First EL Blade

[LanceM]

Ok... Got my first EL blade built and finished yesterday. I had a (assumed now) weak 9v battery and in my bright work area, I couldnt even tell if it was one. Got a new 9v battery today and big difference. Not as bright as my MR sabers, but it will work. I want to convert it to 12v I think for some of the issues I will list below. I do have some comments though and want your input on them.

First, the polyethylene tube rattles inside the polycarbonate tube. This is driving me crazy. How do you EL guys deal with this? If you strike anything, it rattles the entire saber.

Second, is there a real difference in the brightness of the 8AAs and the 9v? Logic tells me yes, there should be. I really really want to make this conversion, because...

Third, a 38" blade is WAY to long... Coupled with the rattling, I the balance of the saber is WAY off and very top heavy. I want to do the 8AAs to add a counterweight (and possibly increase the brightness).

Other than those issues, my saber went together perfect, Im very pleased, although I cant wait to get my LED kit in now and compare the brightness levels.

LanceM

"You'll find Im full of surprises"

[Do-Clo]

Good work on your first saber, the change to 12 volts is easy, just get a battery holder that has the button snap on the end and it will just replace the 9 volt battery, I believe Tim has these holders in stock.

Do-Clo
Don't make me destroy you...

[xwingband]

I hope you can understand this because it's kind of complicated and "techy"...

The best way to think of this is relating it to a wave since the way inverters are classified is by a wave designazion (Khz meaning 1000's of cycles per second). The reason a 4Khz inverter is better is because the current applied is ossilating twice a fast as the previous 2Khz Tim offered. A wave going twice as fast has more energy.

Applying more volts to it is like increasing the wave size (amplitude). With the same affect of more energy is going to the EL, making it brighter.[] So that's why logic is correct and 12V (8AAA) > than 9V.

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[Strydur]

As long as EL sales stay at a decent rate I might someday get special made diffusers that wont have room to rattle..but for now its the easiest method to do. Some people use bushings to keep it from rattling.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[Jedi-Loreen]

<font face="Arial"><font color="purple"><font size="3">I just use 1/2" OD diffuser tubing. Sometimes it can be a little hard to insert inside the polycarb tube, but I've always managed.

That's why it's good to be using the rigid poly e tubing, sometimes I have to drive the last foot or so in with my plastic headed mallet. Can't do that with the wimpy flexible stuff. I tried to reuse that kind when redoing some crappily made blades from the now seemingly defunct Knight-Sabers site. They totally stole my original blade construction method and did it really badly and cheaply. [!]

I think the owner of that place probably shut down his site and bailed when he ended up with a lot of unhappy costumers, because of the way that he glued his female connectors with black housings into his sabers with super glue, which caused them to disintegrate. I repaired one like that, but that's a whole different issue.</font id="size3"></font id="purple"></font id="Arial"> [xx(]

In order to see the Light, you must sometimes risk the Dark.

[Strydur]

I use the rigid HDPE but couldnt get the 1/2" to fit in my old tubes. It might work in my new ones since they are a tad larger though.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[james3]

After making like 6 blades in the past week I'm not sure what kind of rattle problem you are having. Making blades with all of Tim's materials in the store makes a nice sturdy blade and other than the very loud smack of two plastic tubes smacking each other in combat I have not had a problem with noise. In order to expirment I got some materials locally and I have one blade that has a slight rattle but again nothing worse than when the blades smack anyway, the other has the more flexable tubing and it is tight in the tube but is just slightly more transparent and doesn't diffuse as smoothly as what you can get in the store. As for juice with that size blade and that much wire I would have to agree with everyone else that 12 or even 18 volts would be the way to go. I am a huge fan of blades in the 36 to 33 inch range so I really have'nt spent much time with anything longer but I would guess the balance would be off, you could also try a weight in the hilt about 1/4 to 1/3 up from the pommel or battery pack when you add that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is stick with Tim's stuff and it'll be alriht[]

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

[ELSABER]

does the "9 volt to 18 volt" adapter really make that much of a difference in the brightness of the blade?? if somebody knows, id appreciate any input[]

[xwingband]

It's noticable, but not as much as the jump from 9V to 12V is.

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[Luke-SkyMarcher]

As for your topheavy problem, I like sticking washers into the spare spaces in the hilt to give it a better balence. I too use 1/2" OD diffuser, and though I have had to sand it on a couple blades, it has worked out quite nicely.

-Luke

You'll find I'm full of suprises. -Luke, ESB, Anakin, AOTC