New Photon Green Blade Testimony

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

With the very exciting news that Tim recently posted about stocking the Photon Green blade (woot!), I thought I'd share my brief encounter with the magical blade and its genius inventor, in case anyone is wondering what all the buzz is about or considering ordering the blade.

Last weekend here in Albuquerque at our annual Mini Maker Fair, I had the privilege of meeting Photonic Bladesmith (as he's known over on FX-Sabers), the creator of the fluorescent green blade, as well as seeing the blade "with my own eyes." And wow! There is absolutely nothing like it. Even while the main LED is off, the blade fluoresces in daylight with a noticeable green glow. And with the main LED fired up? It is blinding. It retains an intensely green hue rather than fading to an off-white like other high power setups I've seen.


ABQ Maker Fair, Phonotic Bladesmith and SparrowHawk.jpg
(Here I am peering at the magic, with Photonic Bladesmith eagerly explaining the setup.
Unfortunately, this is the only photo I got! :/ The Photon Green blade is in the saber 3rd from bottom, and is switched off, showing the fluorescing effect in daylight).

I will note that the specs of the saber Photonic Bladesmith was demoing the blade on were seriously robust, notably the light element running at 30 amps, and generating so much heat that operating the saber required wearing leather gloves (even with a custom behemoth of a heatsink). I should also mention that this blade pictured above is Photonic Bladesmith's original acrylic prototype, and the TCSS Photon Green blade is duel-worthy PolyC. In any case, this fluorescent blade material is truly brilliant for super bright dedicated green blades, and I'm very excited for when I can use one in a build.

If you haven't already, you can check out Photonic Bladesmith's original post on the research and development process and see photos of the finished blade on the FX-Saber forums here: Part 1 (Saber) and Part 2 (Blade) .

I'm super curious to hear what others think of this blade! Thoughts?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Well, as you noted, running anything with 30A and that requires gloves is a bit of an issue.

Regarding the blades themselves, Vader's Vault has been diligently working on furthering these developments and "mass producing" finished blades. I believe we will see stock here is the store before too long, though I don't know how the tips will be handled just yet.

[Noyl Wendor]

I like it. I'm a fan of green blades. So seeing this and now seeing TCSS stocks them I'm really interested in getting my hands on one. Doing a bit of research atm. I posted else where on the forums some of my Q's out loud.
I'm definitely looking into getting a couple.

[snilam]

Just ordered the new blade. I've been curious ever since I read the thread over at FX and thrilled tcss now has them and in polyC to boot! I'll report back but all I've read is great things about the new blade tech. Good thing I already have a rB saber to test with.x

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

Well, as you noted, running anything with 30A and that requires gloves is a bit of an issue.

Regarding the blades themselves, Vader's Vault has been diligently working on furthering these developments and "mass producing" finished blades. I believe we will see stock here is the store before too long, though I don't know how the tips will be handled just yet.

Haha, yep! Definitely a bit of an issue there. I can imagine the runtime is suffering quite a bit as well.

It's great to hear that Vader's Vault and TCSS are doing R&D on this new blade, it seems really promising. The link that Tim shared from Vader's Vault mentioned the possibility of other colors for fluorescent blades...can't wait to see how these might be developed.

I like it. I'm a fan of green blades. So seeing this and now seeing TCSS stocks them I'm really interested in getting my hands on one. Doing a bit of research atm. I posted else where on the forums some of my Q's out loud.
I'm definitely looking into getting a couple.

I agree, I've always been found of the green blade. Regarding one of your questions about the diffusion material, Photonic Bladesmith used the good ol' clear cellophane gift wrap in the prototype, and it seemed to work fantastically.

And as to what to color LED to use...from what I can gather from Photonic's posts, he used a blue LED is in the right frequency to cause "fluorescent wavelength shifting" in the blade, producing an excited green color. So... we would need to use a blue or royal blue LED of the right wavelength frequency with the green blade, I think I'm getting this right...?

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

Just ordered the new blade. I've been curious ever since I read the thread over at FX and thrilled tcss now has them and in polyC to boot! I'll report back but all I've read is great things about the new blade tech. Good thing I already have a rB saber to test with.x

Ah, very interesting! Looking forward for your report, and to hear how it performs with the a rB die (Cree or Rebel?).

[Askew Wai]

I am really excited by these developments. With regards to blue light being turned green, do you get a sense of any blue light leaking through? Is there a teal tinge to the blade?

This could be a feature not a bug considering other flourophores like Texas Red (blue-ish light becoming red-ish glow). Although the level of the excited color in the blade may vary slightly with the level of ambient light.

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

I am really excited by these developments. With regards to blue light being turned green, do you get a sense of any blue light leaking through? Is there a teal tinge to the blade?

This could be a feature not a bug considering other flourophores like Texas Red (blue-ish light becoming red-ish glow). Although the level of the excited color in the blade may vary slightly with the level of ambient light.

As far as I could tell, there was no blue or teal hues from the blue light element visible at all in the blade. The green is very richly and evenly saturated, even compared with a LED string blade setup (see the FX-Sabers posts linked above for some good comparison pics).

And I think you're right about ambient light sources changing the excited blade color ever so slightly, perhaps most noticeably in hard daylight/shadow settings (although I'm speculating at this point!).

[Strydur]

We are working on a solution for matching tips. If you use a clear tip and a blue LED the tips will obviously be blue while the blade is green.. great if you are a Seahawks fan. You can get matching paint that will work like the blade.. Testors part# 9465

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

We are working on a solution for matching tips. If you use a clear tip and a blue LED the tips will obviously be blue while the blade is green.. great if you are a Seahawks fan. You can get matching paint that will work like the blade.. Testors part# 9465

Haha, Seahawks fans would go wild! Maybe that's a new untouched market for sabers. Hmm, that fluorescent Testors paint looks like a good match. Just airbrush on the tip and seal with a clear-coat?