Plastic dye for polyc blades ?

[jamesjeffh]

I had an idea and was wondering if anybody else has tried and failed or just plain knows it cant be done with polycarbonate ? I was thinking ( HOPE is more correct) that if you could dye a blade say blue and have a white led that maybe you could get a little closer to movie blades in terms of a white core or at least a lighter core with a colored or tinted outline outline.

[Vardarac]

From what I've read, polycarbonate has a tendency to resist tinting (which might be why it is expensive to get tinted polyc lenses for one's glasses). I could be wrong, though- that's just what I've heard.

Corbin had an idea earlier, I believe, that involves 2 tubes and a colored semitransparent torus for generating the illusion of a white core. You've basically got this colored disk with a hole in it in front of a white led. The colored light illuminates a larger outer tube, while the plain white light illuminates a smaller inner tube. I don't know how well this works.

[Malaki Skywalker]

It could be possible, perhaps sand blasting the blade may help with the dye.

[Ingchao]

What about colored acrylic inside poly-c?
I saw these but I don't know any of the specs on them.
http://polystyrene-hips-rods.com/pig-pipe.htm

Anybody got any more info?

[Lord Maul]

If those are acrylic they will shatter if you duel. That illustration at the top of the page will give me nightmares for years...

[Ingchao]

If those are acrylic they will shatter if you duel. That illustration at the top of the page will give me nightmares for years...

I meant using the acrylic inside the poly-c as a diffuser.

[Lord Maul]

When you duel the poly C bends. That would mean the diffuser has to bend as well. It'd really be no different than having the acrylic as the entire blade.

[Ingchao]

When you duel the poly C bends. That would mean the diffuser has to bend as well. It'd really be no different than having the acrylic as the entire blade.

I'm guessing that wouldn't be good!

[Novastar]

Maul is absolutely right. This is also essentially why blades with electronics inside (or complicated yet delicate structures) have a systemic failure that will be repeated no matter how many times you fix it.

Granted, you COULD use a colored film or... a diffuser type similar to Tim's... but I really don't know how that would be better than doing the diffusion via a Lee Filter at the very source of a white LED (such as the Seoul P4).

Doing things with Lee filter offers so many more possibilities, whereas with a colored blade, you're essentially defeating the purpose of a "color changer" since... you're stuck with that color!

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Doing things with Lee filter offers so many more possibilities, whereas with a colored blade, you're essentially defeating the purpose of a "color changer" since... you're stuck with that color!

Or, you end up with a closet full of different colored blades taking up space. :P