Making your own mega trees.

[Robert G.]

I have quite a bit of pvc pipes. Some 10ft some 20ft. I'm looking to make a few mega trees with them. I need suggestions of attaching lights to the top and the ground. Also if anybody has a good website that sells mega trees cheap, let me know.

-Thanks

[jimswinder]

you can find parts here:

http://christmaslightshow.com/home.php?cat=25

[Steven]

In my first year, before I knew anything about mega trees, I built a "mini mega tree" out of several pieces of 10-foot PVC 3/4" pipe.



The lights (click on the picture and look carefully!) are wrapped around nylon twine to make a "up and down" rather than a "spin" tree. The tree uses 7 channels + a star on top + 4 colors of balls.

The problem is that PVC isn't very strong and can't stand on its own without guy wires, which are also nylon twine attached to trees in the yard.

This tree has lasted for 3 seasons, but I think it's time for an upgrade. Perhaps I could make a spiral mega tree like I read in another thread. But I need to replace the vertical pole with something metal. I haven't yet decided.

[John2571]

I recommend using 1 1/4" metal pipe

[TJ Hvasta]

'made mine first mega tree last year.. used a twelve foot, and three foot 2" pvc pipe for the trunk, a two foot, 2 1/2" sunk into the ground for the "trunk" to slip into. A 2" cap for the top, into which I screwed 8 teacup holders to the sides of the cap (to hang the lights) and drilled a hole in the top for a 1/4" all-thread (for the star to slide onto). I used two ten foot long, 1/2" pipe for the hoop.

I used the lights themselves as guy wires for the trunk, being only 14' tall, it wasnt critical. Each string was folded in half and a loop ziptied to hang on the hook. I started at the hoop, went up and over the cuphook, (zipped loop hung on the hook with care), then the end of the downward lights were zipped to the hoop, and I used tent stakes to secure the hoop to the ground.

Being in AZ, the sun isn't very kind to pvc, but it seemed to work pretty well. It did develope a bit of a bow in the middle, not much, I just spun the trunk (and hence, the whole tree) so the bow was facing the street.

This year I may go a little taller, will use more channels (have 5 more controllers now) but the construction will be the same. We dont get much wind here in the winter, so I'm not concerned with guying.

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Depending on the size of the pipe you use, you could go with just a pvc cap, screw in cuphooks, Stanley makes several sizes of hooks.

You could drill a series of holes into the top of the cap at an angle, run some 10-16 penny nails in and hang the lights over those.

You could also make a "floating collar" from plywood, run a couple screws into the pipe for the colar to sit on, mount the same hooks to the top, hang the lights first, then walk the pole up. If it's 12'-14' or less, you should be able to do it yourself, or have someone help.

I liked the cap idea with the hooks, was the easiest to make and modify for more lights. If you dont really pull hard on the lights, the cuphooks will be strong enough.

[huskernut]

I will have to get pictures of my smaller-mega tree. I use my existing flag pole which is made of 2 inch pipe. Last year as you may be able to see from my avitar I just ran the lights from the top to the ground but it ended up a bit too wide to really be a tree.

This year I built a base, about 9 feet in diamter and about 3 feet off the ground around the pole, will see how easy it will be to get the lights up.

I put a sleeve of 3 inch plastic electrical conduit over the pole and on the flared out (top) of the conduit I put 6 hooks. Put the light strings on the hook and then push the conduit up as high as I can reach on a ladder and hold it up with a 2 inch muffler clamp.

Rick