David Rise Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 imawlkr2 wrote: OK I am working on mine for this year and have a problem. Light spacing. I have 100ct incan lights that are 20.6ft long. I am folding them in half, but can't get them to work on the tree. I have tried the 3"/4.5", 4", and even 6" spacing down the tubes. The 6" gets me the closest to the ground, but the strand stops about 12" from the ground. Any help? What am I doing wrong?Wierd that your's won't touch the ground. My strings are 105ct LEDs and I had a foot left over. Wrapped twice around and the spacing didn't work for me. So I did what Jerry did and wrapped them and marked the uprights. I still had an extra space, so I ended up using 9 channels instead of 8.I'm guessing strings are different lenghts based on incans, leds, manufacturer, etc...This year, I'm going to make my uprights 45". That will take care of the extra foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I've designed my first megatree but its not been assembled all the way yet for this next season. I'm doing a 15 foot one using 1 inch black pipe as the center, pvc collar thing that I've attached hooks too for hanging the light strands on. A screw on flange on top for the guide wires. The base is pvc, 8 foot circle which is already built and I'm hoping this will work. I'm going to stake down the base ring. The center pole goes up over a "5/8 inch pole that will be driven in the ground. Yes, I placed a winch on the main center pole as I don't have a ladder tall enough to hang lights on. There'll also be guide wires for the spiral, to the ring. This summer, I'll put it together and see if it really works this way or not. Sorry no pictures of it assembled as it simply hasn't been put all the way together yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawlkr2 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 As in this pic posted earlier. My strands stop at about the same hight from the bottom. Thought about leaving it that way so they aren't buried in snow, but if we have a winter like this past, there won't be any snow and it may look odd having trees hover off the ground a foot.Bhewson wrote: Closeup of tree Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawlkr2 Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 I think I figured out my problem. My spacing on my lights is only 2.5". If you guys are using 100ct lights with 4" spacing, then your strands are about 13' longer. So that is about 7.5' of extra length when folded in half. Guess I need to determine my own coil for my length or not fold them in half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I found a calculator here in the forums for a spiral tree, Ms Excel based and it does all the spacing, length vs wraps and tie-offs for you.I'm a newbie here and planning a 15 foot megatree. Please someone stop me if my thoughts are messed up. I'm doing 1 inch black pipe, set over a "5/8ths inch pipe pounded into the ground. A hard base over/around it that has the black-pipe attached to it and yes, steel guide wires off the top/flange to keep it in position. The outside ring will be a 8 foot diameter circle of pvc that I've covered with insulation to keep it dark. This circle will be staked down. More steel guide wires run from the top of the pipe to this circle for line supports. At the top of the pipe, I've hung a pvc collar type thing and expoxied into it, 32 hooks for the strings. Once the pipe and base circle are in place, then the strings will get hung. Just in case I can't reach things, I've added a hand-winch/pulley to the whole thing to crank up the string holding collar.I've not put it all together yet so no pictures but that's coming shortly as I need a proof of concept before its too late to re-design if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scavenger Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 wowlights.com is having a memorial day sale, spent a ton this weekend there.got my 4th contoller, fm radio and a few strobes, saved over $100.00 off their regular prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paralegalnc Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 We built a 10 foot tree out of pvc using 10' sticks for the outside cut with Ts at the center. we used 45s to create the hexagon. we used Ts for the middle support and for the cap. I used sheet metal screws at the bottom and top. We glued the cap and the base and certain pieces for easy storage. When we started putting lights on it some started to bow...so my husband had to build a metal support... I have a lot of lights on it for wedges and still have to put lights on for the spiral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I wish the pictures still showed on the forum, would like to get going on these...the material lists, etc...all gone when they did the conversion. Not sure if that is something that can be retrieved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spomalley Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 If you want to view pictures that don't show up in the new forums copy the text that shows up instead into the url bar and type forums.lightorama.com in front of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 If you want to view pictures that don't show up in the new forums copy the text that shows up instead into the url bar and type forums.lightorama.com in front of itI will give that a shot...thanks O'Malley! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtoyeah Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 LORi P wrote:Lori, Check out this link.Hope this helps out. I used this as a guide for myself as well. However I did mine with a 7 foot tree. It seems to "spin" more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts