How is fiber optics used in lighting on layouts? I work for a company who plows it in for railroads and have an unlimited supply of fiber, but I am ignorant to how it is used? I know it lights up , but how do I use it? Are there any web sites? [?]
The fiber itself is half the battle. If you have access to it, you are ahead of the curve. Talk with some of your technicians about their recommendations.
Basically, if you take the fiber and “run” it to a small point, making sure not to try to turn a tight corner (it is brittle,) then gently cut the “display” end. Lightly sand, or poli***hat end (there are tools for this, your technicians can help with.)
The other end must point directly at a fairly bright light source. (I have heard that for simple lighting, you can CA the source end to the middle of a fairly bright LED, but there are special glues and light sources available if you get deep into this.)
Now, the power source will typically be out of sight (in a building or under your layout, or point all of your fiber back to a main “light box” somewhere. The light box or source needs to be well sealed to prevent light from leaking out where you don’t want it.
From there it is very straightforward. Fiber will take the light along it’s length for a very long distance, where the cut end is “displayed,” the light will emit because there is no more fiber to follow.
To understand this whole gathering and displaying stuff, look at the new cheap archery sights. They litterally wind the fiber around a circular sight, then feed it in to the display points. The ambient light goes through the “winds,” on the outside of the sight and travel brightly to the display end.
Now, in true fiber optic communication, the light emmitters are strobe like, so they can flick on and off brightly for milliseconds, so those sources themselves would not be usefull, but the housing would be a straightforward method of connecting small lightsources, once you remove the strobe and install your own light.
Beware of heat buildup, and know that it will transmit whatever light it is exposed to, so play around with it. (I just wish I had a handfull of fiber to work with also, but I have been too
Multi-Unit,
If you haven’t had the opportunity to read it already, you may want to look at this thread.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11978
Other possible uses for fiber optics would be vehicle headlights and railroad or highway traffic signals. (Some model signals may already use fiber optics.) Yet another potential use would be “running rabbit” lights around a movie theater marquee, if that’s appropriate to the era you’re modeling. With your relatively unlimited supply, you might be able to make some real contributions to the modeling art.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
FIber optics for trains can be used to light building or lamp posts. What you do is heat one end until it forms a ball then let it cool. That is the end that goes in the building or lamp post. Then paint the remainder of the strands silver and then black. The silver reflects any side loss back into the fiber and the black is mental assurance that it can’t be seen. Run the other end to a bulb so it points at the bulb and you now have a lit building with no fear of heat damage. You can also do thing like chase lights for a theater sign by putting a rotating slotted disk between the bulb end and the fiber ends
I have been thinking about this in great detail. (I work on N Scale, so this is really interesting to me.)
Instead of “pointing” the light end to the bulb, look at the sights I mentioned. They have no paint on the sides (which gave me this thought.)
Wrap the fiber in a wide continuous loop around a clear object or in such a way they are “exposed” to the light source but not necessarily touching it. This would “pick up” the most amount of light in your “source box”. Then paint the “run” to the light post, etc… as suggested to “seal” the light in the fiber! I mean you could literally have a big “source box” for multiple outputs in a central location under the board. Then run the fiber to the individual areas. Less fault points, less bulbs to change, etc…
I HAVE TO GET SOME FIBER TO MESS WITH… THIS COULD BE A REALLY COOL ADDITION (N Scale is so hard to find cool lighting for.)