Blade into holders

[Kenico]

Lets say I have a 1 Inch OD Polycarbonate Blade and I want to place it into a home made holder. How deep does the blade have to be in order to

A: It will be snug and secure
B: It will not stress the blade out during dueling and break off from the emitter

In other words how much of the blade has to be in the home made emitter (that is of two pieces put together but the main tube is approximately 2 inches long and has a 1 inch inner diameter, the last part is estimated cause it can hold the 1 inch OD Polycarbonate Tube without a problem) for it not say...break off during a duel or sparring?

[darth_chasm]

Hard to really say what is safe with DIY stuff. I can say that MHS blade holders generally take in around 2" of blade.

[Greenie]

Hello there. Welcome to the forums. TCSS blade holders have a depth of 2 inches, you should be ok with the same. :mrgreen:

[Kenico]

So the General Consensus is that 2 Inches of blade inside the emitter will make it safe for it to be used in duels? if so excellent and I shall double my efforts to make needed mods Thank you!

[FenixFire]

Hard to really say what is safe with DIY stuff. I can say that MHS blade holders generally take in around 2" of blade.. Is that 2" in addition to the .8" taken up by the led holder, or including? Starting my second holder tonight, so timely question.

[darth_chasm]

Blade holder 3 is 1.815-ish from end to lip. About the same for BH 1

[Kenico]

So to be clear one more time before I start final construction. 2 inches inside the blade holder will make it safe to use as say a dueling saber? Is that correct?

[Jay-mo]

I concur with most of the comments: 2" deep, 1"ID Blade Holder works great. Very durable. I've found the BRTS is best placed about half way in.

I do, however, have a 1" deep blade holder on my current "Test" saber. For the sake of testing, I tried some heavy blows on some lawn furniture pillows (No holding back).. Blade stayed secure. But again, this is my first test saber, made from aluminum pipes.

So, that being said, I'd say stick with a blade holder that keeps 1.5"-2" of the blade inside it. It should make it quite safe for dueling. What kind of dueling are you guys doing? All out in armor, or just some spirited dueling?

EDIT: 2" in the holder, not including the space for the LED heatsink. I use 1" OD 1.25" long LED heatsinks. I always have to factor that in.

EDIT: What material did you use for your DIY hilt? Thick-walled or thin-walled blade? How long is the blade?

[Kenico]

Most of the material is out of PVC Piping that is about say...1 3/4 inch Outer Diameter with 1 Inch Inner Diameter. My Blade is the 1 Inch Outer Diameter Thick Walled Polycarbonate blade that is 40 Inches long

and basically it looks like Obi Wan's Lightsaber...ish...

And it has electronics in it and I'm hoping to make it so that it could stand up to some heavy punishment even though it is unlikely

[Jay-mo]

Most of the material is out of PVC Piping that is about say...1 3/4 inch Outer Diameter with 1 Inch Inner Diameter. My Blade is the 1 Inch Outer Diameter Thick Walled Polycarbonate blade that is 40 Inches long

and basically it looks like Obi Wan's Lightsaber...ish...

And it has electronics in it and I'm hoping to make it so that it could stand up to some heavy punishment even though it is unlikely

Unfortunately, your hilt will break before that blade ever will in an all out duel. My friend and I gave this a test after it was pointed out to me, in an all-out sparring match. I volunteered to use the PVC, he used my aluminum hilt. Then we swapped hilts for a bit, and eventually agreed that the PVC was "Creaking" and that no one really felt comfortable using it with the thick-walled blades. I don't have any thin-walled blades to test it with, unfortunately.

Now, if your working with PVC and want to keep PVC hilts as your main hilt (Lets face it, you really can make some sick hilts with PVC!), try a thin-walled blade. If you want to have a durable, near-indestructible (Minus hilt innards) Saber, metal is the way to go for hardcore dueling. I wouldn't even say I duel "Hardcore" but our test was at full-strength with a little choreographing. Our blades were each 34" long, thick walled.

I love PVC hilts, they can really be something special and its such a fun medium to work with. But.. The thick walled blades are my only concern, like you have said. Perhaps check out some of that black furniture-grade PVC? I also hear epvc will hold up better, but have yet to try that.

[Kenico]

I know a metal hilt would do the trick but the thing is its expensive as heck and I dont have the right tools to mold metal the way I want it. If I could I would if I had the tools and dough but for now PVC is all I can do. As for Furniture Grade and EPVC? what is that and links if you can help me. and more importantly I'm working on using polycarbonate glues and screws to further reinforce the hilt. So far all I hear is a slight creaking but its holding well. hopefully it wont break under pressure :D

Though if any of you have some better material suggestions other than metal to make a sort of Ben Skywalker style saber i'm all ears! ^^

[Jay-mo]

EDIT @: Best bet would be a thin-walled blade, in that case. They are still very strong and even glow brighter. I also hear that thick-walled is only for people who REALLY go all out in duels (So, my younger brother and I in that case). Thin-walled blades are tough as nails too.

EPVC is a grey pvc, its electrical pvc. Its tougher, most hardware stores will sell it in 10' sections (You can also buy a nice 45 degree elbow for a curved hilt), and the furniture grade pvc is black pvc that you would probably need to call around for or order online. If i am right, both are stronger than typical white pvc and should be able to stand up to a thick walled blade.

If your just doing occasional, lighter dueling your probably okay with the blade in all honesty.

Now, as for glue, I like the clear jb-weld myself. I've had that on my blade tips- that stuff is tough. Screw wise, stainless steel screws are nice and easy to cut to size if your wire cutters have a screw cutter on them. Hex-screws also look cool and never strip like normal screws. Brass is also an option. Also, a tap+die set is helpful! I like the 8-32 screws. Small, but if you mess up a thread, just go a size up.

Other material suggestions would either buy aluminum pipes (I get mine from a local shop @ $2.50/ft), or the classic sink-tube saber. I literally use a rotary tool, file set, hacksaw, drill, die+tap set for mine, no drill press. Aluminum supplier was happy to help with a few cuts once i showed them a few pictures of what i had been making- the tricky part for that was finding a plug/cap.

Hope i was of some help!

EDIT: I think i may have to get a picture of that aluminum saber on here soon..