~~ LED Sabers... the Past, Present... and Future...

[Novastar]

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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
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Hi all... Novastar here.

A new goal I have is to help get a general "timeline" of how things progressed with LED sabers. At present, since it's 3/28/2009... I am only going off what I've been told, heard, verified, witnessed for myself, or have been fully part of... but it isn't yet CONCLUSIVE.

Over time--we'll make it more "exact" and get the facts as best as they can be... in order to preserve a little LED saber history!

ENJOY!

--Novastar

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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
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MRFX EL saber (store-bought only / mfc by large company)
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"DIY" EL Sabers... (first forum?? first "fan base" that discussed? first few photos of DIY projects with them??? etc.)
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LED tech is growing at an alarming rate--somewhere in the 90's. Sure, it still sucks... but... it has OODLES of promise, and it's the future in lighting.

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Agilent Technologies and Philips Lighting partner up to form "Lumileds". The entire focus and objective is LED technology. It becomes a giant success, and tons of other companies worldwide compete with them... "duke-ing it out" to be top banana in the "I wanna be your miniature lighting solution" world...

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LEDs actually show promise for the saber market. As retarded as they are right now. They are still quite inferior to EL, there isn't a good implementation method, and the results are ineffective and fail to wow... ...

...but they show PROMISE!!

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. 2000?
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. 2001??
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(from Madcow)
Spring/summer 2001 - Flashlights, ABS pipe and golf tube
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabe...h%20sabers.JPG


Pipp-Master & Psab Keel... probably one of the first to invent and to "press the issue" with LED sabers... even when the technology for LEDs was very "pathetic" (for saber needs)

Psab Keel... Came up with an idea to use a technique of wrapping fishing line/wire into the inner core of a blade tube in order to get a "central core" effect. Later, Corbin, Psab and Pipp notice the "extension/retraction" look when the batteries are low on this kind of setup...

Loreen... as near as I can tell, she was one of the "most solid" people to go to regarding EL sabers. I think she was the first to put up an ORGANIZED tutorial on going about making one. So at that point, making an EL blade ceased to be a "just... like... do whatever" kind of thing. Suddenly, there was a manual of sorts??!?

Corbin & Psab Keel ... after much ado with the fishing line coring and the idea of "ramping" the current to the LED in a fashion to give the illusion of a saber "extending & retracting", Corbin decides to pursue modification of an existing type of LED driver to suit the saber DIY community's needs. Shortly after, this also led somewhat to Corbin finding his "corbin film" (sort of by accident!) which was basically a waxy film used in very large printers. This printer film made the fishing line method obsolete because using film was much easier logistically...

Spring 2004
Madcow's first machined sabers with LED technology - still golf tubes:
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabers/blue%20LED.JPG


Spring/Summer 2004
What Madcow thinks is still the first real crystal chassis:
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabe...saber%205b.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabe...0saber%207.JPG

June 4th 2005 -- Tim buys "TheCustomSaberShop" domain

Corbin & Tim (TCSS)... Corbin interests Tim in the "LED saber" idea by trading him some LED parts for a EL blade (August 2005). Tim was curious, and had sold solely EL materials for sabers up to that point (since LED sabers were "nobodies" at the time). Shortly after Tim saw how they worked--he started to work toward fashioning parts that would utilize + simplify the LED tech...

TCSS... September 2005, Tim makes the EL and LED sink tube adapters in a much larger scale... it's the first time he runs them as a bulk CNC-machined batch!

LEDs improved... we saw Lux I go to Lux III and Lux V fairly quickly!

Now...

Where the bloody 'ell Lux "II" and Lux "IV" went... uh... I'll never know. They are an ODD bunch, those Luxeon/Lumileds freaks.

(Ok, sure, then later we have "K2". Fine. Now we're even. Weasels...)

Ultra... somewhere in here, Ultra (Alex) shows some cool respect for Lori and "branches off" the EL topic @ TF.N, creating the "LED Blade Q&As" thread. This becomes a pretty widely accessed topic for saber makers.

GeluKhann... somewhere in here, he starts using the poly-propylene (gift wrap-ish) setup for a blade. The man!!!! A big success. Didn't catch on "big-time" until later on when Ultra implemented it on a much grander scale. Good stuff!

Corbin v1... somewhere in here, Corbin has a driver modified to work as a cool saber driver! This becomes known as the "Corbin driver", and although it initially starts as 350mA for Lux I... soon after we have the 1000mA output for Lux III. Momentary only at first, and later... latching as well...

FX conversions are being made (somewhere in here)... but there isn't a "standard" at present...

ULTRA... This is a big one--Alex founds Ultrasabers, somewhere in 2005.

