Help request- cheap, presentable, illuminated lightsabers?

hammer326

hammer326

New Member
What's good everybody?

I got a costume party within a few weeks, my friend and I have decided to go as Cade Skywalker and Roan Fel from the Star Wars Legacy comics. We're in search of, as the title says, some nice enough looking, illuminated lightsabers for as cheap as we can find. For those who do not know, the latter character's lightsaber is actually white, so once we decide on suitable sabers, in-budget of course, the most practical approaches and techniques to turn one white would be most appreciated.

For those wondering, I have done a bit of research myself including reading past posts and have not found anything that is both within my price range(well under $100 for both), AND illuminated. Please enlighten me regarding any posts I may have missed.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
 
You can get ultimate fx lightsabers from toysrus for $35. You could could mask off the blade and spray it white.
 
mattycsi said:
You can get ultimate fx lightsabers from toysrus for $35. You could could mask off the blade and spray it white.
Click to expand...

So good old spray paint would do the job as I thought? What base colour would you recommend? the one we're not painting will be blue, figured another one of those would work the best.
 
hammer326 said:
So good old spray paint would do the job as I thought? What base colour would you recommend? the one we're not painting will be blue, figured another one of those would work the best.
Click to expand...
Just to be sure, it is the hilt you're painting white and not the blade? If it is the hilt, I would lightly scrub it with medium grit paper and just a standard primer then white.
 
That's gonna be trickier. Spray paint would likely be to thick to show it illuminated.

With the ultimate fx sabers I don't know if the LED is white with a colored filter or colored itself.

If its a white led, you could just remove the filter and if it is blue etc you could swap it out for a white one. Spray the blade with an etching or frosting spray might act as a diffuser and light the blade up better. As a white led might just end up looking like a torch with a tube on it.

You could get something like this Amazon.com: Light Saber with Star Wars Sounds 3 Colored Red Blue and Green All in 1: Toys & Games and have a bit of a play.
 
mattycsi said:
That's gonna be trickier. Spray paint would likely be to thick to show it illuminated.

With the ultimate fx sabers I don't know if the LED is white with a colored filter or colored itself.

If its a white led, you could just remove the filter and if it is blue etc you could swap it out for a white one. Spray the blade with an etching or frosting spray might act as a diffuser and light the blade up better. As a white led might just end up looking like a torch with a tube on it.

You could get something like this Amazon.com: Light Saber with Star Wars Sounds 3 Colored Red Blue and Green All in 1: Toys & Games and have a bit of a play.
Click to expand...


I like where we're heading. You say I could swap out the LED's, Does this mean the blade itself is not tinted? Where would you recommend I get said LED's? I again beg your pardon regarding the idiocy, this is my first cosplay that's anywhere near this involved, and my first big tinkering with electronics of this sort.

Thanks for all the help thus far.
 
It only glows when seen on camera with a light source from the camera. if you cover a lighted blade. Its not going to glow at all.
 
So all things considered- what you have me do on this miniscule budget? I'd LOVE one that actually glowed, sounds unnecessary, but there seems no practical way of making a cheap Ultimate FX saber white, The exception being going over the blade with RA tape, which'll look great on camera but otherwise pretty discreet in low light, which I'll mostly be in.

Are we 100% sure there's not a single kind of semitransparent white spray paint or something that'd work? I have connections at a hardware store, I believe they sell some kind of window frosting in an aerosol- would that perhaps accomplish my goal? or is there no real way short of tearing it apart and replacing LED's?

Thanks again guys!
 
yeah you really can't change a colored LED to white with paint.
Also those Ultimate FX sabers have short blades. They're sized for kids.
 
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IMG_0133.JPG

Not to necropost, but for all interested in what was finally fabricated, have a sneak peek- proper project thread to come.
 
What I would have done is get a Grab Bag saber from Ultrasabers.

For $55.00, you get a random hilt and LED color. However, if you add the Ultra Edge blade (+$15) and specified Adegan Silver (+$10) as the LED color, you'd get what you're looking for.

That said, it seems like the LED is a bit underpowered on yours. What wattage are you using?

EDIT: This is what an Adegan Silver Ultrasaber looks like when lit.

