Tron Legacy Costume

[cyvaris]

Off topic: Funny that the screen cap of Sam shirtless and in his underwear is one of the most clicked pictures.....

Ahh the internet you have to love it don't you?

 

[Annisse]

Annise and all, A couple questions about the LuminousFilm:
- Is it lit on one side, or both?
- Is the Phosphor completely side-to-side, or is there an edge of non-lit material? I got some blue from GlowHut an it has about 1/4" of unlit strip on each side, and I don't like that.

Thanks.

LuminousFilm.com El Panel/Lite Tape only lights up on one side.

The Phosphor material is not side to side, you will have less than 1/4" unlit clear plastic insulating strip on either side. You can cut it down slightly but you need it there or even cut it down almost all the way off but you must add some clear plastic tape to cover the edges to protect the phosper strip not to mention not electrocute yourself

Annisse,

How noticeable is the line down the center of the flatlite when it is on? I know there's a 1/100" separator, but don't know how prominent it is.

-Thermistor

You can not see the scribe line from far away. I have attached a photo here of my white LuminousFilm.com strip flat. You can't see the line, only close up as seen in my previous photos I posted to demostrate how you can bend it at 90 degree angles.

I don't like the Scribe line myself on the LuminousFilm.com El Panel, but without it there I wouldn't be able to do my new Quorra lighting work. I will get into that in my next post why, but for my needs, it is the most cost effective way for me to go.

I just heard back from Luminous film. Appearently they don't offer AA inverters. Are you using the 9V? If not, which inverter did you choose?

You will have to solder on your own 9V battery cap (RadioShack has them) to the inverter's leads then attach that to a 12V battery cage that holds 8AA batteries, that is how I am doing mine.

I did want to use one of those little 12V car batteries (A23 size I believe) to power my Lite Tape, but when I soldered the battery cage on for it and put the battery in, it was not as bright as the battery cage which holds the 8AA (1.5V) batteries which is the same 12V.

Has anyone else tried a small 12V car battery out? how does it look? I would like to use it because it's so small and compact to add to my costume instead of this huge 8AA battery pack.

 

[Annisse]

So I was rethinking again about Glowhut vs. LumniousFilm product.

I wrote Glowhut today and asked if their El Tape can be bent at 90 degree angles, if it can be cut down to any length and if it contains that center Scribe line as LumniousFilm Lite Tape has?

Glowhut got back to me and said there is no Scribe line, yes you can cut it down to any length and yes you can bend their El Tape at any angle but you will see the crease where it is bent.

I was like OK... why did I go with the LuminousFilm product then? I don't really like the Scribe line down the center.

With LumniousFilm's El Panel split electrode Scribe line, no matter where you cut it the Scribe line will allow you to connect it back to the inverter.

Once Glowhut's El Tape is cut down, if you cut off the connector part which goes to the inverter, I was told it is hard to get it reconnected plus without the Scribe line it is basically useless.

Also, Glowhut has a fee for custom work. If you need a specific width, you have to pay $175 for your 1st order no matter what the length you need then on your next order I believe you don't have to pay any more custom work fees.

So aside having to deal with that center Scribe line with Luminous Film, I like them because of the variety of widths they offer but if you need to connect the El Panel back to the inverter once it is cut you can either do it in parellel or split. Split work is a mess of wires but better in the long haul of things.

Any way, that's my two cents.... I STILL don't like that Scribe line! why does electronic stuff have to be so complicated!!?!?!??!?! and just do what we want. EASY! HAHA

I posted some pics here of GLOWHUT's product so you can see how you can bend it. These are pics that aren't on their site and were emailed to me.

 

[techfreek]

Note to those using EVA foam...
Don't coat it with plastidip. When you do, the PD shrinks making all the heat forming you did earlier worthless. With a lot of work you can get it to look similar to how it did before, but it takes a LOT of patience... with that being said, my other word of advise is invest in a hot knife or scissors, don't cut with an x-acto knife you will get ugly cuts.

I hope to post some pictures tonight of my progress

 

[SongstressLenne]

For those using the rare earth magnets to hold up their disc to the disc mount. What size dimension you went with?

 

[Dando]

Annisse - Thank you for your research, it helps a lot to know what works and what does not, as well as the experience with working with the different company's EL tape.

 

[MisterDigital]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried to use a translucent white paint or stain on the PoWo tape to make it WoWo? I thought I heard some of the disc mods using a glass stain on the rings to achieve different colours. Any thoughts or experience before I give it a go?

 

[cyvaris]

For those using the rare earth magnets to hold up their disc to the disc mount. What size dimension you went with?

