Make your own connectors? Huh? Why? I'm not sure what connectors you were pricing, and where you got the prices from, but, what?, a buck and a half a connection (if you buy only a few at a time) is 'horribly expensive'?
There are also a number of different PEX joining methods, and there are different crimping tools. I bought a crimping tool on eBay, with
50 each of 1/2" and 3/4" crimp rings, for $60 including shipping, and the brass barbed fittings work out to about a buck a pop. There are also a lot fewer fittings in a PEX installation as the pipe is so flexible and you can snake it to pretty much anywhere.It took me a long time to move from copper to PEX. There are some differences in installation, and thermal expansion has to be taken into account to a greater degree, but once I used the stuff, I didn't really look back. I'll still use copper on some jobs, but it's kind of lost it's, ahem, luster.
R