 
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Fiction Engineered said:
What I would have done is get a Grab Bag saber from Ultrasabers.

For $55.00, you get a random hilt and LED color. However, if you add the Ultra Edge blade (+$15) and specified Adegan Silver (+$10) as the LED color, you'd get what you're looking for.

That said, it seems like the LED is a bit underpowered on yours. What wattage are you using?

EDIT: This is what an Adegan Silver Ultrasaber looks like when lit.

Adegan Silver Ultrasaber - YouTube
Click to expand...


Thoroughly helpful post, I wish it had arrived sooner. I obviously don't blame you for this, but the point stands.

Anyway, I'm using all electronics included here, Build Your Own Seoul P4 Electronics Kit except on a 2AAA battery holder I got at radioshack. I ASSUME that considering both options are 4, of AA's and AAA's, that I am running on essentially half power? I had to do this for the time being due to hilt interior size constraints, soon to be rectified with a dremel. Definitely enlighten me on whether I'm correct in this assessment as well as my options for an increased brightness as I know **** all about electronics.
 
Hey Hammer, the P4 led uses around 3.5 volts so running the the v2 AAA is not enough to drive it at full brightness, that's the reason for the 3.3 ohm resistor , to drop the voltage from 6v to 3.5 v.
You can get a 2x2 AAA bat pack instead of the 1x4 that came with the kit to fit in your hilt.
hope this helps a little bit.
MTFBWY

added note, if you are running only the 2 AAA holder , you do not need a resistor hooked up inline with the LED ;) ;)


more added note about your LED:
Diameter: 19.9mm
Viewing Angle: 125°
Height: 6.8
Emitting Color: white
Housing Color: clear
Lumen min.: 91
Lumen typ.: 120
Lumen max.: 240
Kelvin typ.: 6500
mA test.: 350 mA
mA typ.: 350-1000 mA
mA max.: 1000 mA
V typ.: 3.20 V
V max.: 3.80 V
Watt: 1,12 W
 
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hammer326 said:
Thoroughly helpful post, I wish it had arrived sooner. I obviously don't blame you for this, but the point stands.

Anyway, I'm using all electronics included here, Build Your Own Seoul P4 Electronics Kit except on a 2AAA battery holder I got at radioshack. I ASSUME that considering both options are 4, of AA's and AAA's, that I am running on essentially half power? I had to do this for the time being due to hilt interior size constraints, soon to be rectified with a dremel. Definitely enlighten me on whether I'm correct in this assessment as well as my options for an increased brightness as I know **** all about electronics.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm no expert, but in general terms it's always good to stick to the specifications set forth in a kit and not deviate from them, as a kit is designed to work with what is listed.

Think of it like a flashlight (which a saber essentially is). If you take a 4-cell Maglite and jury rig it to run off two batteries, you won't get the same lighting effect as you would with four, and you risk damaging the electronics.

In short, yeah, get the hilt fixed and get a 4-cell battery pack if you want it to work at its best.

EDIT: Pseudo-Ninja'd by vidman.
 
after thinking about this over night, I thought about maybe a rechargeable batt setup. You can use a single 18650 3.7 volt 2500 mah Li-ion battery, this will power the main LED for a theoretical 2.5 hrs, or a 14500 AA size at 3.7 v 1000 mah for 45 minutes run time,

here is the calculated breakdown:
Calculated resistance: 0.1Ω
Nearest lower 5% resistor: 0.091Ω
Nearest higher 5% resistor: 0.1Ω**
Power dissipated by the resistor: 100 mW
Recommended resistor Wattage: 1/4 W
Power consumed by the LED (PLED): 3.6 W
Total power consumption (PTotal): 3.7 W
Efficiency (PLED/PTotal) x 100 : 97.3 %

with this calculation, again you really do not need a resistor , the LED will consume whatever it needs to run at full power

here is a link to a saber I made a while ago showing that a 20 ma RAINBOW LED can be run off a 1500 ma source driving the main LED at 3 volts ( as I stated above, they only use what they need )

http://s646.photobucket.com/user/Kal_El_Rah/media/Random Stuff/DSCI0203.mp4.html

guest password is saber1
 
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