Any ideas on how to get "yoda"-type rubber grips?

[Braxus]

anyone got ideas on how to get "yoda"-type rubber grips? Im looking all over they place, internet, homedepot, and other hardware stores for something that even resembles em, but so far no luck.

anyone?? :)

[Madcow]

You could use craft foam (it comes in sheets - Michaels), and attach it with 2 sided tape.

It can look like this:
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabers/Crystal%20Polycarb%20collage.JPG

MC

[xwingband]

If you duel I'd only use craft foam as a last resort. I used gasket tape which industrial strength stuff just like it and it goes to pieces with too much handling.

[Arm on Fire]

you can find adheasive backed neoprene rubber in differnt thicknesses at www.mcmaster.com and cut them to the shape you want.

[Braxus]

you can find adheasive backed neoprene rubber in differnt thicknesses at www.mcmaster.com and cut them to the shape you want.

yea, neoprene rubber strips were some of the materials i was looking into. I wasnt sure how well it would work but with your suggestion AoF i might just buy some and test it out.

[BlackDOG]

The grips I used were industrial type vinyl baseboard...like the stuff they use in hospitals and schools. I bought a 6 foot length for like $5.00 It worked great. The biggest problem was cutting it accurately and cleanly. I ended up cutting the rounded rectangles out and then stacking them together and trimming them on the edges...sort of a like using a plane, except it was a exacto......

Here it is....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/Birdlaw/Sabers/DSC00346.jpg

and

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/Birdlaw/Sabers/DSC00301.jpg


I sanded the MHS parts before putting the contact cement on.....I am not entirely happy with the bond. Some oozed out and I had to trim that back off. I also was frustrated by the rigidity of the stuff. Its flexible, but has a hard time maintianing the small radius of the MHS. I heated it slightly to get it to conform to the sides. I will ultimately use some sort of epoxy to tack the edges down when I finish this one off......

The thickness of the baseboard is sopt on, and the color, pretty close. I think the solid material will look better that the neoprene......but then again, it depends on the look you want.


Hope that helps.

bd

[Darth Lars]

Techniques I have heard people use to make the grip for Yoda's saber:
* Get rubber T-grips from the store and cut the fin.
* Plastic or metal, spray with Plasti-Dip.
* Cheap mouse-pad + carpet tape.

How the real grips were made (written by Steve Dyzmo, who later founded Master Replicas):


"The grips were originally cast in a hard resin (by me) from aluminum master patterns machined by my shop. I made the rubber molds from these metal masters and cast the grips. Ed didn't like the hard resin grips, so a few weeks later, I recast another set for him in a dark gray/ black resin with a 60 durometer hardness. He attached those himself. As opposed to what someone on the RPF recently said, the grips were never flat. The master patterns were machined to match the curvature of the 1 1/8" tube from the beginning."

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

What if you cut them out of appropriately sized PVC, and glued them on with JB Weld? They would be hard, but I bet they'd never come off.

[astromech_kuhns]

that sound good and if you need more of a grip feeling use black tape around it. pvc would work nice for most detail i think.

[Jedi-Loreen]

If you mean electrical tape, ugh, that stuff can be sticky.

I, personally, would never make grips out of that.

[astromech_kuhns]

well not even electrical tape but any black tape or grip. now on my main sabe ri would not use raly anything but metal but on others i might use pvc.

[Vazan Maceu]

I was thinking about this and came up with the idea of using a section of thick walled rubber hose cut to your taste, and found this (http://acehose.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=9)... Thought it may be useful for your purpose.