How to: PVC lightsaber hilts

Well I built my new lightsaber hilt for my LCC5 entry today and decided to track my progress to share with everyone else.

All of the parts are available at your local big-box hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and most can be found in the plumbing section. Here's a rough list of the parts I used:
1" PVC40 white pipe. (use the thin-walled stuff or else the 3/4" won't fit inside it) $1.61
3/4" PVC white pipe (thick-walled for strength) $2.03
1-1/4" to 3/4" step-down fitting $.69
1" press-fit to threaded coupler (male) $.54
1" press-fit to threaded coupler (female) $.28
Chrome metal tape (sometimes called silver foil tape or aluminum metal tape, used for A/C ducts) $5.79
Duct tape $5.75
Black electrical tape $3.79
Chrome and gold spray paint $3.79 each
Metal screws $.98
Broken golf club shaft (yard sale, swap meet, pawn shop, etc...) $cheap/free

Total price: $21.46 (plus tax)

It should be noted that you will have enough PVC pipe, chrome metal tape, duct tape and electrical tape to make several hilts in the future.

Tools you will need:
Drill/power screwdriver
Sissors
Heavy duty razor knife
Pipe cutter or hack saw
Dremmel

I first cut all the PVC to the sizes I need (this will vary depending on your design):

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-01.jpg]

I use the 3/4" pipe as the basis of my hilt and just add everything onto it to build character. Using a dremmel, I enlarged the bottom of the 1-1/4" to 3/4" fitting to fit over the 3/4" pipe. This will be the "Obi-wan style" emiter for my hilt.

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-02.jpg]

I screwed the male adapter into the female adapter (that really didn't sound good) to form the pummel and then I did a quick assemble to make sure I had the look I wanted:

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-03.jpg]

Using the dremmel again, I cut out my decorative pattern on the 1" pipe. This will eventually slide over the 3/4" pipe. The texture of the 3/4" pipe will be seen under the 1" pipe through the pattern.

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-10.jpg]

I paint all of the pieces with chrom paint. Don't be fooled, dispite what the cap on the spray can looks like you will NOT get a shiney chrome finish just by spray painting it. It will look metalic silver but not reflective chrome. Instead you will use chrome metal tape. The spray paint is just to have a base for the areas the metal tape won't cover. I also used some gold chrome spray paint to have a little contrast on some parts. The chrome metal tape usually has a backing that must be removed to reveal the adhesive.

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-04.jpg]

I apply the chrome tape to everything I want shiney.

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-05.jpg]
[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-06.jpg]
[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-07.jpg]
[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-08.jpg]

Using black electrical tape, I make some ribbings on the 3/4" pipe for texture. I wrap the tape around the pipe about three times and space the ribs apart. I then wrap the electrical tape around the areas in between once to fill in the white. This makes the pipe look it's made of multiple black rings stacked. This area will show through the cut-out design on the 1" pipe.

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-09.jpg]

Now the blade. I have a friend who owns a pawn shop downtown. He gives me all the broken golf shafts he can't fix. There may be some confusion when I say broken golf shafts. I'm talking about golf clubs that have had the head break off for one reason or another. The shaft itself is intact and not sharded or splintered. Sometimes my friend can get new heads and fix the shafts. The ones he can't, he gives to me. You can probably find golf club shafts at just about any swap meet or yard sale for cheap. Or you can use wood dowel rods or aluminum tubing. The inside diameter of the 3/4" pipe will fit anything up to about 1/2".

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Lightsaber-11.jpg]

I cut off the rubber grip...

[imag

 

Nice. I like it.

I've made a few hilts out of PVC myself. The most ornate one is the only complete one I have left. I'll try to post a pic of soon. You may recognize it from somewhere.

 

Awesome!!!!

This is just what I've been needing!

Up to now I've had no idea what my team and I were going to use for handles, as the ones from the big yellow box were to expensive.

Thanks!

 

Very cool. I might just bookmark ya'.

 

MODS - please place this in the stickies...i'm sure other folks will find this of good value.

 

One more thing:

Does the cost cover just one handle, or does that mean that you are buying enough materials for several other COMPLETE handles, as your statement suggests?

Just want to be clear

Thanks

LC

 

Very good work, good documentation as well to show how you did it. Thanks.

