Unstable Effects - Translucent glitter paint on inside of blade?

[FenixFire]

In thinking of ways to get an unstable arcing appearance to my son's blade (fit the story behind his character), I was thinking of possibly adding translucent glitter paint to the interior of the blade. In theory the glitter should give random "hot" spots to the light, while the thickness variations of the frosted clear should give random "cool" spots. Has anyone ever tried this? I have had luck using clear and matte finishes on prototypes especially SLA printed prototypes over the years, but don't want to ruin a perfectly good blade if someone has allready tried and failed.

[darth_chasm]

I found out by accident that the saw dust produced from shortening your blade will create hot spots. I absentmindedly shot canned air in the wrong direction

I'll post a pic tonight when I get a chance.

[FenixFire]

I found out by accident that the saw dust produced from shortening your blade will create hot spots. I absentmindedly shot canned air in the wrong direction

I'll post a pic tonight when I get a chance.

Interesting, I have a lot of acrylic chips/dust from fabricating trade show display cases.

BTW, a good way to temporarily kill the static on acrylic is to use unscented fabric softener sheets on the acrylic tubes/sheets. I use Hunter's Specialties brand.

[noslenpar]

Glitter is usually made of reflective opaque material, it reflects light, but light doesn't go through it. Illuminated from behind, as in a blade, I think it would look like dark spots. I like the acrylic chip/dust idea, gotta try that. Post photos if you try it.
One thing I've thought of before but never tried is to wrinkle the cellophane a little bit. Playing around with the direction and amount of wrinkles might create brighter veins.

[darth_chasm]

Just thought of this. Fishing line may have an interesting effect, possibly creating streaks.

[FenixFire]

I did come across a DIY thread in a magazine (either PM or Wired) article from the 90's that detailed using an acrylic rod with 10lb clear monofilament fishing line wrapped tightly around the rod as a diffuser inside the hollow tube of the blade. The article said it gave a bright core look to the "new" hilt projected light source. I wonder if this is where the Corbin film got its origin.

Noslenpar.

Good point on the opaque glitter. I was actually thinking of using an iridescent cellophane glitter (sometimes used for model railroad snow), that way it is semi-translucent and reflective. I did not think of the crincled film though...good idea. I was going to dremen etch the exterior of the blade as well as possibly adding "3D" arcs of acrylic rod using a pulled glass method to form the arcs, and bond them to the blade using acrylic solvent so the light-piping properties remains. Though the later will not be on our initial build of his saber...because of the time required it will wait until we build a more finished version with a CF board.

[CET]

Just thought of this. Fishing line may have an interesting effect, possibly creating streaks.

That's freakin brilliant! Maybe a glue spray on the inside of the blade, shake in short fishing line cuttings (different test weights maybe), let dry and add corbin wrap. I may have to get a blade to run this little experiment!

My unstable blade from Ripper Blades has blade material dust in it as part of the effect.

image.jpg

I was just thinking about Ripper's unstable blade! His stuff is usually made from acrylic instead of PC, but I don't see why it couldn't still work with PC.