I did these August 3rd and 4th 2005 for Fandemonium 2. Time per each was maybe 4~5 hours. Don't know exactly, didn't take pics during construction because I just get going and don't want to stop. 
Also they were a bit of a last minute idea since Fandemonium was on the 5th through 7th.
Unlike the flash holder based styles and others designed around the same size, I figured some Jedi would make their saber closer to the diameter of a proper sword hilt.
I used some heavy galvanized steel conduit for the main tube, which just happened to fit perfectly inside the heaviest copper pipe available. The rest is PVC, aluminum, ISA card edge, one has a lathe turned cast iron pipe plug in the pommel, copper wire, leather, fiberglass, super glue and brass.
The wire wrapped one has two wires wrapped around, I had a spool of bare copper wire with not enough to use for anything but just exactly enough to wrap this grip. I cut two equal lengths then hit one with a propane torch. That gives it a sort of two tone effect. The wire wrap idea hit me after my small lathe proved incapable of cutting curved gripping grooves into the copper. (Or at least I didn't have the time to figure out to go about turning them. Copper is not an easy metal to machine.)
I didn't want them looking like shiny new wall hangers so I chose lenghts of the conduit with interesting corrosion then cleaned them up on a buffer. Heavy wear on the "touchpad" aluminum blocks was created on the buffer. Heat discoloration was done by... heat discoloration using a propane torch.
Under the leather wrap is a fiberglass wrap which it cut into a taper from the middle to the ends to give the grip a bit of bulge in the middle. Could have been more, can feel it but it's not a really obvious, visible bulge like I wanted. Time was flying so I couldn't add another layer and turn it again.
Almost everything that went into these was stuff I had laying around, except for one or two PVC pipe fittings. (Living two blocks from a hardware store and lumber yard is very nice.) The conduit was leftover from a piece I used to make a saber for someone who costumed up for the Episode III opening. The copper pipe came from a project to replicate a part for Studebaker tachometer drives. The pipe was too large for that but it's come in handy for other things.
Interesting yet annoying factoid about plumbing sizes. There is no such thing as any pipe in any material that has any dimension which is exactly or encompasses one inch. It all either has an inside diameter larger than one inch or an outside diameter less than one inch, yet those sizes are quite erroneously called "one inch". The Studebaker part required a metal ring with an outside diameter *exactly* one inch. I had to use some quite heavy brass pipe fitting nuts for 3/4" and turn off about 80% of the metal inside (boring out threads is not fun) and out to make the rings. Perhaps there's some metric pipe out there that by some accident has an exactly 1" or very slightly over outside diameter?
Also they were a bit of a last minute idea since Fandemonium was on the 5th through 7th.Unlike the flash holder based styles and others designed around the same size, I figured some Jedi would make their saber closer to the diameter of a proper sword hilt.
I used some heavy galvanized steel conduit for the main tube, which just happened to fit perfectly inside the heaviest copper pipe available. The rest is PVC, aluminum, ISA card edge, one has a lathe turned cast iron pipe plug in the pommel, copper wire, leather, fiberglass, super glue and brass.
The wire wrapped one has two wires wrapped around, I had a spool of bare copper wire with not enough to use for anything but just exactly enough to wrap this grip. I cut two equal lengths then hit one with a propane torch. That gives it a sort of two tone effect. The wire wrap idea hit me after my small lathe proved incapable of cutting curved gripping grooves into the copper. (Or at least I didn't have the time to figure out to go about turning them. Copper is not an easy metal to machine.)
I didn't want them looking like shiny new wall hangers so I chose lenghts of the conduit with interesting corrosion then cleaned them up on a buffer. Heavy wear on the "touchpad" aluminum blocks was created on the buffer. Heat discoloration was done by... heat discoloration using a propane torch.
Under the leather wrap is a fiberglass wrap which it cut into a taper from the middle to the ends to give the grip a bit of bulge in the middle. Could have been more, can feel it but it's not a really obvious, visible bulge like I wanted. Time was flying so I couldn't add another layer and turn it again.
Almost everything that went into these was stuff I had laying around, except for one or two PVC pipe fittings. (Living two blocks from a hardware store and lumber yard is very nice.) The conduit was leftover from a piece I used to make a saber for someone who costumed up for the Episode III opening. The copper pipe came from a project to replicate a part for Studebaker tachometer drives. The pipe was too large for that but it's come in handy for other things.
Interesting yet annoying factoid about plumbing sizes. There is no such thing as any pipe in any material that has any dimension which is exactly or encompasses one inch. It all either has an inside diameter larger than one inch or an outside diameter less than one inch, yet those sizes are quite erroneously called "one inch". The Studebaker part required a metal ring with an outside diameter *exactly* one inch. I had to use some quite heavy brass pipe fitting nuts for 3/4" and turn off about 80% of the metal inside (boring out threads is not fun) and out to make the rings. Perhaps there's some metric pipe out there that by some accident has an exactly 1" or very slightly over outside diameter?
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