Getting Arches round

[Guest Don Gillespie]

shfr26 wrote:

Don Gillespie wrote:

shfr26 wrote:

Agree, I think I made mine span at 7 1/2 feet. 30 degree angle on the rebar when pounding it in. I made mine per Mr. Simmons dimension for span, I think it was 7 1/2 feet. Maybe it was 6 1/2 feet. Maybe George will see this and correct me.

Or maybe you can take your tape measure outside and measure it then report back to me LOL I have mine spaced at 6 feet I am redoing the arches as we speak so I may widen them to seven feet

Do 7 1/2 feet and say I told you so! 30 degrees for the pipes in the ground, you figure it out. Pie are squared times the square root of ? divided by the something and then you got it!!:P Ask Donfl or George, I'm sticking with 7 1/2 feet.

LMFO




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[TJ Hvasta]

Doug, the 3/4 thin wall should be thin enough to flex on the arch support rod. Don, looks good..

You guys.. thats waay too much math for me figuring outdegrees and angles.. I just make my bases wide enough to make the rods the same height.. the sleeves arrre naught the same exact length, I wrap then cut the pvc to length leaving 1/8" or so at the end for the ziptie hole, the average is 11" but goes anywhere from 10.75" to 11.5" depends entirely how tight I wrap the lights.. for the bulb spacing on the light cord (2.75"), the lights tend to line up with just a slight spiral, but from the street, you dont see that.. Purists would either loosely wrap so they dont line up, or use a larger diameter.. Me, I'm not fussy and from the street, no one will notice.

[shfr26]

Okay Don, will go out and set them up just for you, we can have a Jim and Arnold and Lori thing going here, will be back in a few hours. GO 7 1/2 feet Dang it!!

[Guest guest]

I very quickly threw one together yesterday..I'm using the arch plates from 3g, ( http://store.3glightingcreations.com/products/Arch-Plates.html ), and while i didn't measure, they sure look like 45s to me. Had about 7 foot span, looked fine to me.

I know Pete has 7-1/2 foot span, but he's closer to the ocean, so more effect from tides, so he needs the extra 6 inches on his.

I actually took a few minutes to look at the math on this if you assume a 30 degree angle, and because I did what I could to make it into a trig problem, rather than having to do anything with arcs, and it would suggest that if you are truly using a 10 foot pole for the arch, at 30 degrees, it will be a bit longer than 7-1/2 feet. On the other hand, 45s at each end gives you a 7 foot span with a 10 foot pole.

Funny how real life imitates math... :cool:

[shfr26]

Went out and set one up, still going with 7 1/2 feet. Will take a picture tomorrow.

Still going with 35 degree's on the rebar. Makes a difference on how the pipe bends.

[Guest guest]

35 or 30?...

I liked the look of 45 for mine...not sure what is typical...

And you're right...there is some inaccuracy if you don't assume the arch to be an arc...and instead treat it as a triangle to calculate that distance.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

not a bad afternoon got 13 wrapped only 8 more to go should be able to set them up tomorrow night and run a test on Thursday

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[Guest Don Gillespie]

this is whats left

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[Guest guest]

I have a few more of mine to do if you have some extra time and want to make a road trip south...

The pay is cheap, but the beer is cold, and it is a balmy 70 degrees this evening...

[Guest Don Gillespie]

So if you look closley at the arches that are wrapped I left the female end a little loose and then I back wrapped about 4 inches of the arch that way when everything is up I can take the back wrap and cover the seams so the whole thing looks seamless, while you brainiacs where figuring out the specs I figured I would just wrap my face off LOL.

[TJ Hvasta]

Mine arrrre 6' spacing.. shorter in height.. abt 2.5 feet high.. I'll snap a pix of it in the morning, but like everything, everyone's got a preference.. higher, wider, longer, shorter.. being shorter in heoght makes it easier to see any props behind them.. my megatree in this case.

I'm also building 2 light poles (vertical archs, firestix) to go on each side of the megatree. It's 1/2" support pvc with rebar dropped inside to keep it from bending, guyed at the middle, with eight 1" sch40 sleeves. First eight arrrre wrapped, the second set of eight I'll wrap tonight after dinner.. takes me abt 12 minutes per sleeve.. I havent decided if they'll plug into the arch channels to mirror them, or I'll sequence them like an equalizer graph.. the segmemnts arrre just white right now, but if I can find amber lights, I may wrap 2 segments amber and two red..

