Tips with Arches

[Discotech24]

Looking to add 2 arches to show this year and would just like some ideas/suggestions on what other people are using to mount/erect the arches. Wood? PVC pipe? Metal? Some tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[bhasse]

For simple arches I have just been using 10ft long 3/4 inch PVC. I use rebar for the stakes and just slip the ends of the PVC over the rebar. For my arches I wrap 5 100 ct light strings for each arch, each light string section is 2 ft and each string is a separate channel. Just one idea. There are many other options that others on this forum have used. Some are simple and some are more complex. i hope this at least gives you a simple idea to start with.

[RaceMedic]

I do something similar .. The only difference I do is that I use the sleeve method.

So you have a larger diameter PVC .. I had 100ct c6 bulbs which would give me 18" sections.

Each arch had 6 sections making a 9' arch. This way if you ever have a problem with a section

you can slide it off and replace it with a spare one.

Dave

[LightsinMaine]

I use CCRs....3/4" 10' PVC pipe. Rebar in the ground as braces. Zip tie the CCR to the PVC (at cut points!!). My theory is ur gonna need a controller to control up to 16 sections of 2 arches with conventional lights. So why not use a CCR at around the same price of a controller (during sales) and have limitless colors to use...

1 CCR cane make 2 8' arches...

Edited November 12, 2012 by LightsinMaine

[Discotech24]

Thanks for all the tips and ideas. I have lights from Ray.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/led-pixel-module-LPD6803-DC5V-input-IP68-50pcs-a-string/701799_474536611.html

Will be able to make all the colours. I will definitely try the PVC bend with rebar stakes method. I will have to zip tie the lights to the pipe. Gonna split the 50 lights to two 25 light strings for the arches. Thanks again, as usual, everyone in the forum is always a huge help.

One other question, should i purchase the upgrade for Superstar? I can probably program them myself in S3 but is it easier in Superstar? How difficult to Copy and Paste from one sequence to another?

[k6ccc]

I believe you will need a driver for those pixels. But yes, those pixels will create just about any color you can imagine.

[LightsinMaine]

If ur using superstar for the arches only I would save my $$....just my opinion.

[rainyoregonchristmas]

My theory is ur gonna need a controller to control up to 16 sections of 2 arches with conventional lights. So why not use a CCR at around the same price of a controller (during sales) and have limitless colors to use...

Brilliant! I hope this logic works with my wife. Lets see controller with 50 ft cat 5 $268.90, 32 strings of Ultra cheap LED's for 16 channels $80, 16 -25' extension cords $40 (on sale) = $388.90

Compared to CCP $239.95

WOW can't believe I didn't figure that out before.

[Jay Czerwinski]

Thanks for all the tips and ideas. I have lights from Ray.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/led-pixel-module-LPD6803-DC5V-input-IP68-50pcs-a-string/701799_474536611.html

Will be able to make all the colours. I will definitely try the PVC bend with rebar stakes method. I will have to zip tie the lights to the pipe. Gonna split the 50 lights to two 25 light strings for the arches. Thanks again, as usual, everyone in the forum is always a huge help.

One other question, should i purchase the upgrade for Superstar? I can probably program them myself in S3 but is it easier in Superstar? How difficult to Copy and Paste from one sequence to another?

Can you control those individually? With what controller?

Those pixels look very interesting!

[Discotech24]

Can you control those individually? With what controller?

Those pixels look very interesting!

Yes each pixel is controlled individually. I purchased the lights and controller from Ray Wu on AliExpress.Store #701799.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/LT-6803-DMX-Decoder-DC5-24V-input-LPD6803-specific-protocol-output-signal-Max256-steps/701799_314083682.html

This is the controller.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/led-pixel-module-LPD6803-DC5V-input-IP68-50pcs-a-string/701799_474536611.html

This is th lights.

[Jay Czerwinski]

Thank you Discotech24!!

[Gman7711]

Light box arches!

[caniac]

Light box arches!

Of arches I have seen I really like yours BUT am no good at wood working, mine would look like Crack House arches. Tried to make a rabbit cage for my kids once, they never asked again! lol

[mjbadb]

I used a 10' section of gray PVC (bends easier) and used 8 sections of 100ct LED white lights (15" spacing) I made my own cords with SPT1 wire and vampire connectors. Used 24" steel stakes from Lowes to anchor them. They came out great. Very economical

Edited November 26, 2012 by mjbadb

[Klayfish]

I haven't made any arches, but will certainly give the 10' 3/4" PVC pipe and rebar a try. I'm assuming the rebar is sufficient to keep them upright even in a decent gust of wind?

What about for arches big enough to span a one car wide driveway? Simplest way?

[TJ Hvasta]

That is just sooo much work wrapping a single pipe with multiple strings.. go with the sleeve method. use 1/2" pvc for the support bar, 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" sched20 pvc for the sleeves. wrap each sleeve with 100ct strings, cut sleeve to length, repeat until you have 7, 8, or 9 of them.. slide those over the 12" support pipe. Push/hammer 12" long, 1/4" rebar into the ground, slip the ends of the support pipe over the rebar. If a section goes out, slide off the bad one, slide on a good one. No one wraps a single length of pipe anymore, it's jus' naught civilized..

For large arches, go with electrical conduit.. 12" to 1" EMT.. use a threaded coupling in between, that is the one place you can do the traditional wrap over the pipe without sleeves. Use 1/2" - 3/4" rebar hammered into the ground.

Edited November 26, 2012 by TJ Hvasta

[frozentundra52]

A lot of great tips. Thanks guys!

[MikeH]

That is just sooo much work wrapping a single pipe with multiple strings.. go with the sleeve method. use 1/2" pvc for the support bar, 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" sched20 pvc for the sleeves. wrap each sleeve with 100ct strings, cut sleeve to length, repeat until you have 7, 8, or 9 of them.. slide those over the 12" support pipe. Push/hammer 12" long, 1/4" rebar into the ground, slip the ends of the support pipe over the rebar. If a section goes out, slide off the bad one, slide on a good one. No one wraps a single length of pipe anymore, it's jus' naught civilized..

For large arches, go with electrical conduit.. 12" to 1" EMT.. use a threaded coupling in between, that is the one place you can do the traditional wrap over the pipe without sleeves. Use 1/2" - 3/4" rebar hammered into the ground.

For the sleeves I use foam pipe insulation. The light strings adhere much better, they don't have to be tied on and they don't slip. I also like the idea that I can random wrap the lights so they don't bunch up together in one spot. And since they are a dark gray color, the white pvc can't be seen. I also use these to hide all those extension cords out in the yard (use the ones with the slit cut on the side). Make sure you don't remove the plastic that keeps the slit unglued so it can be used again.

MikeH

[jerrymac]

With the price of pixels down considerably ($18.00 for a 50 string), Look toward the RGB solution. I have given up and unwrapped my conventional archs and converted to rgb arch's. Much easier to setup and endless possiblitites. LED is dead long live RGB :-)