New 10mm 1watt LED with new blade lighting technique.

**Jibra** · 04-13-2011, 01:21 AM

So i just finished my new saber and thought i would share how i made the blade. First off i found these new 10mm LED's that are rated at 400,000 mcd at 40 degree viewing angle which equates to approx 126 lumens. After much investigation i found that the lumen rating system is directly linked to viewing angle which is why you have to use a colminating lens or reflector set up with the higher lumen LEDs. These new LED's eliminate the need for a heat sink, colminating lens /reflector, and can easily be mounted using a chrome 10mm LED holder, are much less expensive, and are more stable without a driver using just a resistor but putting out visibly the same light output as the star or plain emitter higher wattage LED's. Ive made a lot of sabers before and I was really impressed with the output of these LED's and for the ease of use and cost it was great. Secondly I used a 3/4 inch thick walled polyC tube for the blade, which is not the popular choice most people use the 1 inch tubing but i tried doing something different and it worked great. First I used a mirrored end cap but i started off by pollishing both ends of the tubing sanding them till they were clear. Then i added one decent layer of plastic wrap core to the inside of the tubing. Then after it was all assembled I sanded the outside of the tubing with 500 grit sandpaper to create a frosted effect. This method solved a few different common blade lighting problems. One the blade completely lights up so no more light within a tube look and because it is completely lit it has the same lighted area as a 1 inch thick walled tube. Second it gives the same effect as a double wrap core with the central beam just using the outside edge as the diffuser. and polishing both ends of the tubing alows more light transfer through the walls of the tubing which adds brightness but most of all the round tip lights up fully around the mirror in the end cap which gives a much better round blade effect. Most of all using the new LED and smaller blade from a machining stand point allows for more room to make more aggressive cuts and smaller parts. Here's a link to my gallery of photos of the new saber tell me what you think.
www.photobucket.com/realsabers

**Eomund** · 04-13-2011, 09:40 AM

Interesting. Do you have more pics of the saber lit up? A comparison to other more common LED setups would be great. Also, pics of the LED itself and your method of mounting it would be great too.

**FenderBender** · 04-13-2011, 10:04 AM

Hmm....doesn't look nearly as bright as a P4 green, and definitely wouldn't hold a candle to a LEDengin 5 or 10W. The only difference that I see that you did was 'polish' the ends of the blade tube. I'm curious to see if that would actually do anything significant and may try it on my next blade. I don't think I'd waste time on an LED still rated in MCD when higher powered stars are available and super bright. Not to mention the multi-die stars are much more versatile for blade FX etc. Thanks for sharing though.

**Jibra** · 04-13-2011, 10:09 AM

I could always take more photos if you like. As for any comparison to other LED's as far as photos I dont have any it's been like three years since i last machined any sabers (too busy machining motorcycle parts) and don't have any blade pics have tons of pics of sabers i have made over the years but mostly hilt pics! As far as the mounting method ill work on some pics today and add them overnight!

**Jibra** · 04-13-2011, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by FenderBender

Hmm....doesn't look nearly as bright as a P4 green, and definitely wouldn't hold a candle to a LEDengin 5 or 10W. The only difference that I see that you did was 'polish' the ends of the blade tube. I'm curious to see if that would actually do anything significant and may try it on my next blade. I don't think I'd waste time on an LED still rated in MCD when higher powered stars are available and super bright. Not to mention the multi-die stars are much more versatile for blade FX etc. Thanks for sharing though.

Youre correct in that there definitely is brighter LED's out there but none that I have found that are as small, as easily mounted, and do not require a heat sink or optics which drives cost down! Most of all this allows for the most design freedom in hilt design because you dont need a huge open space to mount all of that stuff! Also just to let you know Lumen rating is still not the main LED rating MCD is a way more accurate light output rating in fact to even calculate Lumens you also have to calculate the viewing angle that is why you always see narrow beam LED's rated in MCD's and wide angle led's rated in Lumens. Mostly I just wanted to show a cheaper method that gives you many more hilt options which you can definitely see by the pics that its as bright as some others out there.

**cannibal869** · 04-13-2011, 10:38 AM

Interesting find... I agree with Fender though. For most higher-end builds, I would probably defer to the 10W multi-die LEDs like the LEDEngin or Cree. But for padawan sabers.... now that's a different story.. I may have to look into these as well....

-C