Hybrid Blade Experiment

[Novastar]

This is probably a dumb idea, but what about taking a Lee filter or something and cutting a ring out of it? So there's a spot of white light in the center and a ring of color around it?...I doubt it would actually give you the coring effect but it could be something to try, and it's not too difficult to do (just cut a hole in a Lee filter!)

That's not all that dumb... I tried that back in the BOP I days (although with the TCSS plastic "coin" filters) to attempt a purple-ish blade from a white Lux III (2005/2006) and Corbin film.

It didn't work very well, but it certainly produced a better result than I expected. I imagine it would be better with a Lee filter, although your effect probably wouldn't last but maybe 5" down the blade before the angle of reflection really started to mess it up.

Now... I wonder if the OPTICS themselves were colored in a really unique fashion... THAT might be interested. Albeit pretty impossible at present.

[Dandura]

why not just filter a high powered white LED in a dual tube blade, and make a very small hole in the center of the filter. It works well enough for some people. If the hole doesn't let in enough light make it a little bigger and so on. Trial and error my friend.

[TimeRender]

I posted an idea a while back that most people seemed to ignore at the time.

Using a white LED and a colored filter with a hole cut out in a dual tube setup might produce a lighter core, but it will still be tinted by the color of the filter. The reason is that white light is composed of red blue and green wavelengths. If you combine white light (1 part each of R G and B wavelengths) and for example red light (3 parts R wavelength) the result will be pink (4 parts R, 1 part each G and B).

The way to get a white core is to use a dual tube setup and filter the inner tube with the opposite color of the outer one, so that when the two colors combine it will produce white. For example, if you want a red blade you could try a red filter for the outer tube, cut a hole for the inner tube and filter that with a cyan filter (1 part R from the red filter, 1 part each G and B from the cyan). If you wanted a yellow blade, try filtering the inner tube with a blue filter (1 part each R and G from the yellow filter, 1 part B from the blue).

This might seem counter intuitive, especially to people who may have played with filters as a kid. After all, when you stack a red, green, and blue filter on top of each other you will be lucky to see any light pass through it at all. Just remember that we are NOT stacking the filters, we are simply breaking the white light into its components and then allowing them to recombine where they overlap.

Edit: The main reason the idea I posted hasn't worked yet is the angle of the collimator. It makes the colors blend in a very uneven way. Perhaps as new blade building techniques and lighting technologies are developed, this idea will become practical again. What is needed is an optic that will spread the light from the LED out over the entire 1 inch diameter, but then shine it in a perfectly straight beam. Unfortunately, this is not likely. I can't think of many applications for something like this outside of our community.

[DarthFender]

that was constructive..............

That wasn't. It was just a comment made about a comment made in answer to another post. Really. Yours is actually less constructive than Hasid's.

I think mine is even less constructive that yours, so I'll stop now.

[psab keel]

Hey Timerender,

Perhaps using an Elliptical Optic would make some difference with your experiment?

[TimeRender]

No, all you have to do is think about what an elliptical optic does and you would realize that this won't help at all. I need a tighter beam angle, not a different shape. Elliptical optics have no use in saber building.

[Shadeslinger]

Eh, a double wrap of Corbin film with a few feet of poly-p is all the coring effect I need. *shrug*

[Novastar]

Exactly. There comes a time when labor, logistics, materials, experimentation and all that jazz... can simply add up to TOO much considering what will or will not be gained.

I used to be "all about" some type of rubber/nylon tips... so that they were spongey and less prone to flying off, etc. etc. I would bug Tim about them, etc. etc.

But you know what? Although it *IS* a meritable idea... it's WAAAAAY too costly for something as banal as tips. Especially when just a little clear packing tape (or clear heatshrink) will keep the tips in place.

Finally--there is the market concern. What *I* use my sabers for and what most people use them for = COMPLETELY different. So... when considering some regal/complex setup for a blade... you have to think:

* Is this WORTH all the trouble, $$$, labor, materials, precision???

I mean really. A much better light-diffused blade COULD actually be made. It would probably improve the perceived brightness by 20 to 40%... but you know what? To make a blade of this sort... would be EXTREMELY COSTLY. Way too much to warrant it! All custom-machined, requiring rare and obscure tools, weird labor & time to put in, ending with a costly result.

Who would want to pay (let's say) $100 for a "super-diffused" blade? I sure wouldn't. Not unless it magically tripled the perceived brightness (which it couldn't). And even then... how many of those are you going to buy? One. MAYBE.

//end rant, lol

[gundamaniac]

Hehe, this reminds me of computers. You know, how people used to say, "Oh, noone is EVER going to need a processor with clock speeds in the ghz range!" or things like "Psh, we'll never need more than, say, 16mb of RAM!"

That said, I agree with Nova's rant about the widespread use of experimental lightsaber technologies (...i sound like the king of deluded nerds right now..."experimental lightsaber technologies!!!!!" haha).

But...(and there's always a but)...technology does change, so...who knows what may happpen? And experimental lightsabers are always fun to see and mess around with.

I don't think that the hybrid flashlight-Luxeon/LED-string blade is really going to work, because the LED string will physically block most of the light from the Luxeon from going up into the blade. It's an interesting concept..but maybe if the LED wasn't a bulb but rather a light ring that you could put around the string at the base. Even then, the diffusion would be uneven because the fact of the matter is that Luxeon-style blades are always a little uneven (cellophane/Ultra/Erv style blades really have helped cut out most of the unevenness...but some people can tell it's still there), and if you're using a LED-string as the core (which will have relatively even brightness throughout the blde) and a Lux at the base...the Lux will be brighter at the base and in the middle of the blade, where the Lux is weaker, the LED-string will dominate. So it's a somewhat interesting idea, but I think it's got alot of flaws that need to be ironed out.

That said...anyone else trying any interesting new blade stuff? =P

[Novastar]

It's not really comparable to computers and the "no one will ever need X or Y" as it is a cost to ROI ratio.

Not to mention, when all is said and done: these are JUST toys--nothing more. They don't really solve any serious issues/problems... unless we count live saber battles! Then it solves a lot. I guess I ought to know.