Hyperdyne... is in here somewhere. I think he was announcing his stuff around the time I was coming into the scene. I could be wrong. But... it was SOMEwhere around then.

Novastar... I entered the picture around here somewhere (Dec 2005). Not that I actually contributed anything in the beginning... Seriously. I knew zilch. I was coming b/c I wanted to make BOP I work, and I was actually researching for costumes if you can believe it.

October 25th 2005 TCSS forums where started

December 2005 MHS system debuted

Nova & Corbin... I stumbled upon the LED Q&A thread @ TF.N, and... long story made short, I sent an e-mail to Alex, Corbin and Tim--all three of whom at the time were the "Luxeon Trinity", as everyone joked. My e-mail was requesting a bunch of sabers be fashioned for BOP I. 12 of 'em I think.

In the end, Corbin took the job, and so we worked on it together. I learned a THRONG, and bothered Corbin about electronics even more I suppose!! I challenged Corbin to come up with interesting and new designs for sabers (generally looking for choke points and *extreme* durability), and at the same time, I started to try my hand at doing a little wiring.

By the time Balance of Power EP I (June 2006) had drawn to a close... which was around September 2006 or so....

Luxeon K2s show up... I remember this, since my own saber for BOP I had an "emitter only" k2, since at the time... no one had them on stars. Sadly, the FX board was underpowering it, although I didn't know this at the time...

FX Conversions are starting to REALLY "get covered" by in-depth tutorials... complete with photos and better, REALLY useful guides. It's not just a "do whatever" thing anymore.

Ultra... I could be wrong, but I think Ultra is making his tutorial CDs at this point, and these are starting to go out with his DIY saber conversion kits...

Judge... I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know EXACTLY when Jon Judge (Jonitus) started coming on-scene!!! I think I just have too small of a brain, and can't keep up on things very well... forgive me!

Yoda... I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know EXACTLY when Yoda started coming on-scene with his Graflex chassis! I know he bought FX-Sabers from... SOMEone... but I don't remember exactly when or how. Maybe it's b/c I met him well after being involved from 2006 to early '07.

Erv... well, gee--most of you know him now, but... he really started entering the picture around late 2006. As far as I know...

Now... to add a bit more... although I'm DEFINITELY forgetting many people, I'm certain of it...

* Todd Clay joins Ultra's team somewhere in here, around 2007
* Ultra creates STEVE v1...
* Somewhere in here, Alex is having to fight for his rights on Ebay b/c people are stealing his photos (DarthVaderUSA and the like)
* Erv creates several iterations of CF... v1, v1.2, v2, v2.1, etc.
* Novastar starts working a bit with Erv, making the soundfonts...
* TCSS & Corbin join forces to work together...
* All during this time, there are a small handful of people making DIY sabers and selling on ebay and other places (all of varying qualities)
* Somewhere in here BOP II takes place...
* Celebration IV happens... and many of us got to meet face-to-face
* Acerocket is in here somewhere too, dang it!! I can't remember everyone though!! My historical accuracy sucks, I know...
* A lot more is happening with internet videos... my videos are starting to see a lot of traffic--in a relative sense. Small community?!?!? Wow, it's growing...
* People are popping up all OVER the place, and getting a LOT of attention for making PRODUCTS/sabers... people like Madcow (Rob)... Do-Clo (Don)... X-Wing (Michael)... and just a ton of others that I'll never get straight.

Other stuff to get straight: (GAWD, there is just *BONKLOADS* of stuff to cover... I'll NEVER get it right!!!!)

* X-Wing exploring Nylon blades more seriously than other "more casual" usages of them
* PEX kind of comes into things at one point???
* Corbin and TCSS part ways, going back to working individually
* Edwin (Eandori) and Matthew (Nova) are screwing around making comparison vids with some H-blades that were sent to Novastar from someone who said he was going to throw them away otherwise (true story). Edwin delves much more into detail and scientific process vs. Nova's "quick & crude" method
* Edwin (Eandori) and Matthew (Nova) are tossing around ideas regarding a "flash on clash" concept--one that is not "new" per se as an ~IDEA~--but definitely new to get from paper to product or even proof-of-concept
* Edwin (Eandori) makes the first proof-of-concept "flash on clash" (later called clashflash idea... I think by using 3 K2 emitter LEDs, since Luxeon Rebels were NOT yet invented at this point
* Erv is taking the consideration from Nova and Eandori that some kind of firmware support on Crystal Focus would make the clash-flash project REALLY soar, and really stand out. So Erv does so for (I think???) CFv2.63 batches. Definitely it's there for v3, and MOST definitely for later versions of v4.x & forward.
* Gundamaniac (Brian Lai) has the awesome concept of using reed switches (magnets) to control a saber's on switch. I think this is a fun innovation that belongs in here, not only because it DOES work... but it works in a way that can help prevent a saber from being turned off accidentally... AND from being turned on by others!
* Corbin's v2 board... I don't know the details, but it can handle much more input, and some new shimmering effects

