Arnoldc Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Last year, I had 6 mini trees I got from a local store around here. They worked great, minus the wind blowing them over issue, until it was time for tear down. When I started taking these outdoor trees apart, I found out that they got well rusted together, making some of them very difficult to deal with.With many thoughts and my expansion of this years display, Ive decided to do the PVC tree route. Now, I do plan on putting garland around all these trees, and hiding controllers in them.They are 5' tall, 30" wide at the base, using 1/2" pvc (except for the prototype).I will start hunting the garland stuff down soon, I think Hobby Lobby sells that stuff year around so Ill stock up! Then, try to get all the lights on them before the summer heat kicks in.I also got 32 xs-mini trees that I need to make, waiting on tomato cages to go on sale for that one! Attached files 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Nice. How many colors/channels on each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Aaron, there are 400 of each red blue clear. Each on its on channel per tree. So 18 channels and 7200 lights for all 6 trees.next year I will add green.Arnold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 This may be helpful to you: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Stain-PVC-Any-Color-You-Like/296/1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Not worried too much about the pvc as I plan on wrapping the tree with garland to hide everything.. cool link, may use it for another project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 You said you'll wrap with garland also (I did my mini-cages that way) but will the angles of the vertical pipe be hidden enough? Just wondering.. will those be set back far enough where you wouldnt see they 'arent round'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 I plan on wrapping them pretty tightly, will not know til' I get the garland.. The trees themselves stay back from the street about 15' or so.. If I can see the corners too easily, I will add a string on each corner, to help break up the sharp corners.. I will not know til' I get the garland and take a look at them.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I already made a one and it turned out great I think it was 3' tall with a 2' base. i wraped it with three 50' garland from hobby lobby. i used 7strings (100)led (white/multi color). they are extremely bright. and with the graland you can not tell they are not round.i'm moving this week so i'll have to post some pictures later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Those look great. Will they stack decently for storage? Always one of my biggest concerns...If it were me, I'd probably hit them with some black paint just to hide any white creeping out, especially if the garland ever slides around. You don't have to do a perfect job since it will be covered... Relatively cheap and easy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I painted mine black first. I'm a rip tie nut so my garland isn't going anywhere. i drilled hole up the PVC every 2". Lights are spaced using the 2" hole as the string wraps around the tree.so glad the edit button is back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I plan on getting back to this project in the coming weeks. I'm having a hard time finding garland, so after the 4th I'll start looking again.I agree hitting them with a shot of black. I figure I can do that at the same day I start adding garland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawlkr2 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Those look familiar! I have two each that are 3', 4' and 5'. They make a little forest in the corner of my yard. I started with just clear last year and am adding green this year. I think I have 100ct for each foot tall. I got my garland at a dollor store. I waited until after the holidays and bought all they had for $1 per bundle.I did paint the frames black before final wrapping. As you can see below, the base is visible. This is one of my 3' trees. Also I used 3/4" pvc as that is what I had laying around. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imawlkr2 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Here is a better pic without the lights on. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trafficman Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Looks Great. Another though is to hide a controller under them !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 (edited) Here's what I did.3' tall7 strings of (50) white LED7 strings of (50) Multi color LED1/2" PVC painted black4- 50' garland Edited July 3, 2012 by dknahoolewa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 Looks like garland is at Hobby lobby now! So within a couple days Ill head over there and start collecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Just finished another tree yesterday. I need to correct myself.2.5 (50') garland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Not bad 2 1/2 trees for 50' of garland. So I'm guessing 1 tree of mine for 50' of garland.. I was budgeting 100' per tree.. ill start picking up stuff this weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Arnoldc...it took about 125' of garland for one 3' tree. originally i thought i was using 200' feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 DK,where did you get your garland? It looks like at my tree height, Ill need 200' per tree x 6 trees.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now