5/8th is what I used. I was using the plastic from the disk packaging so I only used four of them. They held insanely well and I could even do jumping jacks and not have it fall off.

 

[games001]

5/8th is what I used. I was using the plastic from the disk packaging so I only used four of them. They held insanely well and I could even do jumping jacks and not have it fall off.

I use 4-6 5mm (thick) x 8mm (wide) Neodymium Rare Magnets. Holds like a steel bear with lock-jaw. The force of the magnets is directional to the flat 8mm wide surface of these magnets (meaning the pulling force is strongest on wide side to wide side, not thickness side to thickness side).

You actually have to REALLY glue them in place (E6000 does a good job here) else unless you slide the magnets apart, the force to seperate them is amazingly tough and you could end up ripping them right off whatever they are attached to. In this case, I mounted them on some EVA Foam, cutting a small depression into the foam where the discs would sit. The E6000 glue is silicone based and turns into a rubber cement-like material when dry so it acts as a bonding and filling agent on and around the magnets.

 

[Icey]

For those using the rare earth magnets to hold up their disc to the disc mount. What size dimension you went with?

I bought a stack of 25 3/8" ones. If my disc falls off with that many on I will be severely disappointed. :3

 

[blueblade74]

Ok so this is my first post on this or any forum for that matter. I have been following this thread since page 50 and keep checking back and reading all the new post. I have to say some really amazing stuff.

Now to my question. I am about to start on my costume and am thinking of using EL tape for it but I’m a little unsure. I was thinking of buying the El tape in one long strip and cutting it to the length I need. When you cut the tape to length how do you attach the wires? Do you have to solder it in place or do they make some kind of clip you can use?

If I have missed this info please point me at the page it’s on. Any help would be great. thanks

 

[Thermistor]

Don't know whether this helps, Annisse, but here's a list of sources I found for EL Tape:

Electroluminescent sheets, tapes and EL inverters (Split Electrode)
Large Electroluminescent Panels and Strip Lamps - LED Panels - LUMINOUSFILM.COM --USA (Split)
Home
Top Right Optoelectronics LTD. (Haven't checked yet)
Electroluminescent Manufacturer - FLATLITE EL lamps, panels, and strips (Again, haven't checked)
Light Tape® - Bring your imagination to light! (The actual source used for the costumes in the film)

 

[colonelmasako]

I did want to use one of those little 12V car batteries (A23 size I believe) to power my Lite Tape, but when I soldered the battery cage on for it and put the battery in, it was not as bright as the battery cage which holds the 8AA (1.5V) batteries which is the same 12V.

Has anyone else tried a small 12V car battery out? how does it look? I would like to use it because it's so small and compact to add to my costume instead of this huge 8AA battery pack.

Heres the deal Annisse. The current capacity of a A23 battery at max is 55 mAh, since it is just a bunch of button batteries stacked together to make 12 V, and the typical capcacity of that size button is 55 mAH per battery.

You have two options to make your light brighter, depending on the battery types you choose and your total current needs:

8 pack AA: if you use Ultimate Lithium Batteries, Advanced Lithium Batteries. Energizer.com these guys, your total capacity will be 2000 mAh. I seriously doubt your EL inverters will come anywhere close to needing this much current, meaning it will last you longer (lets say your total draw is 200 mA, that means you can run that constantly with those batteries for 10 hours)

A23: your total current maximum per battery is 55 mAh. You can increase that if you hook up the batteries in parallel. If you have 2 A23 batteries hooked up this way, you'd have 110 mAh, etc. You can put together a bank of them to get your total required.

A technical exercise for you that will be good to do: hook up all your EL wire/tape to your inverters, and have those driven off something that is WAY more powerful than you need, i.e. provides as much current as your circuit will draw. Measure this current using a multimeter: research this online, its fairly simple to do. You will get some number, that is the MAX your system needs to run at optimum brightness. From here, make a bank of either 8-pack AA's or a bank of A23's in parallel that will add to/exceed that current rating.

I don't know what a typical EL wire inverter draws on the DC side, but I can't imagine its much. The fact that you drove it with a single 55mAh battery and it worked at all proves that much. To give you an idea of power use: those super bright lightsaber toys typically drive those LED's with only 350 or 700 mA

Hope that helps

 

[games001]

Ok so this is my first post on this or any forum for that matter. I have been following this thread since page 50 and keep checking back and reading all the new post. I have to say some really amazing stuff.

Now to my question. I am about to start on my costume and am thinking of using EL tape for it but I’m a little unsure. I was thinking of buying the El tape in one long strip and cutting it to the length I need. When you cut the tape to length how do you attach the wires? Do you have to solder it in place or do they make some kind of clip you can use?

