A flat Blade idea...

[Blue Fox]

one thing to consider when heating up polycarbonate is it's very temperature resistant. if you're planning on taking a torch to it, you'll blacken it before it melts. it's thermal resistance and toughness is part of why it's used in headlight manufacture where it is brought in as tiny pellets, dried (Because plastic will absorb moisture) and put into a hopper where it feeds into a screw and barrel As the screw turns, it causes the pellets to melt by friction with one another. The barrel the screw sits inside is heated at around 500-600 degrees depending on the mold size
.all this does is help maintain the optimal temperature of the plastic before it is injected into the mold cavity at very high pressure.

Another thing you should know, if you didn't already, this is a plastic that will break, rather than bend. So be careful.
Sorry if I was boring anyone, just wanted to pass along some insight from my old job where I played with polycarbonate ^_^

[Blade-Rave]

Don't misrepresent me BR. I never suggested using Makoto style LEDs in a flat blade. In fact, I don't see how it is at all possible, and I hinted at that in an earlier response. I haven't built a Makoto yet, but it's my understanding that it takes up most of the space in an ordinary blade, so I can't see how it could fit inside one that has been squished flat. The only option I do see working is EL, either in wire or sheet form.

Sorry, my bad. Didn't mean any disrespect. And yeah, if you're trying to make the flat blade to be the EXACT thickness (the outside diameter I'm referring to) and than install the Makoto LEDs, than OBVIOUSLY, it wouldn't work since the LEDs would be sticking out, the walls would be too thin for the light to shine through properly, and the size of the electronics in general would be impossible to fit within the confounds of the blade/grip. though, if you scaled the katana-esque sword so that it 'could' accommodate the electronics, it would be possible, save for the fact that it may step outside your preference of having it the size of a katana.

Long Story Short, the blade AND the handle have to be either unaltered and just have a non-electronic/static prop, or scale it up to accommodate for any sort of electronics to fit (soundboard and LEDs if you so wish...), and make the inward diameter of the blade be able to let light pass through.

[TimeRender]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about BR.

[Blade-Rave]

Considering that darkkhild wants to make a flat blade (given that's where he's going, assuming he's also aiming to have electronics in the hilt as well), I was just tossing up things he may have to do to make it work right. Though, now that I look at Blue Fox's post, it makes me wonder..... how DOES darkkhild intend to make a flat blade, given what can happen if he tries to melt it down to reshape it (based on Blue Fox's post)?

[Darth Securis]

I think EL sheet would be the best bet for providing a evenly lit, flat blade. It won't be that bright though. I don't see anything else working with decent results. Of course this is all dependent on whether or not the flat blade can be made in the first place. If flatening the PC is out then maybe (assuming this is for display only) the blade could be cut out of a solid peice of acrylic or poly c sheet. If the outside were frosted then the light would travel up the blade like fiber optics, right? Kind of like that light whip.

[darkkhild]

I don't know if you guys have seen it, but there is a portable heater that electricians use that will heat up PVC conduit and allow them to bent the conduit to what they need in bends, flares, etc...

This was one idea, since I work in construction on some large jobs at that. I have seen this device used a few times, and the thought came to me if I could allow the PC to heat up in a unified way and allow it to melt upon itself.

Though Blue Fox has me thinking now, that this may not work.

Maybe back to the drawing board with this idea, just like the Coyote.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Just don't buy any parts from ACME.

[Sunrider]

If you know someone that works in a pizza place one of those ovens could work. Not sure how you would compress the blade evenly though. I think you would need a mold.

[Blue Fox]

If you know someone that works in a pizza place one of those ovens could work. Not sure how you would compress the blade evenly though. I think you would need a mold.

At that thickness, I doubt a Pizza oven will do it. PVC has a lower melting point btw. and does melt. And depending on what type of PC is used in blades, it may not be molded into shape at all. I'm thinking that, given it's transparent nature, blades are made of the Thermoset variety, which means once you've got the plastic molded and it's cool, that's it. you're not bending or flattening it at all. if it's the same PC we used to make headlights... yea, you're not doing it.

[Jedi-Loreen]

It is possible to at least bend a polycarb tube, I've done it.

A friend wanted a joke EL blade, one he could wear with a Parks saber, to make it look like he'd been stabbed through the side, while he was wearing his Tusken Raider costume.

We started with a 48" long 3/4" tube and fed a piece of rope though it to keep the 2 bends from kinking. We needed to put 2 bends, and a curve in it.

We used a regular propane torch to heat up and soften the polycarb, and it took a long time. Plus, we didn't care what it looked like, since the bend and curve would be hidden.

It was not easy to bend, but we did it. But we were only doing about a foot. I can't imagine trying to heat up a whole tube and trying to flatten it in a uniform manner.