8' star

[ic1480]

Well have almost completed the steel frame for my 8' three layer star.  Man did this thing get big!   have an 8' star with a 6' star inside, with a 4' star inside that.  Then I quit.

 

The insanity as got to stop.   the star will be on top of a barn, so along ways from the viewer.   Used 3/8 round stock for the outer star and then 1/4 inch for the other two.

 

Any suggestions on what to wrap this bad boy with for lights????   It could be a real channel burner if I decide to make it multi colored.   Like 9 channels, three colors per star at three stars.

 

Hey I still have 5 channels left. 

 

maybe one more star inside, like a two footer.  Then some strobes,  or maybe one big strobe.

 

 

Any ideas are appreciated.     

 

Cheers

[tjflory]

I would build a 16 or 24 channel DC controller (LOR board) and use dumb RGB strips.

 

Infinite colors and combinations for a lot less than an AC (LOR) controller.

 

 

tj

[ic1480]

How about RGB pixels or bulbs??

[Ron Boyd]

IMHO, I would go with dumb RGB in whatever flavor you like, strips, modules or nodes. Just a personal preference though.

[Jeff Messer]

WOW.. What a star!! Idea's would be Smart Pixels and let shine. Checking your location incase you don't like the star I would come get it but you are to far away.. LOL

 

Jeff

[Frank Farmer]

IMHO, I would go with dumb RGB in whatever flavor you like, strips, modules or nodes. Just a personal preference though.

I agree with Ron.

Do you have any pictures of the star frame yet?

[ic1480]

Ok so here is what I did for the 8' star.     using a calculator and some helpful hints from the Inet, I built a wood frame from 1x4s.  I even cut the angles so the boards fit together at the points.  Next I drilled 1/2" holes at each point and at the inside points.  Through these 1\2" holes I puts bolts the stick out of the face about 1 1\2" and put a small length of bushing stock on each one to increase the bend radius.

Using 3\8 steel round stock (ie. round steel rod)  I clamped one end of the round stock down, anywhere you want to start.  then began to bend the round stock around each point (bolt) until I ended up back at the starting point.   I used a cutting torch to heat the round stock at each bend and clamped the round stock down just before each bend to assure nice straight lines.

 

sounds a little confusing but the hard part was the geometry of the wood frame.  I can bend up a star in about 20 minutes now with this jig.

 

Keep in mind that it takes about 30' of round stock to go all the way around.

 

Next on the list is to incorporate a 6' and a 4' star within the 8' , creating a three star effect.

 

 

I will trade a completed star frame for anyone wishing to figure out the RGB and controller thing for me.  

The steel work is the easy part for me.  lol

 

PS.  The 8' star laying on the shop floor is deceiving.  The wife said it wasn't big enough, until I stood it up and she saw how big it was next to me at 6'2"      lol

Now its big enough.  

 

 

I still can not fugure out how to get pic.s small enough to put on here.   I would be glad to email pic.s to anyone interested,  if I can get that to work.

[Jeff Messer]

RGB and controller is not bad to learn. There are several out there and the main choices are J1SYS and or Sandevice. At 30 feet around plus other star's you will need a p12s from J1sys or 682 from Sandevice. The pixel I would use would be the ip68 rated rectangles. http://www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42_44&products_id=160&zenid=221ebb035d2937292cd88c4b08b727f2     A couple of 12 v dc powers supplies guess now 350 watt. Couple 100 feet of wire 18/4 thermostat wire worked well for me. Good waterproof connectors.

 

Questions.

 

1. What software do you use and what version do you have?

2. How long have you been sequencing?

3. What are the specs on your computer you plan on using to sequence with?

 

Here is a video of a star I built and Harrison5050 programmed in Lightorama. BoBo name the star Seizure Star and it worked great this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3itzItS-Ws

 

Jeff

[Ron Boyd]

I still can not fugure out how to get pic.s small enough to put on here.   I would be glad to email pic.s to anyone interested,  if I can get that to work.

 

Dropbox, Photobucket, MS Skydrive. Try one of these and then just share the link to the album containing the pics

[ic1480]

Jeff,  after two weeks of -30F, Pensacola sounds pretty nice. lol

 

Well after seeing the video of the Seizure Star my little 8'er looks rather humble.  

 

I like the little stars out on the points,  maybe next time.

 

Lets get this one finished and lit before getting too crazy tho.

 

Being just a dumb farmer you may have to spoon feed me all the details of what to light this with.

PROGRAMING!!  OH Boy,  I knew there was a catch

 

Ordering the LOR advanced lic. and showtime suite later this week.  Proper name of it all escapes me rite now so be gentle.

 

Later today will start working on the inner stars.

 

Had a thought about mounting a strobe in the centre,  something that would just flash once, but bright.

 

Any thoughts and or help is greatly appreciated.

 

So humbly yours,  Eric

[ic1480]

OK lets see if this worked.  This is the big venue I am hoping to light for 2014.

 

The star will go on top of the snow covered barn roof on the right side of the pic.

 

The evergreens in front of it and on the left side of the drive will have ? net lights

 

The big white shop facing you will be outlined with lights and maybe another star

The little white garage will be outlined and possibly a little star

 

Just to the right of the house is a pole,  at its base is a Lilac which will get something as well as the bush just to the right of the drive

 

Then, if not too overwhelmed ,  maybe a pair of arches on either side of the drive with three firesticks to go with each pair of arches.

 

The pic. was taken from the viewing point.

 

I have a lot to work with, not monetarily, but lots of potential.

 

Its hard to see, but, in the centre of the barn roof there is a cupola that the 8' star will attach too.

 

Still trying to work out in my mind how to remote trigger the show from out on the driveway (push button or motion sensor) 

 

 

Idea for future!!   I have enough evergreens out front to have one tree for each key on a piano,  wouldn't that be cool!!  

 

Thanks again everyone,    Eric