Homemade dayblade

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

I took an US blade, removed the film, added a layer of red cellophane and put it back. Boom. Red dayblade.

[Duskheart]

Any chance you have some comparison pics?  That sounds like it could be rather promising.  How would you compare the brightness between the two?

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

I only used enough red cellophane to wrap once around the regular film. Too much would darken it. I see no harm done in a dark or regularly lit room.
I don't have pictures yet. But the brightness looks the same to me. It still doesn't look great in outdoor light. But it keeps the color better than a regular blade.
The outside light just always seems to reach a point where it is reflecting off the tube more than the light inside the tube from the saber. Daylight defeats the illusion, but this is an inexpensive day blade that keeps color. When the outside light reflects off the cellophane, it at least stays red. My ultraedges and regular blades turn white or reflect the sky or bright room.
This doesn't fix the obvious tube issues. It's the same saber look as a regular blade in a dark room, but it turns into a red plastic core in a bright area. I don't have any blue or green cellophane yet. I'll post pictures when I get more colors to show.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

Homemade dayblade in a low level light room. These look the same to my naked eye. Any visible dimming by the layer of red cellophane is minimal.




Homemade dayblade turned off.




And this is what it's really for. Homemade dayblade turned on under a flash.



It preserves a bit more pure red color. Enough daylight makes it look like a red tube inside a clear tube. Nothing withstands direct sunlight. I don't see how other dayblades would overtake that much ambient light. But, as the light reaches a point that a regular blade begins to fade, this keeps color more. In a dark room, I have a saber as usual. In a low lit room, I have a saber as usual. In a bright room, I have a saber with a bit more color. Eventually, there is a point where the ambient light takes away any illusion of a lightsaber making it obviously a shiny tube, but this one becomes a red tube instead of silver tube.

I haven't found a place with other colors of cellophane, unless I order it online and wait for shipping. The point was cheap, so I will wait until I find something local.

[Grey Owl]

Ooh, a red core lightsaber!

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

Green and blue cellophane is giving me troubles. If the LED color isn't as deep a color as the cellophane, the edges where the cellophane was cut are clearly visible. It does give me an idea for a Kylo unstable blade look, but the red is not the one showing the cellophane edges. A bit of luck will be involved for the cellophane to match your LED color. More layers helps, but also darkens the blade.

I'm using adegan silver with color filters, so I just went through until I matched. I went without a blue filter, just to demonstrate the clear tip for anyone looking to copy this method. Just know what you'll get.

Off


On


On under flash


Colorless tip


Cellophane edges. Keep in mind this is adegan silver. A deep blue LED should perform more like the red. I just don't have a blue LED saber right now.

[Frat-man-du]

Looks great!!!  I think one way to hide the cellophane edges is to scuff or lightly sand the outside of the blade. The couple I saw at Awesome con had this done. I didn't notice the edge at all on those, of course maybe I just didn't look hard enough... But worth a shot.

[Rapine]

That's pretty awesome OWK.

A potential new standard?

Nicely done.
+1

[RevanReborn]

Very cool experiments!  i haven't had a chance to do much tinkering with blades but it's something I wanna do eventually for sure.  Sifu John has a post WAY back on this board where he does/ talks about this- he tried a whole bunch of colours and whatnot.  Can't remember the post the greatest, but don't remember him mentioning the seem... wondering if he figured out a way to avoid it?  Might be worth shooting him a pm- but I don't think he's been active for a long time... Who knows, worth a shot anyway? 

[Samhain138]

That's interesting.  The actual day blades I purchased are clear cellophane and the polycarbon is actually the colored part.  It does look pretty cool as a DIY.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

That's interesting.  The actual day blades I purchased are clear cellophane and the polycarbon is actually the colored part.  It does look pretty cool as a DIY.

I'm sure the actual day blades are better. But, these are cheap grab bags with cheap cellophane inside.

Looks great!!!  I think one way to hide the cellophane edges is to scuff or lightly sand the outside of the blade. The couple I saw at Awesome con had this done. I didn't notice the edge at all on those, of course maybe I just didn't look hard enough... But worth a shot.

I'd considered scuffing the clear blade in hopes of taking away the shine and reflection from surroundings even before putting in cellophane. That would likely make it something between ultraedge and standard. Scuffing now might white out the blade and hide the color again, even if concealing the cellophane edge. Whether UE or clear, the sun is blasting the color out of it by simply being brighter than the LED.

I'd really want a green ultraedge, for example. I've seen 'other guys' day blades, and I don't care for the semi clear outside with colored film inside. But, it does make sense, if it's to conceal the cellophane edge/seam. The blue is very noticeable. I've really got to look for it on the red, and you have to believe it's there to see it.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

I think using multiple jagged pieces can give an edge like flame. And/or twisting a colored cellophane could give a Kylo look, while keeping the outside smooth and duel worthy. I made a black core blade a while back with lightning etched into it.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwhpfzuwOwE" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwhpfzuwOwE</a>

I could likely do something similar with a light layer of color paint, instead of black, and carve spirals and flame pattern with some regions orange-ish and some deeper red.

It won't look as cool as the silicone method.
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=31930.msg484462#msg484462

[For Tyeth]

Hello Obese Wan Kenobese,

I saw this thread and your efforts with the cellophane film. I noticed on my regular duelling blade that the edges of the diffusion film doesn't form a seam running the length of the blade. It actually winds around the blade like the slide on a Helter Skelter. I found that if you cut the short edges of the film at an angle (forming an elongated parallelogram) the seams then spiral round the shaft of the blade. I experimented with a sheet of paper and a dowel first. For the cellophane you will have to experiment (use a sheet of newspaper) to find the best angle to cut the film to make the spiral less noticeable. I have included an image to show what I mean.



I believe this should work but as I mentioned just experiment first with a sheet of newspaper but you should be able to get a loose spiral effect which I think is less noticeable. You may also need to secure the cellophane at the tip and near the base. I hope this helps.

kind regards,

For Tyeth

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

Interesting idea For Tyeth. My Ultrasaber film was straight edged when I took it out. It still doesn't show in the blade. My color cellophane shows an edge of any pattern. It could be another way to put the spiral pattern in a Kylo blade. To me, I see his vents as harsh fast flowing flame with his main blade as a spiraling energy shifting blade with sparks. Thus, it's called 'unstable' and the sides are called 'vents'.

[For Tyeth]

Hello Obese Wan Kenobese,

I have seen a lot of experiments to recreate the Kylo crossguard Saber effect, ranging from using blade flicker effects, all the way to using icycle shaped garden LED lights through to silicone gel applied into little flame-like points on the blades. I hope you achieve the look you want, and I will keep watching this thread to see your progress.

kind regards,

For Tyeth

p.s. I believe the side blades are called Quillons and vent the excess energy produced by the cracked Khyber Crystal he uses.