* Somewhere in here is the first "official" Sabersmith gathering. One that I decided to call "SaberSmith Sabbatical #1", as it basically was born from Erv visiting me at my home + meeting Yoda (Michael Murphy) and Edwin (Eandori)... ... and grew into a full-on gathering as we realized more people in the direct area wanted to meet Erv... and even some smiths/saber dudes from out-of-the-area!! Judge (Jon Judge) even came from Iowa, and so did Alex Buckner (Ultra) from Arizona!!!

* Makotosai of course!
* US v2, duh...
* CF v4, droid core, blaster core, etc.
* Ultra's custom-extruded white poly-c
* SaberSound board is created in here somewhere... it comes and goes in a short time... Ultra's board is also no longer in production. The designer, Jessie (Nova Conceptions) is NOT to be confused with Novastar (Matthew)!! Jessie designed both the Ultrasound and the Sabersound boards... which may have caused some internal issues/contention overall.
* September 21, 2009 -- VadersVault goes live--at least the WEB site. I don't recall about the fact of building sabers and/or y-tube videos?!? Needs to be updated. Uh... along with everything ELSE on this bloody monstrous post...

* LEDEngin RGB LEDs are becoming prevalent, and used in sabers more...
* Clashflash (flash upon clash) is really starting to take-off a bit more... more saber designers are popping up all the time, and more are making videos to show such things as Rebel 3-ups with clash-flash... even LEDEngin RGB setups
* Luxeon discontinues the Luxeon III, K2 and V series. Unknown at this point if Rebels are to stay as the "new" wave/series for them or what.

And now, here we are today. Not simply "DIY" anymore, but... beginning to push into the "it's too complicated to grasp it all... just start where you start, and too bad for the history on it!!" ... zone.

It seems clear to me that if we don't start doing something like this *NOW*... it will be lost forever. At least... the details of who initiated what, and where it's all come from. Though I imagine it won't be important to many people when years like 2015 and 2020 roll around. That's ok though!

*WHEW* We'll clean this up later. Others can and will add to this... and THANKS to those who have already!

[DJMoonbass]

Wow nova star. That's so inspiring. I have alot of respect for the history of this now and all those who's hearts where set so much into this. I feel like I really want to contribute something. Someday I might. I'm studying machining and mechanical engineering. I might come up with something some day. I have an idea of glass show blades that will carry and reflect the light better. Im studying glass blowing this year as well. LOL. This is amazing novastar and makes me proud to have become a member of this comunity and to have learned from people like you. I won't let you guys down.

[cardcollector]

That looks so cool!!!

Is there a reason you didn't include when people started making there own blade on the computer?

Ryan VS Dorkman was pretty big!

[Corbin_Das]

Pretty cool thread.

I think Erv' was trying to compile something like this a while back. I had sent him a rather lengthy email detailing what I could remember. I don't think it got past his spam filters though.

The person whose name you couldn't remember is Psab Keel. He's the one that came up with the fishing line concept to get the central core. He and Pipp were among the first to develop Luxeon based sabers (besides my pathetic MagLite conversion that I never did anything with). We noticed that with his style blade, when the batteries got low, the blade looked shorter, because of the core effect. We played around with potentiometers to try and get an extension/retraction look, with limited success.

That's what eventually led me to develop the first Luxeon saber specific driver board that automatically ramped the brightness level up when you turned it on and back down when you turned it off. There's a few more designs out there now (with sound), but mine was the first spefically geared for saber use. Different features were added over time, like flicker effect, clash (or manually operated blaster deflection) and lockup.

I didn't sell Tim his first LED saber. I got him his first Luxeon LED. If I remember right, I had just been made moderator on a prop forum board and Ultra had recently discovered the Luxeons and he really liked them. I suspect it was more to do with his manner of speech than his actual intent, but a few of the people that had, up to that point, been using EL took exception to his words. Not anything too serious, just more of a "Hey, I happen to like EL. Stop bashing it." sort of thing.

I emailed Alex (Ultra) and Tim and smoothed it out. In the process, I arranged to get Tim a Luxeon with optics. Not sure on the details anymore (if it was 1 Luxeon or several), but I think I traded with him for something. An EL blade?

Anyway, Tim saw the potential for the technology and developed some adapters that mounted the Luxeon onto a heatsink, attached it to a blade socket and had the whole thing fit inside a 1.5" sink tube. I've still got one of those setups. Quite sturdy. Over the next year or two, those adapters evolved into what is now known as the Modular Hilt System.



