[Cyborg] flexible EL in shoes

Eric Boyd mrericboyd at yahoo.com
Wed Nov 10 23:21:44 UTC 2010


Yes, scratches show up better, because they break the total internal 
refraction.  I actually got a deal on the rod because it was roughed up 
a bit, but that was a positive benefit for my project :-)

I had an idea to that I should carve runes into the staff, and the runes 
would glow extra awesome due to the same effect.  Ran out of time before 
I got around to that though, it's another thing I'll do for next year...

Eric



On 11/10/10 5:49 PM, Tomm wrote:
> Do scratches show up brighter in your staff? I've worked with side-glow
> fiber optic cable, which is really nothing more than extruded plastic
> like acrylic, and yeah, not too much light escapes when the outside
> surface is smooth.
>
> You might try using very fine sandpaper on the exterior, it may increase
> the light output tremendously. At least, that's how it worked with
> small-diameter (1/32" to 1/2") sideglow, might not be so dramatic with
> your ~2" diameter acrylic.
>
> Tomm
>
> On 11/10/10 6:21 AM, Eric Boyd wrote:
>> It isn't so much the LEDs - the RGBs I used were themselves super bright
>> in regular room light (enough to make them hard to look at). It's that
>> I was expecting them to light up the whole length of a huge acrylic rod.
>> They just didn't do that effectively.
>>
>> Still, you're probably right - if I went with three separate LEDs of the
>> kind of brightness that the one you link has (800 mcd @ 20mA! Most
>> superbrights I've used are in the 200-300 region...), I bet that would
>> make a difference.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11/9/10 10:25 PM, Steven McDonald wrote:
>>> On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 9:00 AM, Sean Cusack<sean.p.cusack at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> The wizard staff was sweet BTW. Interesting to hear that the RGB
>>>> LEDs still
>>>> needed super darkness to work. Although I'm using white LEDs to get
>>>> the best
>>>> brightness bag for my power input buck, it sounds like it may be
>>>> unlikely to
>>>> see mine in daylight too (doh).
>>> Kingbright makes some single color LEDs that are extremely bright for
>>> 20 mA of power. I got some from Mouser:
>>> http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kingbright/WP7113SED/?qs=O%252b3PzI9Hd0P37a2NUmLn2A%3d%3d
>>>
>>> (available in several colors and IIR clear or diffused. The link is
>>> for the orange diffused ones I have).
>>>
>>> They're actually blindingly bright in the dark. I haven't looked at
>>> them much in daylight, but they are quite visible in a well lit room.
>>> As you guys say, these things are hard to photograph, but I'll give it
>>> a try if anyone is interested.
>>>
>>> -Steve
>>>
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>
>



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