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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!
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