If I have missed this info please point me at the page it’s on. Any help would be great. thanks

If you can find some safe way to solder ELTape, I am all ears. Soldering ELTape will burn the tape, destroying the layers and I would think make it difficult to hide the damage.

Usually, given enough space and the like, you can use ETCO Clips to secure the wire to the tape, else do as I did and E6000 the wires directly to the tape and clamp until dry and secure. I did this both on my chest and helm sections and they are nearly as strong as a soldered connection would be.

I have cut away a small block of the clear film covering the underside of the tape, allowing the wires to have a place to rest in direct contact with the reactive film coating.

Heat shrink wrapping the connections added strength to the already well glued sections of wire/tape. I also saturated the heck out of the connections between helm and tape with E6000 glue, just to make it all basically one big solid mass.

All ELTape, as I have seen, has slight dead zones on the outer most edges. Keep that in mind when placing your tape. These edges are not an issue here, but many cover them with black tape to 'meld' more closely to the suit color (varies on build).

Glow like you MEAN IT!!!

 

[colonelmasako]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried to use a translucent white paint or stain on the PoWo tape to make it WoWo? I thought I heard some of the disc mods using a glass stain on the rings to achieve different colours. Any thoughts or experience before I give it a go?

Thoughts on this: if you goal is to make it not look pink when its off, you can try using the shower curtain/masking tape method to cover it. The masking tape doesn't change the color when its on, and the masking tape will definitely make it look more white than pink when its off. The shower curtain is pretty much completely see through, its just a good clear material to hold the masking tape to the light source.

I'd advise against painting the EL material itself, since you can't undo that if you screw up, and the "translucent" or "transparent" paint may not be transparent enough to transmit your light through.

You can try both methods out with a test strip, see which you like better. I prefer the masking tape/showercurtain method because its reversible

 

[MisterDigital]

Thoughts on this: if you goal is to make it not look pink when its off, you can try using the shower curtain/masking tape method to cover it. The masking tape doesn't change the color when its on, and the masking tape will definitely make it look more white than pink when its off. The shower curtain is pretty much completely see through, its just a good clear material to hold the masking tape to the light source.

I'd advise against painting the EL material itself, since you can't undo that if you screw up, and the "translucent" or "transparent" paint may not be transparent enough to transmit your light through.

You can try both methods out with a test strip, see which you like better. I prefer the masking tape/showercurtain method because its reversible

So if the light goes totally (or almost totally) through the masking tape couldn't I use white masking tape, rather than the cream and call it done?

If i wanted a shine I could just spray some clear epoxy on it, right? I'm not concerend about rigididty in this particular piece.

I could just peal it all off if i wanted to undo it.

 

[colonelmasako]

So if the light goes totally (or almost totally) through the masking tape couldn't I use white masking tape, rather than the cream and call it done?

If i wanted a shine I could just spray some clear epoxy on it, right? I'm not concerend about rigididty in this particular piece.

I could just peal it all off if i wanted to undo it.

White masking tape should work just as well, its no less translucent than the standard cream type. As for clear epoxy, sure, that will make it all shiny and shouldn't hamper light transmission.

As for peeling it off....depends on the type you use. If you use plastidip, the clear type (yes there is a clear plastidip), then yeah you can peel it off, but some clear expoxy is pretty darn permanent, up to you.

 

[MisterDigital]

White masking tape should work just as well, its no less translucent than the standard cream type. As for clear epoxy, sure, that will make it all shiny and shouldn't hamper light transmission.

As for peeling it off....depends on the type you use. If you use plastidip, the clear type (yes there is a clear plastidip), then yeah you can peel it off, but some clear expoxy is pretty darn permanent, up to you.

Agreed. I think I'll go with clear Palsti-Dip.

I was thinking the epoxy should be fine since it would be on top of the tape and I could just peel the tape back. But I think you are right. The epoxy might seep through the masking and bond to the EL tape. That would be bad news. Not worth the risk at all.

 

[techfreek]

Agreed. I think I'll go with clear Palsti-Dip.

I was thinking the epoxy should be fine since it would be on top of the tape and I could just peel the tape back. But I think you are right. The epoxy might seep through the masking and bond to the EL tape. That would be bad news. Not worth the risk at all.

Just a little hint... Plastidip (at least the 2 cans I have) warps the hell out of foam, so be sure to take lots of precautions to prevent that.

 

[MisterDigital]

Just a little hint... Plastidip (at least the 2 cans I have) warps the hell out of foam, so be sure to take lots of precautions to prevent that.

No worries. It will just be used as a clear coat over the white masking tape on the EL Tape. Just to give it a shine/weatherproofing. It's just a small piece going on my boot.