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Has anyone tried using a blacklight led in a saber yet?
I was looking around the "Superbright LED" website and they have some interesting products-leds built into a bolt. 5mm & 10mm sizes.
Since I'm a rank newbie to the lightsaber world, please don't take offense if I have unwittingly typed something stupid.
Do-Clo just mentioned once using neon colored tubes and uv lights so it's not an out there idea. You'd be confined to those neon colors to make the most use of it though. In addition to those LED's being small you'd have make an MR style blade which would be a major pain but possible. The 1 watt I see on their site would probably be more worthwhile to investigate if you like the idea.
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Well, the idea I had was this...10mm blacklight led built into a bolt, adapt it to the heat sink in the mhs kit by drilling the center hole and tapping it to accept the led bolt. problem is, it's set up for 12v. I don't know if 12v. rechargeable power packs are available that are small enough to fit in the mhs hilt.
"Don't call me scruffy-looking"
i have some 10 mm in several colors and it would take maybe 5 to get the brightness of 1 3w lux.
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/3213/sig35jo.jpg
I put the uv leds in the hilt and not in the blade, if you use 3/4 inch diameter 1/8 inch wall tubing you can get an even light with just four 5 mm uv leds. You will need a mirrored surface on your end cap to even out the light on the end of the blade but it looks good and you will not need a heat sink with the 5 mm leds because I run them at 25 miliamps with a constant current circuit that I built for leds.
Do-Clo
Don't make me destroy you...
Thanx for the input- I'll probably try a blacklight saber for a later project, but I'm definitely NOT scrapping that idea. I really appreciate how helpful everyone is on this forum. Tax time is just a couple of weeks away for us, and I'm planning to build one of the mhs sabers-gotta have something to duel my sons with-lol. Seriously, I saw A New Hope when it premiered in 1977 and was hopelessly hooked on Star Wars- now my sons, who are 9 & 11 both like all 6 of the movies, and I see this as something we have in common that could keep us reasonably close through the teen years. So, when they get tired of their Wal-Mart sabers and want something a bit more like what they see on the movies, I might just be able to help them out, so I'm gonna keep up with this forum,and may drop in from time to time with a stupid question or two. Thanks, again.
Remember Blacklights are VERY BAD FOR YOUR EYES. DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THEM.
Daj,
Nightwing's right. Blacklights are very bad for your eyes. In fact, I bet most of the sabers aren't too great on your eyes, except maybe the red. But the idea does rock. I've had an idea of a saber for a character I've created who's a sith lord from Hoth. He carries a saber that's actually blue, but has a much darker glow to it than traditional blue sabers. I've already realized that even if I could pull off the look I want, the saber still would be pretty hard on the eyes. Especially in the dark. I still say it would look awesome. You might just want to wear some clear sunglasses when you use it. Rock on! [8D][:D]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Nightwing
Remember Blacklights are VERY BAD FOR YOUR EYES. DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THEM.
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Ok..just wondering..why are blacklights bad for your eyes?
It kinda goes into the same category as why cheap sunglasses with out uv protection are bad for your eyes. My professor explained it to me very simply. Your pupils don't seem to dillate or constrict in response to ultraviolet wavelengths of light, alone. Ironically, ultraviolet light is the most damaging component of white light (which is a mixture of wavelengths). So when you are looking at a colored light or through a filter (sunglasses), that blocks almost all of the wavelengths, except the ultraviolet band, your eyes are tricked into dialating because they think "it must be dark outside" so "everything's ok." All the while the ultra violet light has a heyday with your eyes, doing much more damage than it normally would because it has a large opening to go through. That's why you'd be better off wearing no sunglasses than cheap ones. Even though almost all sunglasses have UV protection now days, many just have a coating that's sprayed on that comes off after you wipe your glasses a few times. I still buy the cheap ones, I just don't really clean them, because I don't want the coating to come off. I guess the idea protection from UV is a lightly colored lense with UV protection. I know that's probably more than you wanted to hear.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by StrangeWings
Ok..just wondering..why are blacklights bad for your eyes?
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