[TitanBry77]

Being my first year I am only doing 5 channel arches. I used 3/4" thin wall PVC (SDR21) for the sleeves, as I have tons of it in my shop, and then for the inner support I used 1/2" CPVC , also have tons on hand. So far so good, 2 down, 1 to go.

Now to find a good way to secure rope light around the windows, I don't want to drill. hmmm

[dougd]

Here is a picture from a few days ago. Spacing on the first arch is 6 feet.

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[R Weiland]

DonFL wrote:

35 or 30?...

I liked the look of 45 for mine...not sure what is typical...

And you're right...there is some inaccuracy if you don't assume the arch to be an arc...and instead treat it as a triangle to calculate that distance.

I find it easier to pound the rebar in vertically instead of trying to get the right angle. However, you need to calculate the required arch end spacing needed for your length of pipe. Its easy if you use a half circle formula and approximate Pi to be 3 then the formula to calclale the Arch End Spacing is:

Arch End Spacing = Pipe Length / 1.5

A 10ft pipe has an optimal Arch End Spacing of six and a half ft (6.6)

[Guest guest]

Right..if you do a true half circle, the it is simply, assuming a 10 foot arch, a 20 foot circumference, divide by pi, and you're at about 6.4 feet. Your way is definitely a neat quick and easy estimate method.

Of course Pete is still not going to change his mind from 30 degrees...:D

[shfr26]

DonFL wrote:

Right..if you do a true half circle, the it is simply, assuming a 10 foot arch, a 20 foot circumference, divide by pi, and you're at about 6.4 feet. Your way is definitely a neat quick and easy estimate method.

Of course Pete is still not going to change his mind from 30 degrees...:D

No, 35 degrees! Thats my story and I'm stickin to it.

[David Rise]

I gave up on the oven heating thing. There's no need to prebend the PVC. I originally did it thinking that the pipe would snap, but they are holding firm.

Instead of using rebar, I used 2x4's Drill 3/4" holes straight down (don't drill them at an angle) and slid the pipe in. I used some foot long lag bolts to secure the wood to the ground.

[Guest guest]

shfr26 wrote:

DonFL wrote:

Right..if you do a true half circle, the it is simply, assuming a 10 foot arch, a 20 foot circumference, divide by pi, and you're at about 6.4 feet. Your way is definitely a neat quick and easy estimate method.

Of course Pete is still not going to change his mind from 30 degrees...:D

No, 35 degrees! Thats my story and I'm stickin to it.

Oops..sorry, forgot about the extra 5 degrees to allow for the tide cycle..

[Guest guest]

David Rise wrote:

I gave up on the oven heating thing. There's no need to prebend the PVC. I originally did it thinking that the pipe would snap, but they are holding firm.

Instead of using rebar, I used 2x4's Drill 3/4" holes straight down (don't drill them at an angle) and slid the pipe in. I used some foot long lag bolts to secure the wood to the ground.

You're not concerned about them pulling up?

Thinking about the soil around my property, incredibly light and sandy, I have to go down at least a foot for any stability, probably more.

I'll likely do something similar with mine, either with a piece of rebar, or more of a long u-shaped piece to hold them in the ground.

[David Rise]

DonFL wrote:

David Rise wrote:

I gave up on the oven heating thing. There's no need to prebend the PVC. I originally did it thinking that the pipe would snap, but they are holding firm.

Instead of using rebar, I used 2x4's Drill 3/4" holes straight down (don't drill them at an angle) and slid the pipe in. I used some foot long lag bolts to secure the wood to the ground.

You're not concerned about them pulling up?

Thinking about the soil around my property, incredibly light and sandy, I have to go down at least a foot for any stability, probably more.

I'll likely do something similar with mine, either with a piece of rebar, or more of a long u-shaped piece to hold them in the ground.

I checked the yesterday afternoon and had to reseat one. But they've been in place for a week. I wouldn't go with anything thinner that's for sure.
I might get some new ones next year, cut them a couple of inches longer and put screws in the ends to hold them better.

The lag bolts that I use are a foot long, so plenty of grip there. But also with the sandy soil we have down here, they are still pulled out without too much effort.