Acrylic vs polycarbonate

[Darth Cruor]

In terms of cost, which is better? I only ask because I could not find any polycarbonate tubing locally, which means I would have to get it shipped in.

And durability-wise, how well does it score on a scale of 10? And I assume, by wrapping polypropylene around the inside and attaching a reflective sticker to the tip, the light would be effectively spread out?

Cheers.

[Novastar]

As for the first...

Acrylic is to polycarbonate... as glass is to diamond.

As for the second...

Yup, a good kind of diffusion film will catch the light, and a little reflection at the tip wouldn't hurt either. There are many ways to diffuse the light--some you can even "mix together"--but one of the best styles for the most EVEN lighting setup is probably the "Ultra/Gelukhan" style diffuser, which is essentially many many rolls of gift wrap in the tube (it's no secret as far as I know).

However, it is a big pain in the butt to do the blades correctly, which is why paying the pros to do it right is a good idea.

Tim's filter is pretty darn cool, because it is pretty darn good with the diffusion, AND it is simple to install/remove. WAAAAY simpler than doing a Gelu/Ultra style wrap... but--there you have it. Give & take.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

I have a couple of coloured Acrylic blades for my Randomsaber "Cronx" and they are beautiful in sunlight but STRICTLY for 'show' NOT for 'go'...those who have tried to 'go' with them have found that even solid acrylic will shatter - not bend, not break, SHATTER like glass, as Novastar said, in hard dueling...they make beautiful DAYLIGHT DISPLAY blades but for dueling use either carbon fibre as in EpIII or more commonly when a 'light up' blade is desired, polycarbonate - which is the difference between glass and 'bulletproof glass' which polycarbonate under its earlier TM name Lexan/Lexguard actually was and is used for as well as NASA space helmet visors....polycarbonate is vastly safer, stronger, and more durable than acrylic for saber use and in the long run will save money too over the first time an acrylic blade shatters on you.

Acrylic for SHOW - Polycarbonate for GO.