Building my first Saber, help with parts check?

[Greenie]

Simply put, I want a bright, fully lit blade that doesn't dull in brightness towards the end of the blade.

Have you tried ILM ? They did some great lightsaber work in Star Wars...... Oh wait, that's not real is it?

[Siow]

Anyway... I sought help from a college professor and he said I can make this work with an 1.5 ohm 5w resistor when the LEDs are lined in parallel with a NB soundboard.

[Siow]

I've been told tri-crees/tri-rebels can have a hard time lighting up dueling blades as they have to share space and that I could just use a single white rebel LED with a yellow LEE Filter. He also mentioned that using a single LED might be easier as it's in the center of the blade tube which would better allow it to shine light through. Anyone have thoughts on this or perhaps of photos of a lightsaber like this?

[Miraluka]

Simply put, I want a bright, fully lit blade that doesn't dull in brightness towards the end of the blade.

That is the exact opposite of what you'll get with SF LEDs and ESPECIALLY with SF blades. Here is an example of what I mean...
Pictured on the left is a SF "12W" amber with a Infinity V4 blade. On the right, is a CREE amber XP-E2 with a thin walled, round tipped blade.
Amber CREE.jpg

I did have a SF yellow LED but unfortunately, I don't have photos of it because I pretty much immediately got rid of it. I've owned handful of other SF LEDs and I'm just saying, they will disappoint. I have posted comparisons of a bunch of LEDs in the past where single 3W LEDs greatly outshine SF "12W"s.

I see your avatar has a yellow blade. Did you accomplish that with LEDs from TCCS? If so, can you tell me how?

That is actually just an amber LED. Amber is a funny color on camera, it can look like a pale, golden color or a very deep orange, depending on camera and lighting.
I don't know what exact shade you're looking for, but amber may fit your needs. Best I can say is next to a yellow blade, amber looks orange. Next to an orange blade, it looks yellow.

But without another color next to it, I would call it closer to yellow than orange.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I've been told tri-crees/tri-rebels can have a hard time lighting up dueling blades as they have to share space and that I could just use a single white rebel LED with a yellow LEE Filter. He also mentioned that using a single LED might be easier as it's in the center of the blade tube which would better allow it to shine light through. Anyone have thoughts on this or perhaps of photos of a lightsaber like this?

it sounds to me like you are listening to someone who doesn't necessarily know what they are talking about. We would be using or selling LED solutions if we weren't positive that the LEDs and the optics worked properly. That's why you see many of the top notch Sabersmiths use Tri-Crees, and "others" try to dazzle you with things that sound super powerful like "12W LED".

[Siow]

it sounds to me like you are listening to someone who doesn't necessarily know what they are talking about. We would be using or selling LED solutions if we weren't positive that the LEDs and the optics worked properly. That's why you see many of the top notch Sabersmiths use Tri-Crees, and "others" try to dazzle you with things that sound super powerful like "12W LED".

I get it, you and this site don't like SF. Personal biases aside, they've been really nice in giving me an idea on how to build my saber along with HHCLS. But I'm listening to everyone who can and has help because I want multiple opinions on the subject before I take on a project such as this. This guy I asked recently has built Makoto style string led sabers and this is what he suggested to get the most bang for my buck. I'm just seeking second and less snarky opinions.

[Siow]

That is the exact opposite of what you'll get with SF LEDs and ESPECIALLY with SF blades. Here is an example of what I mean...
Pictured on the left is a SF "12W" amber with a Infinity V4 blade. On the right, is a CREE amber XP-E2 with a thin walled, round tipped blade.
Amber CREE.jpg

I did have a SF yellow LED but unfortunately, I don't have photos of it because I pretty much immediately got rid of it. I've owned handful of other SF LEDs and I'm just saying, they will disappoint. I have posted comparisons of a bunch of LEDs in the past where single 3W LEDs greatly outshine SF "12W"s.



That is actually just an amber LED. Amber is a funny color on camera, it can look like a pale, golden color or a very deep orange, depending on camera and lighting.
I don't know what exact shade you're looking for, but amber may fit your needs. Best I can say is next to a yellow blade, amber looks orange. Next to an orange blade, it looks yellow.

But without another color next to it, I would call it closer to yellow than orange.

Hmmm... those photos really help. I don't think I'll be going with SF after all. I want a yellow blade but I've seen some really nice amber ones. If I ever make a second saber, I'm probably gonna make it Amber x3

I just wish that level of brightness could be achieved on a thick walled blade through normal LED a setup. But so far, I've been looking more into the HHCLS style set up where you get an LED string, wrap it in foam packing sheets then placed into a TCSS diffusion tube and thick tube.

[Siow]

The other guy I've been talking to says that I'm better off using a standard LED set up if I'm going to use my lightsaber for dueling purposes for the general versatility. It would be easier to replace the blades and he also mentioned how it's easy to get yellow with a white LED and a yellow filter as yellow allows a lot more light to come through than if I were to use other colors.

[Siow]

So with a NBv2, a white/white/white Tri-Cree LED with Yellow LEE filters, 18650 3.7v 2400mA battery and 28mm speaker will seem like the most reasonable setup. Only thing is I'm not sure what resistors are needed for a tri cree let alone how to wire one up.

[Siow]

Ok, I'm rather fond of the amber color so I might go with that and use a trans green blade to get a more yellow blade for cosplay purposes. I'll have a link of a photo that Zarrok1138 submitted on another post. http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...1&d=1443823085

It's just that the resistors are the most intimidating/confusing part of using cree LEDs -_-