I hope this helped



Corbin

[Hasid Lafre]

They use computers, they dont deal with led tech like we do and to be quite honest I dont like them or anyone else at tf.n cause there attitude is its all about us now go piss off.

One thing I find funn, ryan at randomsabers says that corbins board is outdated, even though hes got a new version he says that its outdated with things like us and cf.

Well with a no sound saber what is best way to drive the led? hum? anyone? Yes corbins board!, IMO if your building a no sound saber nothing can be better than corbins board.

I had a corbin and mr setup and it was an awsome setup, I loved it, I just wish the sounds on the mr board were just a touch better.

[ARKM]

Anyone know the history of using polycarbonate tubing for lightsaber blades?

For myself, I actually came up with that idea on my own when I first heard of Stickman Escrima Products back in the early to mid 90's (he uses clear 1" OD thick-walled polycarbonate tubing as fighting sticks). It wasn't until 1999 that I finally bought some polycarbonate tubing from him and made my first spar-worthy lightsaber with a light up blade. Unfortunately being a noob, I did not know I could use EL wire and used glow sticks instead, held in with set screws at the top and bottom of the tube. Good times.

[Strydur]

I can add to the timeline....

June 4th 2005 I bought "TheCustomSaberShop" domain
August 2005 Corbin traded me some LED parts for a EL blade
September 2005 I made the EL and LED sink tube adapters (first time cnc made in bulk)
October 25th 2005 TCSS forums where started
December 2005 MHS system debuted

I will add more later...

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

They use computers, they dont deal with led tech like we do and to be quite honest I dont like them or anyone else at tf.n cause there attitude is its all about us now go piss off.

One thing I find funn, ryan at randomsabers says that corbins board is outdated, even though hes got a new version he says that its outdated with things like us and cf.

Well with a no sound saber what is best way to drive the led? hum? anyone? Yes corbins board!, IMO if your building a no sound saber nothing can be better than corbins board.

I had a corbin and mr setup and it was an awsome setup, I loved it, I just wish the sounds on the mr board were just a touch better.

I just ordered a Corbin driver from TCSS and DON'T think it is "outdated" at all!

Why? Because the Corbin driver is the only READILY AVAILABLE driver [no offense to Ervs great CF that most of us cant get unless we have 'win the lottery' luck] that can run a TRI-REBEL at full output with all 'effects' using readily available conventional battery solutions.

Want to run a XWing custom RRG tri-rebel full out for a 300+lumen bright orange using a reasonably sized hilt with 4AA holder x 3.6v nominal Li-ion Trustfires available @ TCSS?

Ultrasound? Nope 12V MAX stated limit risks POOF magic smoke from 4 fully charged Trustfires

CF? availability availability availabilty...and then you need to find a 'power extender' cuz CF wont do >14V [real voltage when 4 trustfires are FULLY charged] either.

Buckpucks? No extension/retraction [with Corbin blade] or other 'effects'

This is NOT meant as a 'criticism' of anyone else but its been a LOOOONG time since the Endor was announced so its not like board makers couldnt see that >12V maximum was going to be desirable yet the ONLY driver maker who 'future-proofed' his driver design WAS CORBIN so HE certainly deserves CREDIT for that.

30V input, 25v output opens up possibilities that nothing else does right now [in theory you could run a double tri-rebel saberstaff off a single Corbin board? don't know if anyone has done that yet]...if you want to run tri-rebels or hi-powered quad LEDEngins the Corbin driver is certainly NOT "outdated"

On the contrary it is the MOST UP-TO-DATE of any of the drivers out there in what advanced LED options it can handle IMO.

[ARKM]

They use computers, they dont deal with led tech like we do and to be quite honest I dont like them or anyone else at tf.n cause there attitude is its all about us now go piss off.

I take that statement as an insult. The first forum I ever joined was the Fan Films forum at TF.n. I like Star Wars and I like lightsabers and was into making home movies and watching fan films so I joined there, originally to enter in LCC3 (Lightsaber Choreography Contest 3) and to get more info on rotoscoping lightsabers.

There are negative, insulting, conceited/arrogant and elitest people on every forum. There ARE no exclusions. That's just the way things are. Fortunately most forums have a very small percentage of those people and have rules to help keep those people "in check".

I still post at TF.n, I still rotoscope lightsabers on my computer every once in a blue moon... and I DO deal with LED tech thank you very much.

[Corbin_Das]

While I'm not a Moderator here, may I suggest we try to steer the thread back towards the topic of the history timeline please? I appreciate the support for my driver and I agree that there's sometimes people out there that have a way of taking the fun out of it for others, but we really should try keeping the subject matter focused on this thread.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.


Thanks


Corbin