Anyone have experience replacing retention screws with thumb screws?

[Galef]

I just ordered a bunch of these in 3/8" length (which should stick out a little to get a decent gripe)


I'll be using these in Aeon/Initiate v2s to break-up the solid silver emitter. It will also have the practice use of being able to remove/attach the blade on the fly without needing the hex wrench.

Does anyone have experience with thumb screws? If so, please share photos, I'd like to see how they look on US hilts.

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[firehand10k]

I use cap head screws in my Scorpion to use them as thumb screws but still have the option to wrench tighten for dueling.

[Galef]

"Wrench tight for dueling" you say?  I had not though of that.  The stunt sabers I ordered are the Aeon & Initiate V2, which I believe have 2 screw spots.  Hopefully having double the screws might mean not needing "wrench tight" would be needed.  I really don't want to have to carry around a hew wrench, dig it out of my pocket to loosen the retention screws, then put back in my pocket.

The Dark Sentinel V5 that I plan to order otoh, only has 1 screw slot, but luckily, I don't plan on that being a dueling saber, aside for some light sparring for show. But if the screws I've purchased don't work well with the Sentinel, I can find some cap screws fairly easily

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[firehand10k]

My daughter uses  Aeon V2s as a staff so I'm quite familiar. The double screws do go somewhere toward maintaining retention better than one, that's  why we add a second to all of our dueling sabers (V3s and V4s). It is the vibration of dueling that shakes them loose. It will happen whether there are one or two. Tightening them snuggly helps to keep it less frequent.

Another note to consider, if you will duel with them, is that the thumb screws stick out from the hilt making them susceptible to being hit and bent. This can damage the holes quickly. The Aeon V2s offer no protection from this while my Scorpion emitter shape and claw mitigates the risk.

[Cyclops942]

I use cap head screws in my Scorpion to use them as thumb screws but still have the option to wrench tighten for dueling.

Uhhh... maybe your fingers are more dexterous than mine, but HOW does this lessen the need for a hex wrench?  There’s no way my fingers could get that thing seated tightly enough to hold the blade for anything more serious than still photo ops.

So since this works for you, what probably-obvious thing am I missing?

[Galef]

Another note to consider, if you will duel with them, is that the thumb screws stick out from the hilt making them susceptible to being hit and bent. This can damage the holes quickly. The Aeon V2s offer no protection from this while my Scorpion emitter shape and claw mitigates the risk.

Great advise, thanx.

The screws I ordered have a rather flat top and are 3/8" long.  So my thinking was to have an extra 1/8" stick out so that it isn't too flush for use to get our fingers around it.  I hadn't thought about them bending as ideally, you only hit the blade, not the hilt.
I might invest in some rubber/plastic washers to close that gap and minimize the chance of bending. It might also ass more color/uniqueness to the hilts.
We have heavy grade blades to duel with, but since it's just me and my teen boys, I still don't want to hit that hard with them

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[firehand10k]

Yes ideally we only hit the blades....





I have a cup of screws with the one you have a picture of and several other designs from a lighting/lamp screw set from Home Depot.

[Karmack]

I just ordered a bunch of these in 3/8" length (which should stick out a little to get a decent gripe)


I'll be using these in Aeon/Initiate v2s to break-up the solid silver emitter. It will also have the practice use of being able to remove/attach the blade on the fly without needing the hex wrench.

Does anyone have experience with thumb screws? If so, please share photos, I'd like to see how they look on US hilts.

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This is a shot of a pair of Dominix V3s with thumb screws, installed for the very same reasons you stated.   They work great.



Also on an Aeon V4.   Harder to see, but its there on the emitter....



My experience with them is that they work great, just make sure you handle it a bit to be familiar with where it is and make sure it doesn't interfere with your preferred grip.

[Galef]

Excellent, thank for the pics!

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[Greywalker83]

I’ll have to try to get some pics later but one idea for you... I did this with my dark prophecy. I got some of the same screws as the retention screws only longer. So that they stuck out from the hilt about an 1/8 of an inch or so. Then got some threaded decorative pieces that I could put on them. So essentially I can secure the blade but then have a gold thumb screw looking piece over it. I’ll try to take some pics tomorrow and upload them. Haven’t accessed my old photo account in years so hopefully it’s still accessible.

[KaiserSosay]

Yes, I have lots of experience with thumb screws in my Ultrasabers.  My advice is don't use them!

 I bought thumb screws for all my sabers, from TCSS, and in less then 6 months all of the heads twisted off. Leaving the threaded shaft stuck in the hole with only one way to remove it. Luckily I own a drill press and could easily bore the hole out. Then thread it for the next size up. My advice, avoid the thumbs screws.  Especially the ones that are anodized different colors.
 Thumb screws sound like a great idea... they are not in my experience.

[Galef]

Yes, I have lots of experience with thumb screws in my Ultrasabers.  My advice is don't use them!

 I bought thumb screws for all my sabers, from TCSS, and in less then 6 months all of the heads twisted off. Leaving the threaded shaft stuck in the hole with only one way to remove it. Luckily I own a drill press and could easily bore the hole out. Then thread it for the next size up. My advice, avoid the thumbs screws.  Especially the ones that are anodized different colors.
 Thumb screws sound like a great idea... they are not in my experience.

Thanx for the heads up.  I've already order 20 from eBay that are made for ceiling fan lamps.  Not sure what kind of metal they are made of, but the top is quite small and the only issue I've had is that the gold has started to wear off, making them an ugly dark metal color.
But those are just in our V2s, so no big deal.

I've also got 4 thumbscrews from TCSS already (1 black and 3 gold) but the sabers I'll be putting them in haven't arrived yet, so I haven't been able to test them yet.
They'll be for more decorative sabers, so I don't expect as much wear on them as our stunt sabers, but we'll see

IMO, even if they break every now and then, it's still worth the cost not to have to pull out the hex wrench every time

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[Greywalker83]

Ok lets see if this works. Haven’t posted pics here since like 2015 lol.

[Greywalker83]

Cool it worked. So these are what I used. The screw part is the same as the regular retention screws. Just longer. And the brass part is threaded all the way through. So I have the retention screw holding things in place but those go over the screw to hide it and give it a different look. I picked these up at the local hardware store. Got a bunch of different ones too.

[Greywalker83]

Oh also they brass part is reversible so you can make either end the top.