Pool Noodle Sword Handle - 3D Print

I've seen many pool noodle sword handle designs out there and think it's such a fun way to use pool noodles. They're softer than play swords and if you have a 3D printer, it's easy to find a design and print it or design your own. I decided to take a stab at my own designs including a more basic one and one inspired by a Minecraft Diamond sword. I used Tinkercad to create my designs!

The Minecraft one is boxy but is surprisingly not bad to hold since the edges of all the cubes are rounded a bit. Though, it is going to be less nice to hold than the rounded basic design.

Instructable 401

You can find the files on MakerWorld or you can design your own!

1. Pool Noodle Sword with Flared Guard
2. Minecraft Inspired Diamond Pool Noodle Sword

You can design your own based on this tutorial or use one of mine! You will also need:

1. 3D Printer
2. Filament of choice (PLA should work fine)
3. Pool Noodle - you can get these almost anywhere in the summer
4. Knife for cutting the pool noodle - an Exacto or box cutter would probably be easiest for cutting
5. Glue - I've used both Clear Gorilla Glue (kinda messy for this project) and Super Glue (worked well here)
6. Spring Clamps to hold it while drying if you aren't using an instant dry.
7. Tinkercad for designing your own sword handle!

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I decided to start with the insert to start with as the design of the handle would be based around that. I printed off and used Long Katana Noodle Pool (Print-in-Place) by New_Kids_Turbo as my starting point. I knew their insert was larger than what I wanted so I scaled mine down a bit from their size.

Based on other designs I found online, it seemed like a simple cylinder with a spiral around it would work best for this. I used the Metric Thread for the spiral around it and used various cutouts to get it to the size and shape I wanted. I made mine 28mm wide and the whole part 70mm long.

Feel free to just use the insert with your own design if you want!

As mentioned, I used the pool noodle katana handle I printed as well as an retractable sword handle I had printed previously to reference for scale. (And even doing this I made my first print too big and scaled it down for further prints.)

I used pretty basic shapes to construct it including Cylinder, Torus, Polygon, Cone, and Diamond.

My handle is 128.91mm tall total and the wide end is 84.89mm wide and the small end is 49.03mm wide.

Once I had the handle and the insert, I just needed to drop the insert on top of the handle and center it. The handle flares up so you don't need to worry about overhangs or supports when printing (if you print it straight up and down, I'll talk more about that later).

You can Copy + Tinker my design to edit it a little or a lot.

This one took much more time than the basic design and went through a few iterations. I'm going to describe making the final version but also mention where I made improvements throughout the process.

To start, I wanted to try to make a version of the basic Sword. I used the ruler, basic cubes, and made my pixels 10mm by 10mm to get the scale of the sword.

My first version of the sword had sharp edges (which made it impossible to hold, who'd a thought?) and the handle was a bit too short. So I knew I would be using cubes with rounded edges and I would extend the size of the handle to make it better for a human hand to hold.

The next issue I encountered was my curved edges weren't the same and the spacing wan't as even as I thought it would be.

So, to get the even layout, I started by making a cube with curved edges (radius of 1.5) and making sure they were evenly spaced using the ruler and Duplicate. I found that making the layout first and then editing the heights made for better results.

Once I had the grid, I started changing the colors of the cubes to get the sword shape and changed the heights depending on the color. Dark brown was the shortest, light brown came next, then darker blue, and lastly lighter blue. I removed all the other blocks once I had the shape and I did some rounding and cutting for the cubes that were where the insert was going to go so I would have a flat surface.

I added some cubes inside the shape because the curved edges left holes where the cube corners met.

Once I had everything ready for the handle, I added the insert to the flat surface I'd created at the top.

I wanted to have a nice clean top on both sides of the sword, so I decided to cut it in half and print it that way.

I cut it exactly in half and I added a cutout on each side with a peg to help with lining up the pieces for gluing after.

If you add cutouts and a peg, make sure everything lines up. I also only did this in one spot, but doing it in 2 places will make for easier lining up and gluing.

Printing the basic can be easy. You can just print it up and down to get a smooth, clean result. The only potential issue is that the point where the insert meets the handle can be a weak point that could break at the layer lines.

To get a stronger piece but not as clean results, you can print at an angle and use support. It won't look as nice when done, but the connection will be stronger.

For the Minecraft version, you print all the pieces flat. You'll have each side and the peg that will help align the pieces. The colors need to be changed between layers to get the final look.

For the regular sword handle, you can print it up and down for an easy print or print it at an angle if you wan it to be (possibly) more durable as the layer lines won't be making the insert's connection point a weak spot. If you printed at an angle, you'll need to remove support and clean it up.

For the Minecraft version, you just need to glue in the peg and then glue the sides together. I also held it together with little spring clamps while it was drying since the glue I used isn't instant drying.

You could use the pool noodle long, but you could also get 2 or 3 swords out of one noodle depending on how long you want it. It would be easiest to cut it with something like a box cutter as it is too big for a scissors but be careful cutting it.

Once you have your cut pool noodles, you just need to twist the handle onto it and you are set!

Here is a look at all the finished handles.

Hope you have fun with these if you print one, or your own design!