Small Light Pipes/Tubes and Fibre Optics

[Th232]

First of all, I'm not really sure where to put this. Maybe it should be here, since this is for a hand held light, but light pipes seem to be more common in fixed lighting, so maybe it should be there.:shrug:

Anyhow, a couple of small questions.

I've been looking for some small diameter light pipes, unfortunately all I've seen so far are huge ones for architectural use. Does anyone know of any sources for relatively thin ones? Ideally I'd like 6 of them, about 12-15 mm dia, 90-100 mm long. If they're hollow, an ID of 9 mm or so would be awesome.

Second, my backup plan for this is to use fibre optics. That said, which is more efficient, single core cables, or multiple strand? I have this feeling that single core is, but I haven't seen anything to tell me yes or no. On that note, from what I've read, fibre optics are less efficient in terms of total output lost, I presume it'd be a function of the light that hits the walls at too steep an angle.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[UberLumens]

Lucite tubes may work for you. they used to be in kids toys and such.

not sure on solid core/stranded but fiber optics should be pretty efficient either way

 

[Th232]

Thanks for the pointer on that, got that down as another option.

Any other comments from people?

 

[DM51]

saabluster was doing some research into this a while back. Try a PM to him - he may be able to help.

 

[PCC]

Do you need the pipes to be flexible? You can buy acrylic rods that will probably work quite well as light pipes but they're probably not going to bend very well. You'll just need to polish the ends to get this to work. I think they use acrylic in fiber optics.

 

[Th232]

Thanks for the pointer DM, PMing him now.:thumbsup:

PCC, they don't need to be flexible at all, will also put down acrylic on my list of options.