Blade plan, 2 tubes + Cellophane/Poly

[TroyO]

Here's what I'm currently planning for my blade to use with a 10 Watt greenie from LedEngin.....

I have a thin wall 1 inch outer tube.
I also have a smaller thick walled 3/4 tube.
A tip from clear resin that fits inside the 3/4 tube then steps up to fit inside the 1 inch tube.

My current plan is to sand the inside of the 1" tube, and both the inside and outside of the 3/4 inch tube. Then I read about the cellophane with the Corbin film... which I presume would also work with what I'm doing.

First... are two tubes really neccesary? Will it help any? I could always just use the single tube.

My current thought is to sand the inside of the outer tube, fill it with Cello then install the inner tube, sanded inside and out.... then maybe toss some cellophane inside the 3/4 tube? Overkill? Maybe even entirely fill (or almost) the gap between tubes with cello?

It's kind of new territory with the 10 watt LED, but since I'm using a couple buckpucks to drive it there won't be any extension/retraction anyway. General thoughts of more experienced folks.... more lumens means more diffusion needed?

[Luke-SkyMarcher]

That sounds like it would be pretty heavy... and an unbalanced saber isn't much fun. (unless you're going to offset the weight of the blade by filling the pommel with lead)

As for sanding the inside and outside, I've tried it, and personally I think it adds to the look. I'm assuming you're trying to get a "core" effect. I did a thickwall 3/4" blade, sandblasted the inside, sanded the outside, then put in Corbin film followed by cellophane. It really turned out nice, very even, gave it the "core" look, and kept it from looking like a "light in a tube."

I'm sure doing the same thing to a 1" thickwall blade would get similiar results... 3/4" is just my personal preference.

Hope this helps you.

-Luke

[BhujangiJedi]

How do you sandblast the inside of the blade? What kind of blasting setup do you have?

I sandblasted the outside, and the improvement was fantastic. It's a bummer how fragile it is, though - any dings on the sanded blade are much more noticeable than on unsanded.

[Hasid Lafre]

well after dueling or wackingit around it will smooth the blade back out. you could take a dowel rod or something with a bit of stiff foam on it then glue or whatever some sand paper to it then shove it in the blade, stick it in the chuck of a drill and just spin the crap out of it.

[xl97]

I bought a sand/mdeia blaster for about $40 from Harbor Freight tools..

I also use it to 'etch/blast' chrome/metal pieces to add etching effects to certain pieces..

[TroyO]

Yeah, I'm starting to think it would be too heavy. (2 Tubes were just how blades were done last time I made a saber a couple of years ago... LOL.)

The film seems a lot easier, and lighter in the end.

Yes, I would like some coring effect, but when I placed my TCSS order I didn't think to add in the film, and being the impatient &*^$^&$ I am, I don't want to wait. ;-)

Sanding the inside (I use a metal rod with a sticky 6" sanding disc folded over it. About 60-80 grit, spun with a drill) would be kind of like the Corbin film, wouldn't it?

Not that it really matters huge anyway.... the buckpucks are just on/off. (Although I plan to try it with a large capacitor on the battery power side, post switch and see if it ramps up/down then).

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I've been sanding the insides of my blades for a few months now, and it does produce an effect similar to Corbin's film. You'll get a coring effect depending on what grit paper you use, and it also allows the blade to be lit to the edges when viewed from an angle...making the blade look more like a solid energy beam, rather that a light in a tube. Clean the tube well before inserting the polypropolyne/cellophane to reduce the bright specks that dirt will cause, and you'll have a very bright and evenly lit blade.

[TroyO]

Awesome, sounds like a plan. I know about the cleaning, same issue with using 2 tubes. Any speck sticks out like a sore thumb.

I blow it out, the go through with a shop rag soaked in solvent (I think it was denatured alchohol?) and poke the rag through a couple times with the sanding stick.

I'm getting excited to see what 10 Watts/500 Lumens of green look like! ;-P

[Sethski]

Jay-Gon - from what you said, do you find you get a better effect with polyP/cellophane and the inside sanded than with the 2 films (polyP and Corbin's) in an unsanded blade? Or would you say it's equivalent brightness and evenness, but with the bonus of appearing lit to the edges?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Yeah, the brightness and eveness is about the same, but the kicker is the appearance of being lit to the edge of the tube. You also lose the seam where the Corbin film overlaps itself as well.

[TroyO]

OK, slightly modified plan... I'll let everyone know if it works, LOL.
(From outside to inside)
I'm going to use a sanded tube.
2 layers of Green cellophane
about 4 feet of clear cellophane.

The idea (Hope) is that the green will show when the blade isn't lit, but not signifigantly reduce the overall brightness when it is lit.

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

Jay, I'm having trouble picturing the effect. Do you have any pictures?

Do you sand the outside as well, or just the inside? If the outside is glossy, how does it look lit to the edges?

I sanded the outside of a blade, and I like the effect. It kind of "fuzzies" the blade, and gives a kind of core effect. I'd be curious to see what your blades look like.

I'll take some pictures of my blade and post them for comparison.

TroyO, I tried the green cellophane in my blade and it dimmed it a lot. Your results may vary depending on what kind of film you use. Let us know how it works.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I can try to get a couple of pictures, but it's not the easiest thing to do to get them to look like they do in person...too many settings on the camera, and I'm no pro photographer...but I'll see what I can do.

And no, I don't bother with sanding the outside of the tube...it's more work than I like to do!

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Okay, I took a shots this morning and I think I got 'em as good as I can get:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0548.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0540.jpg

You can barely see the sanding marks, but they're there. I think I used a well-used 220 grit paper on this one. Here it is lit:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0542.jpg

From straight on, you can still see the cellophane in the tube, but if you just start to angle the blade away from you, it looks like this:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0541.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0546.jpg
The blade lights up all the way to outside edge of the tube.

The outside of the blade isn't sanded, so it's still shiny:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0545.jpg

The other plus to this is the blade tip loses that "mushroom" look as well:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0544.jpg

Just a couple more pics:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0545.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0543.jpg

The downside to this is it takes some practice to get the sanding done evenly. Just take your time with it. Slowly work the tube back and forth down the length of your sanding attachment for your drill, keeping the blade from spinning in your hand. The first blade I did looks terrible when it's not lit, but not too bad when the saber is on. Some of these blades I did also aren't what I'd call show blades, but they photograph well on the sabers I built for use in the photobooth we do with the Great Lakes Garrison of the 501st Legion.

[Eandori]

Ok, so you attach a long rod to a drill, put some padded roll with sandpaper on the end, and use that to sand the inside of a blade? That's how it's done?

I should try that. I like the look of sanded, but hate how it gets scuffed up as you duel with it. Seems that sanding the inside would really be the trick.

[Hasid Lafre]

Sanding inside the blade will eliminate the blade wall look?

[Ghostbat]

Sanding inside the blade will eliminate the blade wall look?

I think you will still get that unless you sand the outside wall as well

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Ok, so you attach a long rod to a drill, put some padded roll with sandpaper on the end, and use that to sand the inside of a blade? That's how it's done?

Yes. I use a variable speed cordless drill to do it.


And depending on the viewing anlge you're looking at, the blade wall will also light up, just like in this pic:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o141/Jay-gon_Jinn/000_0546.jpg
Aside from the white spot at the tip, that's exactly what these look like in person.