First String Blade Build Log

[CET]

The legs themselves break, at the second bend, when they go from horizontal to vertical. I've made at least a half dozen repairs.

Yesterday I encased the entire string in heat shrink. I should get the 1/32" wrap I ordered early next week. Hopefully all goes well on the next attempt.

[Sincenatic]

I understand. In two cases I broke a leg of a LED when I pressed them to fix the joint, i.e. before soldering. I used 3/32” packaging foam and I initially included too much and tried quite hard to press it into the tube. Eventually I had to cut away some foam. In one case I had to take the LED string out of the blade and then I also broke one of the legs on one LED. Apart from these case I have not had any problem. My guess now is that the LEDs could be of different quality.
I have also ordered much thinner packaging foam. My problem is that the edge of the foam is visible. I hope it will work better for you with the 1/32” foam.

[Tyrant]

Are you using clear packing tape and rolling it once with that really tight? That should mostly hide the edge, then the additional nylon diffusion tube should definitely hide the rest

[Sincenatic]

I used 3/32” packaging foam and I pressed it as tight as possible and I was rolling it once. On the edge I used a transparent tape to fix the foam, which I also pressed as tight as possible. I sanded the transparent polycarbonate tube, but the edge is still visible.

I thought about buying a thin walled trans-white polycarbonate tube from TCSS ($10.25), but shipping to Spain is ($44.25). Also, any order above €22 has fixed cost (for importing) of about €19 AND VAT of 21% is added (to the price, including shipping cost). That gives a final cost of about $85!

I hope that using thinner packaging foam would be enough to solve the problem. I have not considered a nylon tube, and I might try that if my first option fails. Btw, searching “nylon tube” in Google gave … ahh…quite a lot of sites that I was not looking for….

[Tyrant]

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/40...ades-P449.aspx
Is what I was referring to

How wide was your clear packaging tape?

[Sincenatic]

Thanks for the clarification on the diffuser that you referred to. The tape is almost 2” wide. I found an old discussion on diffuser in this forum and a suggestion was “Plastizote foam tubing” which is used for “handle build ups”. I have made a search and it seems to be a promising alternative too, but without trying, it is difficult to know if too much light is diffused away. The forum member suggesting this, had made some test, but not yet (at that time) on the complete LED-string. If the thinner packaging foam gives unsatisfactory results I will try this option too. In that case I will make close-up photos and start another discussion on that topic. I should clarify that the edge is visible to the eye, but on a descent camera I will have go <15” to be able to capture the effect.

[CET]

Finished! Using the 1/32" packing foam was the trick. Got it wrapped and stuffed.

I'm loving the evenness of the blade. This isn't the final destination saber (thus the dark spots at the top and bottom), but I just stuffed it in this one to see how it looks and works. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that it's not any brighter than just having a tri-cree. I'm using 20mA LEDs, so I'm wondering if I should find some with higher amperage. Still, I'm pretty happy with this first go.

[CET]

Btw, searching “nylon tube” in Google gave … ahh…quite a lot of sites that I was not looking for….

[CET]

After 2 hour long dueling sessions, the blade is still lighting up perfectly!

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Finished! Using the 1/32" packing foam was the trick. Got it wrapped and stuffed.

I'm loving the evenness of the blade. This isn't the final destination saber (thus the dark spots at the top and bottom), but I just stuffed it in this one to see how it looks and works. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that it's not any brighter than just having a tri-cree.

We tried to tell you....