We've talked about this illusion before ... this time I'm curious if anyone has found a replacement bulb that is not the traditional 40W showcase bulb with the filament. As you know they are phasing this type of bulb out of existence and eventually I'll need to find some sort of replacement. I remember seeing a video online of JC Sum using the Sommers prop with LED bulbs.

Any leads for a source for them?

Steve

Actually they are going to continue making the showcase bulbs. They are exempt from the new ruling along with 22 other types of bulbs.

The exemption is only a temporary reprieve. Eventually they will be phased out, so you are right to make the switch sooner rather than later. However, consider the advantages of LED lights. You can make your own long tube lights by taking any clear plastic cylinder (such as the type currently used to protect flourescent tubes) and fill it with LED lights of your own choosing (for colors and special effects). This can be battery operated, so you are no longer required to be connected to the electric grid to perform with them. I think it will open up new possibilities for other illusions and stage magic. I have been playing around with stuff from here: http://www.flashingpanda.com/Item.asp?id=436

Qua-Fiki is considering using these as swords for his Cardboard Sword Box.

Years ago we built a black sword basket for Chris Carter. It was fiberglass and had a smooth shiney finish like a car. We but red leds along the four corners and you could program them to chase in different paterns. The swords we built looked a lot like the lightsabers on the websight Spellbinder mentions. They were programable also.

It looks like it would be farely easy to convert those lightsabers for the Light Bulbs Thru Lady, but for my money there's just something about those showcase bulbs that make the effect. I'm not sure what. Maybe the fact that they are fragile and could break going thru.

The bulbs have to be a very specific size to fit within the prop. Toy light sabers won't cut it. As far as the bulbs being fragile and adding the element of danger to the illusion ... well, that's not a plus at all. Yes, the bulbs can break and there is even a chance of someone getting zapped with 110 volts!

All part of the fun ...

Steve

..or even 240 volts here in the UK. - Ironically, I'm just refurbishing one for a friend!

Buy a case or two of bulbs and be prepared for life!

Prepared for life? We actually go through them on a regular basis ... the filament goes bad.

I hope to be performing for many years to come ...

Steve

The cheapest showcase bulbs that I can find in the UK are $25 each (plus P&P)... and the usual price is nearer $55!

If you go to an electric supply company they can get them T-8's and T-10's.
I actually have had mine arch and got zapped before.

The old GE Showcase Bulbs use to have about a dozen supports for the filament. The current bulbs that are manufactured in China have maybe four supports. The lack of support causes premature arching of the filament. After all the bulbs are really never meant to be used other than in a piece of furniture ... that doesn't move.

Steve

It would require some modification of your prop, but acrylic rods with the ends polished and a lights or LEDs behind them to light them up would look similar but I am not sure it would have the same effect as seeing actual lightbulbs passing through your assistant. I suppose the front end of the rods could be domed and polished to look more like lightbulbs.

Would an LED strip be an option? It comes in 15 feet rolls, many colors including warm white to mimic incandescents. Its only about 1/8" thick, adhesive-backed, takes anything between 6 and 12 volts and you can cut it any lenght you need in 3 LED increments, and all the strips have their own terminals so there's no waste-just solder new leads. Its a plug and play system, no need to calculate resistors. Of course its not quite the same look.

Ask Jim if he still has the box my mom sold him.
We had found some that dad used for his LBC
and he bought them. It was like a box of 15.

Just as a spare.

AGmagic hits an important part of the illusion. Laymen know that glass bulbs do not bend. They do know about LED, rope lights and other such things that do bend. Unless you can permanently establish that the later does not bend, the illusion does not work.

Steve, I would do some goggle searches for old showcase or display companies. There is a chance that they might have some old bulbs in the back. It will take a lot of leg work but it might be worth it.

The other option that would involve a major rework is to make a poly carbonate (or something similar). Fake the inside illumination with some kind of miniature rope light that would be suspended like the filament in the tube. I am not sure that you could get enough light from that though. You may have to combine it with a light at the base (kind of like a milk in light bulb). Use a Halogen lamp.

Richard

I still think we are beating a dead horse here. According to the (EISA) of 2007 they are NEVER planning to stop the manufacturing or importing of the Showcase Bulbs.

I like what Eldon has to say!

Steve