 

You will have enough PVC pipe, metal tape, and electrical tape to do several hilts. The prices I showed were for the complete 10' pipes and complete rolls of tape. If you average 12-14" per hilt you will get 8 to 10 hilts out of the pipe. The electrical tape disappears fast, you may have enough to make 3-4 hilts. The metal tape will last for years. That cost was for a 40 yard roll and you only use one layer each time (you don't have to wrap it over and over like the duct tape and e-tape). As for the other items, you will need enough for each hilt you want to make. And those items aren't neccessary. You can make a nice looking hilt using just the PVC pipe depending on how well you dremmel.




On a side note that I didn't mention in the tutorial:

The metal tape is a little tricky to work with. It wrinkles pretty easy. You only get one shot at laying it down because it messes up when you try to pull it back up.



And I just had to show this:

[image=http://www.vbf.org/pvc/Helper.jpg]

My 4 year old asked me to make him one while I was out there so I had him "help" me. He put on his "Bob the Builder" costume and away he went. I made two full-sized hilts for my LCC5 entry and two small hilts for my kids in about 6 hours.

 

Holy cheese!

Well, I can't thank you enough for this info!

WOW!

 

damn! wish I had this a year ago when I first started my project. had to end up making my own. I should post a tutorial myself sometime they came out GREAT, they were extremely simple to make and cost only about $10 in all.

 

Ha ha ha, thats great. True fan film makers.....

 

yes, please post!

 

By the time he is old enough to register, he will already have TENCLO and RVDII beat. JK. Jedi Pastor beat by his son. That is classic. But, great tutorial. I might make a saber like that, seems pretty easy.

 

OK, just need some clarification on the bolded parts.

Are these the actual poles(i.e., ten foot ones), or something else?

I just went to Home Depot to price it all and got a bit confused somehow.

But I assume that's what you're talking about right, the long pole kind?

Otherwise you wouldn't have enough left over for more...

 

Just a note, PVC thickness is measured by it's inside diameter.

 

Alright, below is a pic of my most "ornate" PVC hilt. The "core" part of the hilt is made of schedule 40 3/4" PVC which is a little bit over 1" OD (outside diameter). Originally the blade was part of the hilt core meaning it was "full tang" so to speak. I made it as a "boffer" weapon. After the blade broke I had to use a smaller size of PVC for the blade (also schedule 40). All pieces are either glued or held together using tension pins (roll pins if you're old school). The part that is wrapped in black tape was originally covered in duct tape and matched the duct tape next to it in shape and color.

[image=http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/Evil-Henchman/Lightsaber%20hilts%20and%20blades/RotJPVCHilt.jpg]

EDIT: Ew, the thumbnail pic is squishificated.

 

Well, I just got all the supplies and today and it came to $19.32!!

W00t!

(We had some of the stuff already, like electrical and duct tape )

I was wondering though, it's not very clear how you put the 1" and the 3/4" pipes together; because we have a very loose fit.

Did you use glue, or layers of tape or something?


And thanks again for posting this tutorial!

LC

 

Sorry, forgot that part.

I did use layers of tape to make it snug between the 1" and 3/4" pipes.

 

Ah, I see. Did you just wrap a bunch of duct tape, or did you use the electrical tape? (Or does it matter? )

Thanks again!

LC

 

Sorry to double post, but I don't want this thread to get barried...

I second the motion to make this a sticky.

Anyone else?

 

Mmmmmmm... Nice.

SB

 

Yep, I'm a big fan of the PVC saberhilt doubling as hero prop and stunt prop too. All of ours on "Knighthood" ... which will be finished someday ... were like that. After all, if you're only going to see them from a distance, why spend hours and hours on it?

 

I must say cutting PVC can be quite messy...

 

This time around I did all my cutting with a pipe cutter. The kind that has a cutting wheel and you keep rotating it around the pipe until it cuts through. Very clean cuts. When I have to do angled cuts, I use a hack saw then I dremmel sand the edges to smooth them out. Don't forget to where eye protection.

The hilts are surprisingly durable. In filming our LCC5 entry I have to throw a saber at someone. I threw one of the ones I made a couple of years ago for LCC4. We probably did 8-10 takes of that shot of me throwing the saber about 20 feet and it landing on concrete. Didn't do anything to the hilt.