THE CUTTING EDGE -- Fencing classes, staged combat, swordplay lessons, footwork, and workshops in sabre and foil in the San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA

Note: No affliation with Lucasfilm, LTD. All rights and Star Wars concepts belong solely to Lucasfilm, LTD. All music by John Williams. Original sound effects by Ben Burtt.

~~ BALANCE OF POWER: Saber Design ~~

When I first dreamed up “Balance of Power”, I never imagined the complexity that the lightsabers would end up causing. I initially realized that the Master Replicas Force FX™ sabers would not survive the true rigors of good staged combat (nor were they so intended). I needed something specially crafted, something hand-designed… something tough!

My first real research and attempt was to have a lighting designer from Velocity Circus (Jeremy Lutes) modify the programming in his existing “light staves” (which created gorgeous visuals and images in the air when spun under the right conditions). However, this would be no easy modification since these light staves were also not intended for staged combat. More research was necessary, and so I continued looking for the right fit for our needs.

I had heard of EL (Electro-Luminescence) sabers, but I also knew that this technology neither offered the brightness nor the “growing / retracting” blades that we would be looking for. They were not for us. Plasma sabers were most certainly out, due to their volatile and fragile nature, and limited color choices.

It appeared that there was little left to select from, and that I might have to settle for something as crude as glow paint or glow sticks—not very exciting!

Then, I stumbled upon the “LED saber Q&As” thread on www.theforce.net's Jedi Council forums, under costuming & props. To be honest, I was looking for costuming tips and help at this point! Still, I assumed the thread was mostly about the Master Replicas™ sabers, and didn’t think much of it when I “clicked”.

Surprisingly, a fairly new technology was being worked upon by several individuals from all places and all walks of life—“Luxeon sabers”, which were basically a single, high-powered LED lighting a polycarbonate tube containing a diffuser. Initially, I didn’t think much of this, considering having only ONE LED lighting the entire tube sounded pretty futile to me… I thought it would be far too dim to produce the effect we wanted to achieve.

However, the LEDs being utilized were the brightest in the

United States

(possibly the world)—Lumileds’ Luxeon LEDs. To make a long story short, a side by side comparison of an Master Replicas™ saber and a Luxeon 3-watt Star Hex LED saber… was almost unbelievable. A SINGLE LED was brighter than a series of SIXTY-FOUR. That’s right… one LED vs. 64.

After reading every single solitary page of LED Q&A thread on TF.N, my decision was almost 100% in favor of the technology. When I realized that with no architecture stored inside the polycarbonate “blade” tube—there was nothing to break—I knew I was on the right track. This design was extremely different from the other designs I had studied.

Joe Muniz taking a photo of the Dark Master's Staff

I also learned that there were three “main” designers posting about Luxeon style sabers, and they were jokingly referred to as the “Luxeon Holy Trinity”, since all three pretty much shared knowledge, ideas and help with one another, as opposed to working against one another all the time. These three designers are: “Corbin Das” (Joe Muniz of www.corbinscomponents.com), “Strydur” (Tim Yaskus of www.thecustomsabershop.com), and “UltraSWG” (Alex of www.ultrasabers.com)

Then I was concerned about the polycarbonate tubes themselves. Would they stand up to the challenge of hard strikes and parries? My concerns were immediately placated as I saw videos of people demonstrating the strength of 1” wide, 1/8” thick blades… people stepping on them… bending them ridiculously… whacking them against cement… it was almost unreal. I suppose a good comparison is to tell you that diamond is to glass as good polycarbonate is to “basic” plastic.

Now it was up to me to contact the aptly named “Holy Trinity” and find out how these sabers could be completed for my project “Balance of Power”… I proposed my project ideas to all three via e-mail, with plans to later call them in person.

Some time passed (not much), and my phone rang. Area code 502?? I live in San Jose, my area code was 408, and I’d never heard of 502. It was Joe Muniz, “Corbin Das” of corbinscomponents.com. He was calling from Michigan and we started to speak about what could work, what wouldn’t and so forth.

After that, needless to say, saber designs, thoughts, ideas, problems, solutions and everything in between became the subject of many an e-mail between myself and Joe. Even as I write this, more sabers are being generated for the project, and it has involved the help of Ryan from Randomsabers.com, Tim Yaskus, and several others whom only Corbin knows best!

So now—I leave it to you to enjoy some of the photos of the lightsaber designs, schematics, problems, and photos of them 100% lit! The sabers of “Balance of Power”—below!

