I've just done a first trial run at custom fit "grip frame" that could
substitute for the kingpost style frame that appears to be the current
dominant chordite concept. It seems to work out pretty well so far,
doesn't require much in the way of tools or fabrication experience and
seems very light weight too. In essence it's just an epoxy-stiffened
cloth glove with the back of the hand and fingers/thumb cut away.

Just follow these steps to make one of your own:

1) Get a small, cheap disposable brush ... the ones with a rolled
metal handle called "acid" or "glue" brushes work fine. Cut off the
outer half of the bristles so the bristles are fairly stiff. Scissors
work well for this.

2) Put on some vinyl* gloves and mix up a batch of epoxy, about 30 cc
or so should do. You'll want an epoxy that's fairly liquid - I used
WEST 105 with 206 hardener. This particular epoxy mix has a "pot
life" of about 20 minutes, a working period of around an hour, and
reaches full hardness in 24 hours. You might be able to use a 5
minute epoxy but I'd guess that the working time might be bit too
short and it's not as strong as the 24 hour stuff either. Your time &
money, your choice.

3) Put a cotton glove on your chordite hand and use the brush to
satuarate with epoxy those sections of the glove that you want to have
as part of your chordite grip frame, i.e. the palm, inside of the
fingers and around the thumb, and a section of the glove over the back
of your hand that'll act as a retainer. (You might find it worthwhile
to first turn the cotton glove inside out and clean up any loose
threads, excess material at the seams etc.) Use a stippling motion
with the brush rather than trying to "paint" the epoxy on. You can
and should saturate more of the glove than you intend to keep because
you'll trim off the excess material later in step 6. I think it best
to keep the back of the hand (except the epoxied retainer section) and
back of the fingers and thumb dry of epoxy to make it easier to remove
the glove, as you'll see in step 5.

4) Hold your hand in the chordite grip configuration you want and
wait for the epoxy to start to set up and stiffen - the epoxy I used
took about an hour for this phase. During this period, use the brush
and your other hand to smooth out wrinkles as best you can. And it'll
probably be better for you if you wait in a well-ventilated area so as
to minimize exposure to epoxy fumes.

5) You can take the glove off once the epoxy has set up enough for
the glove to more or less keep its shape. To do this, take some
scissors and cut the back of the cotton and vinyl gloves open (without
cutting through the epoxied retainer area) and then on down the back
of the fingers and thumb. Pull your hand out of the glove(s), correct
any distortion that may have happened, and set the glove aside for the
epoxy to set up a bit more.

6) Wait until the epoxy is no longer tacky and the glove still a bit
flexible while holding it's shape well, about 4-5 hours or so for the
epoxy I used. At this point, pull out and discard the vinyl glove
and, using scissors and diagonal cutters, cut off everything that you
don't want on the final chordite**. Set the finished grip frame aside
and wait for the epoxy to finish hardening - 24 hours in my case.

7) Add switches, cicuit board etc. I'm open to and actively solicit
any ideas as to how to best mount the microswitches.

I think/hope the final product is strong enough at this point to serve
as a chordite frame without further reinforcement. If it isn't, it
would be relatively easy to reinforce the grip with a few layers of
fiberglass cloth or even carbon fiber.

A variation of this technique might work for that little shop that
John M wanted to set up in a mall. Water-activated fiberglass is now
used for casts and sets up in about 2 minutes after being wetted out.
A customer wearing a rubber glove on his/her chordite hand could hold
a multi-layered section of this water-activated fiberglass against a
stock mandrel or pre-molded plasticene form. (Or maybe use mix & pour
or spraycan foam to make a custom form?) Wait 2 minutes and, voila,
you've got a custom fitted chordite grip. Do a little prep work, add
switches and a circuit board and you're good to go. (These could be
already fabbed up, just do a little prep work on the custom grip and
glue it on to the switch assembly.) If you really want to get high
tech and really strong and minimize weight, you might be able to use a
prepreg carbon fiber cloth. Maybe you could even embed membrane
switches in the cloth prior to forming?!

Good luck, JohnO

*I say "vinyl" because I used what I had and found that epoxy didn't
adhere to it strongly. Afaik, other "rubber" gloves, such as latex,
might work just as well.

**More material retained as part of the grip results in a more secure
chrodite because it'll wrap around your hand and fingers better. The
less the material and more skeletal the grip, the easier it'll be to
pick up. Your choice but note that it's easier to remove material
later than it is to add it back on. OTOH, you probably won't know the
minimum amount of material until you've removed too much material, at
least that's the way it seems to work for me.