Halloween Prop Swords

I decided to 3D print most of the handle fittings, but I needed a material for the sword blade itself. I wanted to find a material that was safe and non-dangerous to play with, but also somewhat convincing as a sword. I could have used a wooden dowel rod, but I wanted something a little more flexible, to add a bit of goofiness to the final product.

After a trip to the local hardware store, I found a length of quarter-round PVC that was perfect for my needs: soft and flexible, easily workable, and somewhat sword-blade-shaped already.

Next, I gradually developed what my 3D printed parts would be. I decided to separate both handles into multiple distinct parts.

Splitting the handles offered several advantages: I could optimize the printing direction for each piece in order to limit support material and maximize the strength of the final design, and I limited the risk of failed prints being major setbacks.

In order to join each piece back together, I added an interlocking bump and groove at each split surface.

After printing out all the pieces, I glued everything together. Then came a laborious cycle of priming and sanding the plastic parts, to smooth over the defects and layer lines, and prepare for painting.

In order to smooth out the surface, I tried both "filling"-style paint primer, and wood filler. Neither technique worked amazingly, but the form was gradually finished thanks to lots and lots of sanding.

This was my first time working with wipe-on metallic pigment. I got a silver and a gold pigment from two different manufacturers, and they were surprisingly quite different in application. After applying the pigment, you are supposed to buff it off, to remove excess and make the pigment really shine like a real metallic material. 

I found mixed results with this: I don't think my end product is overly convincing as metal, and I'd like to continue testing this technique. But, for a first time, it went okay.

All in all, this was a pretty fun project! I found the sketching and CAD to settle in on the design very fun, and the end products are pretty nice and goofy, just like I had hoped.

Now, I just have to find a place to put them. Maybe I'll make a wall mount to display them, one of these days...