Would it be feasible to wire a pixel blade as a 288 led long strip (2 strips in series), rather than as two 144 strips in parallel? The idea is that you could then control opposite sides of the blade strip independently, allowing for a better unstable blade effect than simply by changing brightness of the blade at x inches down it’s length. Not sure if that description makes sense or not, but it would be like having two independent data channels.
I think what you want is a zig-zag blade.
Instead of using two separate data channels, you just have the data travel up one strip and down the other. Use subbladereverse() in the blade definition and it looks just like two separate blades.
That was exactly what I was thinking of!
Zig-zag blades are fun:
Of course, this is a quad-strip zig-zag blade… 
I just watched that and I’m sold. Unfortunately I just bought my led strips and I think they are the bigger ones, so that will be a future project. But… are there any necessary mods I should include in the hilt so that it can accept a quad zig-zag in the future? In particular I’m wondering about current and your mention of extra FETs…. Fair warning, I can solder well, but I’m not up to speed on electronics beyond simple stuff.
*I don’t need it… I don’t need it… *
I NEEEEEEED IIIIIIIIIITTTTT!
Gotta try something like that at some point…
@profezzorn may I ask where you got the skinny strips you used in that blade? I’m having a tough time finding them for less than $40 or so, but that seems like way more than they should cost.
ebay, although the particular seller I got them from doesn’t seem to be available anymore.
Try Aliexpress. There is a small risk you will not get what you want!
2m SK6812 3535 8mm
1m SK6812 3535 7mm
Read the descriptions carefully and check the reviews. I have order from both these places, but it does take a long time to get here.
I got mine from Sparkfun’s Amazon store. $30 per strip 1m.
Side note: I made a tri-blade with all 3 strips feeding from the same data pin on the blade connectoin PCB (All three strips duplicated). Prof’s post about Zig-Zag blades made me realize that I missed a golden opportunity to make them independentally controlled and do some really cool animations. Ill have to go in and correct that at some point…or try to make a quad blade in a 7/8" tube.