finished my saber but having trouble... need help

[Darth Ultionis]

hey guys,

1---I just finished my first MHS saber and I am having trouble keeping the blade in when I choreograph for my fanfilm. We are using wooden dowels as blades keep in mind because this is for a film and if they get damaged they are easily replaced. Anyway, as soon as you swing the saber the blade shakes and the thumbscrew thingy come loose. I tried roughing up the edge of the thumbscrew against pavement but it didn't rough it up too much. Any one have any other ideas?

2--- When I bought the pieces to my saber I didn't buy any type of belt clip because I didn't know how the convertec clip screwed in if the hilt had to be threaded first and I didn't want to screw into my hilt. So what I did was buy one of those cell phone like convertecs but it doesn't stick well with the adhesive or super glue. Any other ideas on what I can use?

Please help.
Thanks

[TimeRender]

If you're using wood dowels for blades, the easiest thing to do would be drill into the wood. As for your clip, glue just isn't going to cut it. If you aren't sure what you're doing, check out the tutorials. Honestly though, there isn't anything to it. You just drill the hole, screw the tap into the hole, unscrew the tap, and screw on the knob. It takes about 1 minute and that sucker isn't going anywhere after that.

[Darth Ultionis]

drill into the wood. How would the retention screw fit into a hole it's not that long?

[TimeRender]

Well if your screw is long enough to hold a polycarb blade in place, there ought to be enough length to secure a wooden blade. The hole doesn't exactly need to be deep. Perhaps you roughed up the edge too much and the screw is too short now?

[Darth Ultionis]

I'll give the hole in the wood a try. I don't have a polycarb blade for it btw.

[Darth Ultionis]

I think it's ok now. It just wobbles side to side but doesn't move out of the emitter at all. Do other peoples blade wiggle from side to side? They mustthe way it sits in the holder, no?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

The polycarbonate blades I have don't wobble in the blade holder at all. I'm guessing you're using a 1" wood dowel? It may not be the exact same diameter of the polycarbonate blades. Wood sizes rarely are the advertised dimensions, so it may be slightly smaller than 1".

[ArkaiHalon]

Duct tape will help beef up the end of the dowel to keep it from wobbling.

[Jeb Ardunis]

If you're going the dowel way, you want to make sure that the OD of the dowel will fit into the ID of the emitter, and the drilling into the dowel would secure it into place. Maybe shimming it with like a PVC sleeve to slip over the dowel but sitting under the thumbscrew might help.

If it still wobbles some, it's just my thought, but perhaps the dowel is too long, making the added weight unbalance the entire assembly?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

The location of the thumbscrew may also be an issue. If it's too far back from the face of the emitter, it would put it too close to the end of the dowel rod. The blade holder is designed to hold 2 inches of the blade in the holder, and the screw works best when it's 1 inch or closer from the front of the emitter face.