Lightsaber LED string blade
- Thread starter jsummit
- Start date
Might not be exactly what you're asking for, but here is what I used:
https://www.amazon.com/MEILI-Light-...494520895&sr=8-2&keywords=meili+red+led+strip
I bought both red and blue for the two cheap saber props I made for some outdoor filming where I wanted to have the correct ambient light spilling from the saber blade that I later painted in in After Effects.
Since there was no need for 'hero'-quality hilts here I just used plastic toy sabers from the local Wal-mart/Target/etc. Here are a couple of images of the finished products, including a frame grab from an initial video test indoors (where all the light is ambient spill from the blue saber LEDs). I used 4 strips (adhesive-backed) stuck onto white meter-long dowels that I epoxied into the hilts. Battery packs are contained in the hollow at the base of the hilts. I'm away on travel at the moment but can provide some detailed images of the builds when I get home, if you're interested...
Dan
https://www.amazon.com/MEILI-Light-...494520895&sr=8-2&keywords=meili+red+led+strip
I bought both red and blue for the two cheap saber props I made for some outdoor filming where I wanted to have the correct ambient light spilling from the saber blade that I later painted in in After Effects.
Since there was no need for 'hero'-quality hilts here I just used plastic toy sabers from the local Wal-mart/Target/etc. Here are a couple of images of the finished products, including a frame grab from an initial video test indoors (where all the light is ambient spill from the blue saber LEDs). I used 4 strips (adhesive-backed) stuck onto white meter-long dowels that I epoxied into the hilts. Battery packs are contained in the hollow at the base of the hilts. I'm away on travel at the moment but can provide some detailed images of the builds when I get home, if you're interested...
Dan
I'd would love some more info on your led sabers do you have any more photos and wiring info? Do they look decent in daylight?
xl97
Master Member
this probably depends on the sound board you plan on using this with.
if going with the teensy/arduino DIY board(s) out there... I they have been using WS2812 led strips or often called Neopixel strips.
available anywhere... (I suggest the 144 led per meter strips)
You can use the neopixel type of led strips, made by adafruit.
you will need 2 of them, put side by side inside the blade.
There are less expensive similar led stips on the market, just chech "140 leds RGBW"
The new prizm V5 and nano V4 from plecterlabs can drive directly these kind of led strips.
It means you can have progressive ignition,not with 7 areas, but 144, you also have many colors available and extra white layer for FoC, blaster shot block, or force effects.
Both boards can work with a single 3,7v battery.
you will need 2 of them, put side by side inside the blade.
There are less expensive similar led stips on the market, just chech "140 leds RGBW"
The new prizm V5 and nano V4 from plecterlabs can drive directly these kind of led strips.
It means you can have progressive ignition,not with 7 areas, but 144, you also have many colors available and extra white layer for FoC, blaster shot block, or force effects.
Both boards can work with a single 3,7v battery.
Sure, here are a few more pics of the wiring setup. I just cut the adhesive-backed strips to length (just a bit less than 1 meter, determined by the assigned cut point every third LED) and attached 4 to the sides of a dowel that I epoxied into the hilt. Then just solder small wire leads to connect them back together. Two A23 batteries power everything from a holder packed into the bottom of the hilt (the A23s are just the right size to fit in that hollow in the hilt). The central interior assembly is then covered over in a florescent light tube cover that I frosted a bit to help diffuse the light from the LEDs a bit.
All in all, a good enough solution for the VFX I was wanting them for. I probably spent almost as much money on these as I would have if I had just bought nice commercial products, but I wanted something 'quick and dirty' and never intended them to be used for 'carrying around' or display. Just a fun tinkering project to generate an appropriate ambient light source for some twilight time sabers in some video.
Dan
I might be being stupid 3DImpact. But how are the wires connected at base of each strip? And how do they then all group into positive and neg, I can't figure it out from your photos. Can you show/draw a quick wiring diagram?
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Ah, yes - sorry. The images aren't particular clear in showing the actual wiring.
For one of these cutable LED strips there are little gold solder pads every three LEDs. In the case of a single continuous strip (left) you'd just connect your battery positive pole (red) to the positive solder strip and negative pole (black) to negative solder strip (pretty obvious). In the case of having four of these strips (right), as I have attached to the central wooden dowel in these sabers, you just connect them in serial, connecting the positive pad of one strip to the positive pad of the next, negative to negative, and so on. The last strip will always have the end pads unconnected.
That's what you're seeing with the short segments of black and red wiring at the top and bottom of the dowel here, it's just that it's all wrapped around a cylinder so it gets a little convoluted. Of course, in this case there are two A23 batteries in parallel for a little extra 'oomph', but you get the idea. Very simple.
Dan
For one of these cutable LED strips there are little gold solder pads every three LEDs. In the case of a single continuous strip (left) you'd just connect your battery positive pole (red) to the positive solder strip and negative pole (black) to negative solder strip (pretty obvious). In the case of having four of these strips (right), as I have attached to the central wooden dowel in these sabers, you just connect them in serial, connecting the positive pad of one strip to the positive pad of the next, negative to negative, and so on. The last strip will always have the end pads unconnected.
That's what you're seeing with the short segments of black and red wiring at the top and bottom of the dowel here, it's just that it's all wrapped around a cylinder so it gets a little convoluted. Of course, in this case there are two A23 batteries in parallel for a little extra 'oomph', but you get the idea. Very simple.
Dan
