Fiber Optic Cable ! Where to buy ?

[liteglow]

Hi

where I can buy some Fiber Optic Cable ?
I need it to be thick.. ( 5-20mm ) and like 10cm long ..

On my Water-jet project, I need to have the light source INSIDE the water tank.
So if I don't find someway to make my luxeon LED water proof, I must place them outside the box, and have a fiber optic cable going inside the water :-)

Something like this image :




Another idea if to maybe use some cheap RED\green laser-diodes , and make them water-proof.
And then put them inside my water tank directly under the water output.


any ideas here to help me ?

[Laser Ben]

You can do it nicely by gently heating a acrylic rod and bending it. Make sure not to touch the area that is heated so as not to get any marks on the surface.

[liteglow]

hmm
Yes that is also an idea
Thanx for the tip.


I did also find this on eBay .
After some searching I did find out that "this" is the common cable to use in ponds and pools.
http://cgi.ebay.com/150-Strand-End-G...1|293:1|294:50

[danielbriggs]

How about some aquarium tubing? or does it have to be solid core?

[Laser Ben]

Hmmm... I don't know how well that stranded cable will work. It will be a pain to cut the ends to get all the light out. The thing I love about the acrylic is that it is cheap and you can make any shape you want. Also, if you want one part to glow, you can lightly scratch a small part of the rod and it will show the light there.

[Laserman532]

Hmmm... I don't know how well that stranded cable will work. It will be a pain to cut the ends to get all the light out. The thing I love about the acrylic is that it is cheap and you can make any shape you want. Also, if you want one part to glow, you can lightly scratch a small part of the rod and it will show the light there.

to get the light out of the end of the plastic fibers, cut it with a saw then heat the end with a light torch...Viowalla, fire polished end.

[tocket]

Won't the water be a problem for the optical fiber as well? As the refractive index of water is much different from that of air, that might disturb the internal reflectance in the fiber. Am I missing something?

[mixedgas]

Won't the water be a problem for the optical fiber as well? As the refractive index of water is much different from that of air, that might disturb the internal reflectance in the fiber. Am I missing something?

I've had good luck with www.fiberopticproducts.com using the large, solid core, single fibers. The web site is cheesy HTML, but product was good.

You might need to put some black heat shrink around the fiber when its wet. I'd wash the heatshrink with alcohol to clean it too.

Steve

[sugeek]

I have melted/bent/formed a bunch of acrylic using a heat gun with great sucess, don't get it too hot or it will bubble.

-Adam

[Things]

Here in Cairns, we have a water park that uses water jets. They also have uplighting like your trying to do. Instead of using 1 big fibre, you can also use a few smaller ones gathered together