PVC hilt without a blade holder

Hi guys! I'm in the process of making my first lightsaber, which will have a PVC hilt. I'm using two pipes; a 1 and 1/4 inch and a 1 inch pipe. I have a 1 inch thick walled blade that fits perfectly into the hole of the inner PVC pipe. I thought that I might be able to drill multiple screws that hold the blade in but I'm nervous that the hilt may break without a blade holder while sparring. The PVC is very strong but I want to make sure it doesn't break. Just to be clear there isn't any room in between the blade and the inner 1 inch pipe. Let me know what you think can be done! Thanks a lot!

I’ve built around 30 PVC saber hilts, using the 1” pvc for the main body (no metal blade holder) with 1 & 1/4” pvc as shroud.

I used a single 8-32 Socket Head screw to hold the blade in place, using a “hex drive wood insert” screwed into the pvc first. (You can wear out pvc easily by threading & unthreading a screw repeatedly, and retention screws do that the most)

It holds the blade in place well enough, though if requiring a tighter fit, a wrap of aluminum tape around the blade works well (Schedule 40 pvc has a slightly larger than 1” ID). Also, you can build the saber to have a longer part of the blade inside the hilt for extra rigidity (which I’ve done for the hilts for kids) say 2.5”.

I’ve swung & twirled and I an not afraid of the hilt breaking, though I would only be comfortable for light to maybe medium dueling, and most defiantly NOT heavy dueling or full sparring.

Any chance of showing us what you're dealing with? might help get some ideas on how to do it.

The parts
Attachment 16267

Fitted together
Attachment 16268

Assembled in the prototype saber
Attachment 16269

Exterior view in a finished pvc saber
Attachment 16270

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Originally Posted by jmebspence

Hi guys! I'm in the process of making my first lightsaber, which will have a PVC hilt. I'm using a two pipes; a 1 and 1/4 inch and a 1 inch pipe. I have a 1 inch thick walled blade that fits perfectly into the hole of the inner PVC pipe. I thought that I might be able to drill multiple screws that hold the blade in but I'm nervous that the hilt may break without a blade holder while sparring. The PVC is very strong but I want to make sure it doesn't break. Just to be clear there isn't any room in between the blade and the inner 1 inch pipe. Let me know what you think can be done! Thanks a lot!

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I think you have your monikers mixed up. A hilt is what holds the blade, not some separate part of the saber that magically adds strength to the saber and holds the blade. Youll be quite fine, but if it does break, PVC is insanely cheap and you can start over or repair it :)

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Originally Posted by jmebspence

I have a 1 inch thick walled blade that fits perfectly into the hole of the inner PVC pipe.

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I missed that you said “THICK WALLED BLADE” originally.
It is true, that you can, at full force, strike a object with a thick walled polycarbonate blade and it will survive (I’ve tested that myself in aluminum hilt sabers), but thick walled blades are significantly heavier than their thin walled brethren.
I used thin walled blades in my pvc sabers.

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Originally Posted by jmebspence

I'm nervous that the hilt may break without a blade holder while sparring.

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Just for the record, do you mean this, or this, or this, or this?

Shorter insertion into a hilt, and/or a heavier blade adds to the stress at the join between the blade and hilt. Longer insertion (more area in contact between the parts to distribute the forces) and/or a lighter blade (less weight swinging around generates less force), reduces the stress of impacts from dueling.

I don’t see the advantage of a aluminum blade holder in your senerio, as those in the store will not fit inside the 1”pvc pipe I’m assuming will be the main tube in the body of your hilt (and the 1.25” pvc will be for accents/shroud/etc?). Using the 1.25” pvc will still have slight wiggle room between one of the 1.25” blade holders (as the pvc ID is just a smidge larger than 1.25”), and connecting that to a 1” pvc pipe would just add another point where stress can cause failure.

If you are sticking with a pvc hilt, my suggestion would be to 1) keep the main part of the body simple, ie one sold piece of 1” pvc (you can embellish it); 2) use a thin walled blade; 3) insert it at least 2” into the 1” pvc body, using aluminum tape (or such) to get a better (tighter) fit.
This should give you a saber suitable for medium dueling.

If anyone has built a pvc saber, using a thick walled blade, that has full on sparred (heavy dueled) and they are fine with it (no issues), I’d love to hear about it as well. I figured go lighter (in dueling and thin walled blade) to be safe for my builds.

Pics of what youre using will help too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmebspence

Hi guys! I'm in the process of making my first lightsaber, which will have a PVC hilt. I'm using two pipes; a 1 and 1/4 inch and a 1 inch pipe. I have a 1 inch thick walled blade that fits perfectly into the hole of the inner PVC pipe. I thought that I might be able to drill multiple screws that hold the blade in but I'm nervous that the hilt may break without a blade holder while sparring. The PVC is very strong but I want to make sure it doesn't break. Just to be clear there isn't any room in between the blade and the inner 1 inch pipe. Let me know what you think can be done! Thanks a lot!

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give this a read, it may help you out, even though some of the tech is old and out of date:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...l-on-last-page