the_steve
03-24-2006, 04:53 PM
Hello all, you guys might know me from TFN boards.
Well i am a very impatient person and that trait lead me to find a great looking and cheap method of diffusing an led blade. I never wanted to wait for an internet order to arrive, and my local plastics shop had no nylon, so me and my dad went to home depot with my saber hilt and a small section of 3/4 inch ID 1 inch OD polyC tube to test diffusing properties and sizes. After finding nothing useable, we were just wandering around the shower section and we found an absolute lifesaver. What it is is a thin, plastic, white, shower curtain rod cover for only $2.95 US. I think it is nylon but i am not sure. They are split down the middle so you can adjust the size to fit inside either of the 2 wall thicknesses commonly used by LED saber makers, and they are in 5 foot sections. The split does make a seam, but if you follow this tutorial i wrote up and use 1/8" thick walled tubing, you will get a near perfect cut with either no seam or a very tiny one.
For 1/8 inch thick walls do this for the resizing. Use scissors to cut to appropriate length. Tightly wrap around a piece of 1/2 inch ID steel EMT tubing. This may take two people, depending on how many arms you have.[:o)] Get one person to hold the section of tube you are working on tightly arond the EMT. Make a pencil line against the edge of the diffuser and keep doing that ll the way down using the edge as a straightedge to keep a perfect line going on. Then carefully cut along the line with scissors. If you cut it perfectly you will get no seam. Just make sure when you put it in the polyC that you don't let the edges overlap.
Here are a couple of pictures of my green star/o lighting up the blade in a dark room. This is normal exposure time so the brightness isn't bumped up any by the camera.
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7659/dscf00431lp.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9496/dscf00446yy.jpg
Here is one with a long exposure time.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/7843/uvs0603200019hi.png
Thanks you for reading this long post. Try it out and tell me what you think.
Well i am a very impatient person and that trait lead me to find a great looking and cheap method of diffusing an led blade. I never wanted to wait for an internet order to arrive, and my local plastics shop had no nylon, so me and my dad went to home depot with my saber hilt and a small section of 3/4 inch ID 1 inch OD polyC tube to test diffusing properties and sizes. After finding nothing useable, we were just wandering around the shower section and we found an absolute lifesaver. What it is is a thin, plastic, white, shower curtain rod cover for only $2.95 US. I think it is nylon but i am not sure. They are split down the middle so you can adjust the size to fit inside either of the 2 wall thicknesses commonly used by LED saber makers, and they are in 5 foot sections. The split does make a seam, but if you follow this tutorial i wrote up and use 1/8" thick walled tubing, you will get a near perfect cut with either no seam or a very tiny one.
For 1/8 inch thick walls do this for the resizing. Use scissors to cut to appropriate length. Tightly wrap around a piece of 1/2 inch ID steel EMT tubing. This may take two people, depending on how many arms you have.[:o)] Get one person to hold the section of tube you are working on tightly arond the EMT. Make a pencil line against the edge of the diffuser and keep doing that ll the way down using the edge as a straightedge to keep a perfect line going on. Then carefully cut along the line with scissors. If you cut it perfectly you will get no seam. Just make sure when you put it in the polyC that you don't let the edges overlap.
Here are a couple of pictures of my green star/o lighting up the blade in a dark room. This is normal exposure time so the brightness isn't bumped up any by the camera.
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7659/dscf00431lp.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9496/dscf00446yy.jpg
Here is one with a long exposure time.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/7843/uvs0603200019hi.png
Thanks you for reading this long post. Try it out and tell me what you think.