Mast for the Mega Tree - Army surplus camo netting support set - Aluminum poles are about 4 feet per section. I got this at a local HamFest.
3D Wireframe Star to top the Mega Tree.
I bought this here.
3D Star bolted on to the top section of the mast.
3D Star with 2 color rope light attached. The 2 color rope light has a common neutral, and 2 hots - 1 for each color. I got the rope light here.
This will take 6 channels to animate.
Curtain Strobes for the Mega Tree and the 4 large trees in the front yard.
I got them here.
Close up of one of the strobes.
07/02/08 - It took HOURS to dig a
2.5 foot hole through the Carolina
rock and clay. At 2.5 feet, I stopped
and decided to cut the pipe :)
Cutting the pipe a bit long worked
out well - I flipped the cut end over,
and put it on top and banged it in
even further with a sledge hammer.
After banging it in, I put the fence
post level on it, and poured two 50
pound bags of QuickCrete around
it and then topped it off with a sprinkler valve cover so you don't
see anything during the rest of the
year.
With the cover on...
Mini Trees:
50 Tomato Cages for the Mini Trees.
I got the tomato cages at Lowes for 1.29 each
Each Mini Tree will use 2 which leaves 2 spares.
Test tree - No wire ties on the lights - Just quickly wrapped around to see if 1 strand of each color will fill it up.
There will be 24 of these in the yard, each with 4 separate dimmable color channels.
48 tomato cages cut down.
I cut the bottom ring off which makes
natural ground stakes, and then I cut
1 foot off each of the 3 top wires.
The higher ring will be cut in between
each vertical wire to cinch it in a bit
and make it more Christmas tree like.
The tops will be gathered together
with zip ties.
Another view of the final 48!
Finally some new pictures!
I assembled and painted all of the mini trees.
I tried many ways of gathering the tops, but ended up bending them all in to keep the sharp tips out of the way and to hold them to the mounting stakes.
On the bottom, I simply fold the legs inwards, and then zip tie them.
All zip tied.
The nail through the pipe keeps the pipe from coming off.
4 LED strands wrapped around it.
Testing the LED's - Very bright!!!
Leaping Arches:
I used 3/4 inch PVC Electrical Conduit for the arches. I test wrapped 1 strand of 100 lights and it measured +- 1.3 feet. With that number in mind, I calculated that 7 would fit with about 5 inches left on each end. (Look closely and you'll see my sharpie mark :) )
The first of 7 strands. I'm making my arches 10 feet long and spread out over 8 feet on the ground. That puts the arch top about waist level which is perfect for me as I want them to act as a barrier between the sidewalk and my lawn.
Also - with 7 (Or ANY odd number)it has a center section which I like.
Male plug clipped off and zip cord soldered on. Note the heat shrink tubing at the bottom of the zip cord - Don't forget to put it on before soldering! Also - split the wire and slide it way down - the heat from soldering the wires starts to shrink it if it's too close.
Heat shrink tubing applied.
Tightened and taped - the wire then goes down the pipe, taped about every 18". The next section wraps right over it.
Next section started. I tape the female end on and wrap the wire over it for 3 or 4 wraps (The width of the tape) and let it poke through.
Heat shrink taped up as well.
After you do the first section, the next 6 are exactly the same.
(I put a 1/2" metal Electrical conduit pipe inside the PVC pipe I'm wrapping so it wont sag.)