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Author Topic: New Member: advice needed Park exclusive Kylo Ren  (Read 1437 times)

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Offline Temeluchus

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New Member: advice needed Park exclusive Kylo Ren
« on: April 04, 2018, 05:01:56 PM »
Hello,
   I have spent days looking up info on several custom saber sites, you tube, general google searches, etc and have yet to find exactly what I'm looking for.

   Here's what I have...
I own both of the Walt Disney World Park exclusive lightsabers; the Rey and Kylo Ren. These are the removable blade metal versions that appear to be of Asian manufacture and produced for Disney theme parks. The Rey has a bit of a flash on clash effect, and Ren's has this kinda unstable pulse effect. They do not appear to be licenced or affiliated with Hasbro nor do they bear any "Force FX" labeling.
   
    Here's what I want...
For now, I'm content to leave the Rey just as it is.
 I want to do some work to the Kylo Ren. The first thing will be to produce a custom "unstable" blade cover. This is proving to be a little more difficult than one might expect, due to the design of the removable blade.
 Second will be to modify the inside of the blade itself, and this is where I come to you fine folks with questions.

   I have disassembled the blade; a very simple job of removing 4 small Philips head screws. Inside is an LED strip with 58 diodes on it that is rather loosely placed inside an opaque foam tube. I understand this is for light diffusion. Lastly, the clear polycarbonate blade is rendered white by the addition of a plastic tube insert that seems pretty well secured to the interior wall of the polycarbonate blade.I assume this,too, is for diffusing but I must say, the final result leaves something to be desired.
 I wish to retain the scrolling effect of power up/power down and the subtle pulse/fading effect as well, so I am uninterested in any hilt-based single LED conversion. Instead, I'd like to keep the LED strip, but improve it's appearance.
 1: Should I attempt to separate the white tube insert from the blade wall, and then apply a gift wrap cellophane layer in its place? Is this white plastic insert a cheap manufacturing alternative to something like Corbin film or something liked that?
 2: Should I just sand the exterior of the polycarbonate blade?
 3: Should I do some combination of these or other methods?

   My primary concern is that this LED strip and board are not going to be powerful enough to produce a bright, menacing red glow through a: foam tube b: several rolled layers of cellophane c:opaque tube insert d:layers of clear sealant.

 Is there light at the end of the tunnel? (pun intended) For this specific blade, Can I achieve a slightly brighter, more uniform diffusion without dabbling in electronic engineering? 
     Thank you for your time
            -JS

 

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