Saving $$$ on lego tubes-is it a "pipe" dream?

I went to hobby lobby and my local hobby store to see if I could find cheap alternatives to the tubes like in the following pictures...

The above blue tube rail is bent even though it is relatively rigid

I cant afford all the cross beams

The scaffolding above would take a lot of rigid tubing also

1/8 inch will fit the minifigs hand or a clip above but it was tight and could potentially distort the plastic

.075 or .078 could potentially fit in a legomhand or clip...I took Konex track to try matching up..the track is too thick to fit in a clip of lego hand

This 7/32 pipe fit right on the end of this loop piece above and clarified 

3/16th inch tube will go through holes that a lego stud will fit in

The hole in back of the minifigs also fits 3/16 tubing

Buying a longer rod and cut with dremel would be cheaper to buy vs the k and s in the packaging

Well, these were the closest measurements in inches that I could find.  Putting a metal rod down the end of a 1x1 cylinder would definitely wear the lego hole down and any sliver of metal roughed up by the dremel cut would block the ability to place the metal into the plastic hole...

As for the plastic tubing, I'm thinking about going to a thrift store with a minifig and trying different loose phone cords to fit in the hands without distortion of the hands