I have been testing some various ways to diffuse blades based on some info I have gleaned from others on these sites and decided to try a combo of a couple different methods.
OK, 1st off, I'm using a stock 1/16 MR blade with a thinwalled Ultra blade tip on top.
I heard that if you sand the outside of the blade, that can be a "poorman's" diffusion, so to speak. I tried that, with less than ideal results. I found that if you sand up and down the blade, it gives a more uniform glow, but if you sand sideways, ala Corbin's film, you get a makeshift blade coring effect.
For this experiment, my blade is using the up and down sanding, but I might try sanding it to see what the coring looks like with my final result.
Once I had sanded the blade evenly with 400 grit sandpaper(I tried 800, but it was too fine and didn't catch the light as well), I tried a makeshift method of diffusion: wax paper. Again, less than ideal. Very large base flare, and it bulbs quite a bit at the top. I didn't even bother with pics for this. Looked pretty cruddy, but at least you couldn't see thru the blade anymore.
Now for my second experiment, I tried a couple ft of Ultra's film, and wow! I can't believe my eyes!
It is perfectly even from base to tip. Extremely bright, and slightly frosty in effect, but still much brighter than any blade diffusion I have seen thus far.
But the most impressive and unbelievable feature I found from this was that you cannot see the wall of the blade. By this, I mean that the "laser beam" starts at the surface of the blade, with no indication whatsoever of the plastic wall that normally "contains" the blade within. It really looks like a beam of light.
I took some pics of all 3 of my blade styles(Corbin quad wrap in thickwall, Ultra's film in thickwall, and my experiment in the MR blade with Ultra's thinwall tip and 2 ft of Ultra's film)
I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
Corbin, day setting, medium flash:
Corbin, night setting, medium flash:
Corbin, night setting, lowest flash:
Ultra, day setting, medium flash
Ultra, night setting, medium flash:
Ultra, night setting, lowest flash:
And here's my experiment, day setting, medium flash:
Mine, Night setting medium flash:
And mine again, night setting, lowest flash:
As you can see, there are no indications of the plastic wall as the light emanates from the surface or the plastic itself. Also, you will notice that it has the LEAST amount of base and tip flair, regardless of the camera setting used.
Now I contructed this blade in less than ideal settings, so there is contamination in the blade and the sanding could be a little more even, but I think this at least proves it is a feasible and do-able concept.
Let me know what you think.
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