Hi everyone,

I am in the process of building some katana-hilted sabers for a stage show, and would like you folks to double-check my parts list to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

The blade length is slated to be around 90 cm (36" or so), cellophane diffused, 1.5mm polycarb, and powered by a single 3 watt LED putting out around 80-100 lumens through a 5-10-15 degree collimating lens (I ordered various ones to see which worked better). Based on what I've read here, 100 lumens isn't very much, so I hope the marginally smaller blade length will help the little 3 watt LED.

For the electronics, due to my time frame, I will probably not have time to order any actual drivers, so I am planning on direct-driving these from a 2AA or 3AA pack with an appropriate resistor. I am not an electrician, but a friend of mine helped determine that:

1. For the "warm" LED's (orange and red), I will need 2.4 volts from an input voltage of 3v (2AA), meaning a 1 Ohm, 1 watt resistor.
2. For the "cool" LED's (green and blue), I will need 3.6 volts from an input voltage of 4.5v (3AA), meaning a 1.5 Ohm, 1 watt resistor.

Is there anything here that looks out of place or potentially problem-causing? I've been reading this forum the past week or so and have gleaned a lot of info from it, but it's still stressful taking the plunge and actually building something yourself.

Oh, and one more question - what's a decent alternative to the pre-made blade tips people use? Could I get someone to machine me some tips out of acrylic?