Ideas for "Cheap" blade holders?

[biojim]

I made four Lux III sabers for my kids this X-mas. They love them. But I was on a tight budget and had to realy strain my brain to come up with a cheap blade holder that would work with the sink tubes I got at Home Depot. I couldn't find any normal pipe or fitting that would couple the sink tube and have a 1" diameter opening for the blade. I ended up rolling the portion of the blade that enters the sink tube in rubber tape untill it just fit. Then I used thumb screws in the end of the sink tube. So far they have held up, which for my kids is amazing. For future blades I was wondering what other have done. I could always buy the holders from here (they look great) but I can never make just one and the dollars add up.

Also, what about cheap led holders/heatsinks. I ended up using a copper end cap but they do not fit the exact inside dimension of the sink tube so I ended up having to roll it in polymer clay then I mounted it on my drill press and sanded it, with sandpaper mounted to a block at 90 degrees, untill it just fit inside the tube and held it in place with a thumb screw. I had to drill holes in the endcap for the wires as well. All said and done the sabers work great, just a little laborious.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Using polymer clay around the heat sink is kind of defeating the purpose a bit.

The beauty of the MHS system is that is uses the whole hilt as a giant heat sink. It pulls the heat from the LED heat sink because it is in direct contact with the hilt.

[FenderBender]

The sabers you described would work better in Electrical conduit PVC. See Jay Gonn's thread on that and you'll be all set

[Jay-gon Jinn]

You do know that The Custom Saber Shop sells blade holders and adaptors to use in sink tubes, tight? That makes it a lot easier to make a light up saber if you use parts designed for this purpose.

[Ideal]

You do know that The Custom Saber Shop sells blade holders and adaptors to use in sink tubes, tight? That makes it a lot easier to make a light up saber if you use parts designed for this purpose.

he was saying he was on a tight budget and couldnt really afford buying a bunch of them at a time and wanted a more affordable alternative

[Darth Morbius]

he was saying he was on a tight budget and couldnt really afford buying a bunch of them at a time and wanted a more affordable alternative

Then why not buy them one at a time like some of us do?