Below are some images of the working prop sabres, along with design schematics.
These will give you an idea of how involved designing a "combat ready" sabre can be.
Months of preparation, design, repair, construction and work were needed, and our main designer (Joe Muniz of corbinscomponents.com) had no easy task.

Custom machining was done by many parties, including Ryan from randomsabers.com and Tim Yaskus of thecustomsabershop.com

Two of the lightsabers created for my project were direct conversions of the Master Replicas Force FX sabers, altered by myself to be Luxeon LED sabers. They were very basic, but went together quickly and without much strife. My "padawan" in the Balance of Power piece and friend Phillip Raupach (Cael Nordiun) greatly assisted in the creation of these sabers, along with my fencing student, Nitin Egbert.

Further, many repairs have been needed as the lightsabres have run into problems! Mainly, Phil and myself took on the charge of adjusting, repairing, altering and tweaking problematic issues with each sabre! It has been a learning experience for certain!


	Click here for a photo slideshow!

BALANCE oF PoWER

Performance Dates

Event   :     501st get together (Backyard Party)
Date(s)            :           May 20^th (this is a more relaxed “test” performance)
City, ZIP, Ph    :           Hilmar, CA 95324
Website, etc.   :           http://501st.org/

Event   :     BayCon
Date(s)            :           Saturday & Sunday, May 28^th - May 29^th
Time(s)            :           8:00 PM, courtyard area, “The Warzone”
Address           :           2050 Gateway Place
City, ZIP, Ph    :           San Jose, CA 95110      Tel: 408-453-4000 Fax: 408-437-2898
Website, etc.   :           http://baycon.org/

Event   :     SCu, Atlas School of Dance Recital
Date(s)            :           Friday June 23^rd and Saturday June 24^th
Time(s)            :           TBD, these will be evenings, around 7PM
Address           :           Santa Clara University, Louis B. Mayer theatre, 500 El Camino Real
City, ZIP, Ph    :           Santa Clara, CA 95053
Website, etc.   :           http://atlasdance.com/studio_calendar.html

Event   :     California State Fair (Confirmed)
Date(s)            :           September 1^st
Time(s)            :           3 performances, around 4PM for 1st performance and forward
Address           :           1600 Exposition Blvd. (CAL EXPO)
City, ZIP, Ph    :           Sacramento, CA 95815
Website, etc.   :           http://bigfun.org

Event   :     Lincoln Glen Church Event
Date(s)            :           Sunday, July 2^nd
Time(s)            :           TBD, most likely late AM to early PM (window of 10 to 3?)
Address           :           2700 Booksin Avenue
City, ZIP, Ph    :           San Jose, CA 95125
Our Contact    :           Larry Albright
Website, etc.   :           N/A

Event   :     The Cutting Edge Fencing Camp
Date(s)            :           Saturday, August 5^th
Time(s)            :           TBD, most likely 11AM-ish
Address           :           1 North San Antonio Road
City, ZIP, Ph    :           Los Altos, CA
Our Contact    :           Matthew (Novastar)
Website, etc.   :           http://www.thecuttingedge.s5.com

Event   :     zero / one (01) TechnologY FESTivAL
Date(s)            :           August 9^th
Time(s)            :           Dusk (this will depend, but around say 7 or 8 PM)
Address           :           San Pedro Street @ Cinema San Pedro
City, ZIP, Ph    :           San Jose, CA 95112

Others TBD, such as children’s hospitals or schools. That all depends on dates, times, scheduling and so forth!

More information coming soon!

Balance of Power will return in the following episodes...

(Coming Soon!)

(Coming in 2007/2008)

A jedi master and his now well-experienced student execute a mission of stealth, finding their way aboard the enemy ship “The Phoenix”. Attempting to both gather information and to install a type of computer-virus inside the ship’s systems, they are discovered by the Phoenix’s crew. This leads to a series of events and heroic battles the master and student never expected, as the fate of The Phoenix is determined by luck, skill… and a dark master’s guile and guise!

Former assistant to a jedi master, a recently promoted master helps to train the young heroes of tomorrow. The academy is rich with tools and droids in order to help promising children to learn. But, within one student, a darkness haunts the depths of the child’s soul, and his teachers grow worried. A dark jedi pays an uninvited “visit”, claiming diplomacy as a motive. In the final hour, a darkness that is hardly to be believed awaits this jedi academy. The fate of many battlers—both good and evil—are weighed upon the scales of fortune, as “Balance of Power” reaches its horrifying conclusion!