Could that work? Weighted blade tip for contact staff

[Greywolf]

I pondered a little bit about the weight/inertia issue with the contact staff.

Basically it's not about having more weight, but about having enough momentum and inertia, right?
And even a little mass should result in quite a momentum if placed far from the center of rotation (if I remember my physics lessons correctly).

Imagined conversation:
Me: 'Well, how about modifying the blades itself instead of the hilt?'
You: 'You fool, I won't glue anything to my beautiful blade!'
Me: 'No, I mean inside.'
You: 'That will ruin the lighting, too!'
Me: 'Not if you modify the part of the tip which is not illuminated.'
You: 'Consider me interested, tell me more.'

Most blade tips are built similar to this:


The blade tip uses a mirror (blue) to reflect the light back down again for more uniform look of the blade. Sometimes the mirror is shine-through to get an illuminated tip, the blades I have use a solid mirror.

My idea would be to remove blade tip and mirror, drill a little hole 'below' the mirror (red) and glue in a (lead?) weight (grey). Now you can reattach the mirror and blade tip again and you're ready to go!


If you use a slightly smaller mirror (IIRC about 3/4 of the size of a 'full-size' mirror), you'll get an illuminated blade tip, too

I think especially if the blade tip is a 'screw-in' type, it should be sturdy enough, although I would not recommend to duel with such a modification...

But what do you think? Could that work?

[Enso Marr]

After some discussion with my local lightsaber group the concerns that were brought up include:

1. Removing the tip from the blade. This might not be simple. If they are glued down we might need a solvent, and that could damage/discolor the blade.

2. Drilling the small hole for the weight without damaging the tip. Would have to be done slowly and carefully, with a small drill bit.

3. Fixing the added weight. We really do not want it coming loose, falling through the blade, and damaging things like the LED lens.

4. Fitting the modified tip back onto the blade. There was a lot of worry that the tip would fly loose and hit someone. Even without dueling when spinning the tip gets up to high speeds, and when learning contact staff we do expect to drop often. This would probably involve tracking down the correct glue to use, might need a stronger one to handle the extra weight/flex.

Interesting idea though. Perhaps look into getting custom tips made from Acrylic or some heavier plastic? Would save on a lot of the finicky details.

Consider also the idea of some sort of transparent sleeve/glove to put over the blades, would serve double duty as extra padding to reduce impact from dropping. Someone suggested clear plastic heatshrink or acrylic tape.

Overall I still prefer adding weight to the emitter end of the hilt. I want to preserve the dueling blade as I envision contact saberstaff as martial flourishes to be added in fight choreography, and not just a performance in and of itself like contact staff. However, I can appreciate that on some of the fancier hilts adding stuff to the emitter end might not be practical or aesthetically pleasing.

[Greywolf]

I cannot offer much more insight, but let's try

1. I think you can ask US to ship the blades 'unassembled' (at least I think I read something like that here in the forum); for the 'non-threaded blade tip' a lot of people said 'just use a pipe cutter', so getting the tip off should be do-able

2. True. No idea how difficult drilling the tip would be...

3. & 4. At least for getting the tip back on, usually I read the terms 'use JB Weld', 'use gorilla glue'. Not having modified a blade myself I cannot estimate how sturdy the 're-glued' sections are.

Guys? Gals? Could someone with more experience chime in, please ?

[Darth Cephalus]

If you ask me, these problems are not insurmountable. I know of at least 2 saber makers who sell blades that have screw on tips (details in a PM if you like). They are easy to take on and off and pretty secure. If you want to fix them in place, a dab of glue works. Drilling would not be that hard as the polycarbonate resists cracking pretty well. I have seen people hollow out those tips almost entirely before. The added weight would make it fly off easier, but if it is deep threaded, that should not happen. My main concern is the amount of weight you could add to the tip. Even if it is lead, I don't know that it would be enough to make a difference. If one has the motivation and resources, it would not hurt to try, but I would think the performance difference would be negligible.

[Greywolf]

...
My main concern is the amount of weight you could add to the tip. Even if it is lead, I don't know that it would be enough to make a difference. If one has the motivation and resources, it would not hurt to try, but I would think the performance difference would be negligible.

Well, physics might be on our side, considering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_moments_of_inertia :

Simplified the interia is calculated by 'mass x radius^2'.

Let's say, saberstaff has 20" hilt and 32" blades:

a) 50g weight is placed at the ends of the hilt (radius = 10") : 50g x (10"^2) = 5000
b) 50g weight is placed at the end of each blade (radius = 40") : 50g x (40"^2) = 80000
c) 5g weight is placed at the end of each blade (radius = 40") : 5g x (40"^2) = 8000

If I got my physics correctly, this would mean that (in used example) a 5g weight at the tip of a blade would create more inertia than a 50g weight at the end of the emitter...

[Enso Marr]

Greywolf makes a good point.

I would also like to note, again, that it does not take a huge amount of weight to change the moment of inertia enough for our purposes. Just a few minutes ago I replaced the bulky loops of rubber tubing I had set up with what amounts to a single layer of rubber tubing and the center bit from a PVC threaded union. Preliminary testing feels great.

[Grey_Jedi]

try drilling in the top of the of the tip. then use  shrink rap or tape and see if that would work. that way you will not have to worry about the led 

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

If you're having trouble finding a weight that can fit in the tip without disturbing the light, try a polycarbonate rod in the length of the blade. I've wondered if it would allow the light through. Perhaps even a smaller diameter tube inside your blade tube. This would increase the weight of the blade region while keeping the hollow center for light. Somewhere along the way, you'll lose some light as the core becomes more narrow. Sort of how the heavy grade gets dimmer due to thicker plastic and a smaller hollow core. It's just another idea to experiment.