How is it going newbys

[Lester Stone]

Mike, Thanks for the forum. I have finished four songs so far , my wife wanted to tackle one too, She is SO not working as fast as I am. Need to crack the whip on her. I have my 80 channels sitting in the garage. 2 arches built. dug a hole and set a pipe in cement to support my mega tree,and have started the pole for the tree too. and like others waiting on my pre order for leds. some tomatoe cages for my mini trees and have dilligently bought a couple of extension cords every week. I also like this hobby that lasts all year:) I would also like to thank all the people that have helped me and the other newbys, by answering what they might think as simple questions! bows to the smartones:P "secretly thinks will the buttering up help with more questions"

[LightORamaDan]

Lester Stone wrote:

[snip] "secretly thinks will the buttering up help with more questions"

Ahhh an honest person;)

Dan

[George Simmons]

Lester Stone wrote:

...bows to the smartones:P "secretly thinks will the buttering up help with more questions"

Flattery will get you everywhere...

[lightzilla]

Terry Hurrle wrote:

Just finished my third sequence. I only have 48 channels but might expand next year. Don't have a really big yard so I will have to see what I can do. This is my inaugural
year so when it is set up and changed a dozen times I will have a better idea what I will next year.

Terry, just double up on your controllers on your existing display next year and do another colour.

I to have a small yard so 1 10 foot tree is 32 channel, the other 10ft tree is 32 channels the , the Tina Fan (Marty Fan) will be 32 channels for sure, but it maybe 4o-48 channels. 16 Mini trees is 32 channels, 1 8 channel "Fire stick", one 16 channel lawn grid, and 8 channels for bushes. 4 arches is 32 channels=192 with 1 16 channel controller as a spare.

I may buy 1 eight channel controller or 1 16 channel controller for the Tina Fan. I bought two 12ft steel arches for $20.00 from a lady name Tina. They will make an excellent Fan or two. The second fan would run off of the 1st fan controllers.

[huskernut]

ainsworth wrote:

Thank you Rick. If you search "Robin Wheel" you can get additional info.

There are 8 "arms", each is 1 1/2" pvc schedule 40 and they are 27" long. The length was dictated by my use of 100 light incandescent strings(3 strings per arm). I used 2 cross connectors bolted together to make the wheel. Each wheel uses 24 channels. I also used Georges suggestion of folding the strings in half before wrapping them. That way if I lose one 50 bulb string I don't get a dead area.


I hope that helps you. Like I said the wheels are my favorite element this year!

Before I start on this project, any hints/tips on how to line up the two connectors to drill the holes? Are the two bolts in the picture the only thing holding the connectors together?

Thank you

RP

[jeffl]

I'm hoping to build one in the next month as well. I'm still struggling with 3 or 4 channels per arm.

It looks like just two bolts hold it together. The other thing I would like to do is screw the PVC arms together instead of glue so I can take them apart and store them easy.

[George Simmons]

jeffl wrote:

The other thing I would like to do is screw the PVC arms together instead of glue so I can take them apart and store them easy.

If/when I make another Robin Wheel that's the way I'm going to do it next time. Good idea. I also like the two bolts method instead of just one. Damn. Where were you guys with these good ideas last year?

[ainsworth]

George; ROFL, where were we? You're the one that made the Robin Wheel come to life. I'm glad I was able to give something (although very small) back!

I tried 4 channels per arm. I am going to mount the Wheel on my roof, and in South Texas we have a lot of wind. The extra 16" per arm made it too heavy, and it seemed to catch the wind more. So I went back to 3 channels. The obvious advantage to 4 channels per arm is most songs are 4 beats to a measure.

The 2 bolts hold the 2 cross fittings together. I just eyeballed the 45 degree rotation and drilled holes. After taking the picture I figured out how to secure the arms to the cross fittings; I drilled holes in the arms outside the cross fitting and put a wire through the hole and wrapped it around the bolts. I tried drilling holes through the cross fitting and arm and bolting them but the "slip fit" of the arms in the cross fittings is so tight it was a real pain to line them up after taking it apart.

I do not use the bolts in the cross fittings to mount the Wheel. The arm at 6:00 is longer than the other arms. I use this extra length to both mount the Wheel and to get the height I want. I have an odd brick wall that extends through the roof in the front of my house. The back side of this wall is perfect for mounting the Wheel and 2 pole stars. I drilled into the brick and used muffler clamps to secure the stuff to the wall.

The overall size of the Wheel is determined by the length of your light strings and the size pipe you use. I have a 3/4" pipe Wheel also, but it is so big and flexible I'm going to mount it against a wall to give it some support.

[Mike Manzara]

As a Newby I finally figured it out. The equation goes like this:

Started with 32 channels then realized "I need more elements"

More elements = more lights

More lights = more channels

More channels = more controllers

More controllers = more programming time

Thus the circle has begun

I amnow at 48 channels and 10,000 lights in my first year

[JediKnight2]

"let me buy a Mac" WELL THERE is your problem there...if she really LOVED YOU...she wouldn't have let you buy a Mac'nTrash...

