)

TheCheeker
02-22-2008, 12:00 AM
for mine i used between 6' and 7' inside corbin's film. it worked VERY well. the difference can be seen here:

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/3710/gallery8kb1.jpg
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1751/gallery5zu1.jpg

Eandori
02-22-2008, 02:57 PM
= about 4000 hits per month on each of the Flange III sabers.
Ummm... WOW. Your arms must be tired! THAT is what I would call an extensive durability test.

TheCheeker, nice pictures. Yeah the bottom one looks more even and if the exposure was the same on both shots then it looks like your bottom of blade was still as bright as the flaring blade before. Your middle section and tip just go a lot brighter. 6' to 7'?!? Yowza, that's a lot.

Sounds like I got confused on Corbin's film calling it TCSS film. Sorry Corbin. I should have said "the blade film sold at TCSS." Not TCSS film.

Hasid Lafre
02-22-2008, 04:08 PM
Ultra uses about 8 foot in his blades but thats just that film alone. Dosent look to bad with the thinwalled blades but the thickwalled blades look funky.

DACOTA
02-22-2008, 06:38 PM
So you had the cellophane cut to 3 feet wide? Wow, thats alot of poly-p. I'll have to try that becuase I only cut my poly-p to the same width as a double wrap of corbin film, 5''. That was a very informative video too. Oh and for those who dont know, I noticed that the poly-p takes away the core light stream that the corbin film produces, so if you want a thin walled blade with corbin film but not the light core, just put in some poly-p.