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Author Topic: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.  (Read 6452 times)

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Offline Sincenatic

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2016, 10:50:37 AM »
The reason to try 8mm is that they are, according the information sheet, very, very bright and they have a fairly narrow viewing angle, which I prefer for the white LEDs. Sanding (or drilling out) the blue LEDs will probably open up their viewing angle. With 8mm LEDs I will temporary abandon the idea with 4 LEDs in a square, but I might go back to that afterwards. I want to see if the white LEDs are sufficiently bright to “wash out” the following blue LED in the core when it is directly focused on. I still think that the idea with 4 LEDs in a set can be improved,  but I have to spend some time looking around for very bright 3mm white LEDs with narrow viewing angle that can be combined with blue LEDs with wide viewing angle (that have similar typical voltage specification). (Suggestions are welcomed!)

The good thing with this hobby is that everybody can find their particular interest and put their effort on that spot, meanwhile others focus on other areas. I am very glad that I didn´t have to develop an arduino-based soundboard and program it.  :wink:. So far I have not recorded anything, basically because the quality (of the camera) is not very good. When I run out of ideas of improvements I will record a video too…

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #16 on: October 18, 2016, 01:13:29 PM »
What about a temporaly lack of ideas, giving you just enough time to record a video, then I'm sure that new ideas will follow soon! People like videos and you can show off your invention of a blade much better. I'm nealy ready with LSOS 1.3, if you are interested, I'm loking for string saber field testers.

I wholeheartedly agree that it's a huge boon that we have different people with different skills. I'm very grateful that other experiment with different materials and LEDs and I can borrow their ideas. Same applies to those who make professional hilts.

Offline Sincenatic

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2016, 01:46:40 PM »
LSOS 1.3 sounds very interesting. Unfortunately, both with respect of testing and recording videos, I am in process of either upgrading the hilt by installing a recharge port, or completely changing the hilt. I still have to decide which way to go, but the current status is “on the working bench”. Every time I had to recharge the batteries I was providing stress on the electronics. Basically, if the LED experiment is satisfactory enough, I can spend more on a better hilt. If I am not completely satisfied, the current hilt (with a recharge port) will do fine. Hopefully the LEDs will arrive this week…

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #18 on: October 25, 2016, 03:33:55 AM »
I totally symphatize. I absolutely hate recharge ports, but so far no one came up with a better idea to replace them. They have the ugly tendency to crap the hilt, or if you choose not to scar the hilt with an opening for them, you need to disassemble a portion of the saber to recharge.
Actually this is what I decided for in my converted test hilt (a Hasbro MR Obi-Wan). I used the battery holder to hold both the DIYino board and the recharge port (there is a lot of room in fact in the tiny bit):


Recharge port in one of the battery grooves:


Seen from the back where the speaker is mounted under the cap, you can see RC port and USB port+SD card sticking out:


When closed, you cannot tell it from a regular Hasbro battery holder (except for the wires going out):


The whole Hasbro chassis, the longer part where the board used to be holds the Li-Ion battery.


Offline Sincenatic

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2016, 03:05:38 PM »
Thanks for sharing. I definitely prefer a hidden recharge port, and it is nice to see how it actually can fit next to the battery. Since the building process is a lot about learning, it is difficult to consider all the details at once, and, for me, priorities tend to change. What previously was a satisfactory solution later deserves an improvement. I am not in a hurry, so I really don’t consider it as a problem, it is just easier to work in this way.

Offline Sincenatic

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Re: Mixing colors in a string blade using four strings.
« Reply #20 on: January 08, 2017, 01:48:08 PM »
Mixing colors in a string blade using 8mm LEDs – blue-white experiment.
 
I have to admit that this report is a little off-topic (i.e., I do not use four strings), but it is a minor addition to the previous experiments. In this experiment I used white and blue 8mm LEDs with about 40 degrees viewing angle. I sanded only the blue LEDs to obtain a wider viewing angle, while the white LEDs were kept as they were, to obtain a white core. I only made one section consisting of 2 blue LEDs and 3 white LEDS. The distances between the LEDs are about 4mm. The photo shows the result.
 


The core is very white and the blending is fairly good, but not perfect. On the downside is that the tone of blue is hardly present at all. I have noticed that the blue LEDs has a lighter shade compared to the 3mm LEDs that I used previously. Adding another section would mean 5 LEDs of each color, while in this case the proportion (3 out of 5) is in favor of white, but I doubt the difference will be than much. The LEDs are not as bright as I thought.

I actually made this experiment some time ago, but I quickly decided to not complete this string, because I rather save the LEDs for another project. I have ordered 3mm white LEDs with 25 degrees viewing angle, so once I get them, I will go back to using “sets of four LEDs”, but then it will be with different viewing angles for the blue and white LEDs.

 

retrousse