[jeffl]

Yes the circle is endless. This year will probably be over 600 channels. I'm going to copy George's display and go with 3 channels per arm instead of 4. His videos show a good example of 3.

It's time to start the downward trend in channels.

[George Simmons]

jeffl wrote:

Yes the circle is endless.

You've got that right... Two years ago in our Newbie year we were debating whether to go with 48 or 64 channels. We wound up with 144. For 2010 we're well over 500 (plus two CCRs which I count as 57 channels each) and still wishing for more...

[MikeA]

I started this thread and have come to the realization that all I will probably get this year is a 16 channel mega tree and no music.
At least it is something to grow on.

[TJ Hvasta]

I have single sets of each RGB color (300ttl) minilights on the 8 minitrees now, but I'll pick up 30-40, 100 more boxes of single RGBWs to restock the mini- and mega- trees when they hit the shelves, as well as outline the house with 3 strands of single-color for changing like Bob Holdman did on his house for MusicBoxDancer.. white/red/green(maybe blue also) strings interwoven and ziptied.. I made three strings last night, robbed the red off two arch sleeves.. they look good.

'going to use the rope lights (outlined the house last 2 yrs) for the Halloween Talking Faces that Cracker made for MonsterMash, Thriller & Ghostbusters sequences. I d/l'ed the main face sequence, but will have to make the sequences for the small chorus faces. I also want to restring the mega tree with spiral wraps (weber tree) and add some of the 10 strobes I bought @ $6/ea from.. WowLights( I think)

I have four 1/2" arches and one 1" arch bowed and tied in the heat of the garage (gets over 100F/38C), so they're pretty much "pre-bent", all I have to do is slide the sleeves on and slide the pvc ends over the rebar. I had one pre-bent (ends pulled 5' together/tied) for about a month in the garage and now that it's untied, the ends are still abt 6' apart.. so it's holding its shape nicely.. takes the strain off the rebar.. I actually have to unbend it a bit to slide the sleeves on it. I accidently got three 3' rebar, but its
working out, I'm cutting them into 12' lengths, so I have enough for 6 arches (have 5 now)

The minis frames go a lot faster with the chicken wire on it as opposed to double-caging it. I zip-tied every couple loops in the middle of each ring.. so it took abt 50 or so ties for the 3 color strings all around, I see that I cudda halved that really. And with the garland on it, it looks great in the daytime. 200 lights/color is the better way to go for fill lighting. Last year was the first year for the minis, so like the other noobs, my learning curve is a vertical line I'm going to find a Lazy Susan to put the tree on so I can spin it faster. Goodwill is usually a good spot for those, cheap...

I'm off to HD for 1/2" pvc, to building frames for the windows to ziptie minilights to. Should make it easier to mount them, and if I just press/force, or stop-screw the elbows/joints and not cement them, they'll break down easy enough for storage.

I have to find the Holdman's page for the drawing of the large lighted C7/9 powered Star for the roof (unless someone can post it).

I'm still awaiting delivery of the four 16PC and one 16QC (dc) boards from LOR. If it's TryForFree then I dont mind waiting, but since the QC boards wont be shipped for another couple weeks.. (sigh..)

My playlist will still have several shared sequences (thank you again to all who made yours available), so I'm trying to decide how to (or if I even can) make my layout match the shared (and frankly muuuch better) sequence layouts or just stick with what I had..

And all this to do on only 2-3 days a week off till Halloween and Christmas..




Attached files

[Cray Augsburg]

Teej:

Here ya go . . .



http://holdman.com/christmas/star/



Hope that helps!

Cray

[TJ Hvasta]

Wahooo! Thanks Cray! Yer a life saver!! Love this thing!!

[sjmiller]

I received my final pre-Christmas order delivery today, 4 additional 16 channel LOR kits (can't wait to plug in the soldering iron) for a total LOR channel count of 136 channels for 2010. I have my 196 channel DIO controller from last year - not sure if I'm going to use it this year...

I've added a lot of LED's between last year and this years pre-season order - I'm now planning on using about 12,000 mini lights, and 6,000 LED's in this years display.

It's still a vivid memory when I downloaded S2 in 2009 and started programming my first song thinking that a 16 channel controller would be all I ever needed....

This year I'm adding 5 mini-arches using 7 50-LED strings per arch (103" 1/2 PVC prior to bend). If I can swing a Robin Wheel this year - I will, if not I want to do three next year. I'm working on a design that will use 3/8" cold rolled steel rod (welded product) versus 1 1/2 PVC. I figure more bang for the buck, a steel frame doesn't block the back side LED's - plus it would use less room in storage.

I get to solder and test the electronics - my old days as a technician. I get to be creative about lighting and song programming, and I use my MillerMatic Mig welder to build designs. This "hobby" (obsession) has it all!

Steve