Wychristmaslights Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 What is the biggest leaping arch anyone has made? I'm thinking about spanning my double driveway (30') and still be able to use the driveway. My plan is to build 7 arches and space them every 5' down the driveway for a total area covered of 30'x35'. My intial build idea was 3/4-1" PVC in 10' sticks and put a cross in every connection to build more or less a green house frame. Has anyone out there built one this big? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I'll have to think about changing my name. :P My Mega Arch goes over my side walk.It's not near as big as you're planning.I've seen posts either here or on Planet Christmas site with some driveway arches.Some are good and some didn't make it due to weight.When you add snow and ice - 4 times the light weight in a hurry.You might do some searches to help with your construction. Good luck and be sure to post some pictures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wychristmaslights Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 I'm hoping making the cross members to supports the arches will help. I'm going to make one arch hopefully tomorrow and see if it will hold up. I'm struggling with figuring out how long the pvc will need to be, if I can get the center arch over 8' I can tie it back to the garage door frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75redman Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 https://www.facebook.com/HappyLights.Ramona/photos/pb.448590921818955.-2207520000.1430066063./896939790317397/?type=3&theaterAs you can see in this first pic, I did the same thing your talking about. 3/4" pvc is not sturdy enough. After you add the lights and as was already mentioned ice or snow it will sag in the middle. https://www.facebook.com/HappyLights.Ramona/photos/pb.448590921818955.-2207520000.1430066058./917608778250498/?type=3&theaterIn this second pic you can see I had to add the supports in the middle. If I had to do over I would use a at least 1"-1.25" pvc or metal piping. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I also have arches & at 30' wide you should cosider using metal. My first year I used abs pipe. Once I added all the lights it was pretty heavy & swayed so much in the wind that I couldn't trust it. That year I had a local company make me 2 arches out of sprinkler pipe to reinforce the whole structure. The next year I went with metal 1" square tube. 16 arches 2' apart & are rock solid. If you only go 8' high you will only be able to park one vehicle in the center of the driveway because it will be too low as you get to the sides. My arches are 22' wide x 11' tall & is still a little tight when parking 2 vehicles side by side. i 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wychristmaslights Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Holy buckets that's some arches now! Beautiful work! How many channels do you run your arches with? I was thinking 7 arches 16 channels, 3 arches = 8 and the other 4 = 8 channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1983ss454 Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Pretty sure the largest arch is the guy who's arch goes over his house. Can't remember his name right now. But he was on the light fight last year 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wychristmaslights Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Ok. That's to big for this guy lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wychristmaslights Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Any channel recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 My brother did one last year and to help with the tightness of parking 2 cars he made them more of a canopy shape. Took a 5' sections straight up on the sides and then used I think 45 degree couplings to go over the driveway. He didn't make leaping arches he used net lights to cover it. Still looked pretty cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aesl1982 Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I'm doing 7 channel arches over the driveway this year. Double driveway as yours. Planning on only 4 arches with 7 channels each. And Adding more next year. We park down the road at the school during the display season so 8' here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericm Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Wow Darryl those are nice what is the actual length of the pipes from new to end if they are 22x11 set up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 They are 1" square tube 1/8" wall thickness, 34' long if straightened out. They are in 3 equal sections with short pieces of 1 1/4" square tube to act as couplings. They're not leaping arches though just 2 channels per arch, 1 for green & 1 for red. 6 sets of 70 count M6 LED's, so each section has 2 strings of each color per arch. I now have some extra controllers after I changed my megatree to a pixeltree & was thinking of turning them into leaping arches though. It would take 192 channels & a crap load more extention cords to do it. So I probably will convert them to pixels instead, some day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Sarge Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 you could go to Harbor Freight... They have frames for car covers etc. purchase a couple of those and put lights on the frames.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinchief Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Those are great! How do you secure them to the ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Those are great! How do you secure them to the ground?There not really secured to the ground. I have 1x4 laying on the ground on each side of the driveway. The 1x4 has holes drilled into it @ 2' spacing large enough for a piece of 1/2" rebar. So the rebar keeps the bottoms from moving & the 1x4 keeps the arches from sinking into the grass. All the arches are tried together with 1/2" emt that goes back & is fastened to the house. This keeps them from swaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowpoke Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Was planning on a single arch over my double drive this year with 8 rope lights wrapped around and 8 channels. Did the 1" square tubing just bend over drive or did you have to bend it first ? Was planning on 1" pvc pipe but maybe should be 1" metal pipe if it will arch over without being pre bent. If the square tubing arched over I think the metal pipe will. ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Was planning on a single arch over my double drive this year with 8 rope lights wrapped around and 8 channels. Did the 1" square tubing just bend over drive or did you have to bend it first ? Was planning on 1" pvc pipe but maybe should be 1" metal pipe if it will arch over without being pre bent. If the square tubing arched over I think the metal pipe will. ?? The square tube I used is pretty ridgid, I didn't even attempt to bend it. I had a local metal shop bend it. I just told him the circumference I was looking for & he used a roller. I'm not sure if 1" pvc would be strong enough once you add the lights. As I said in post#5 the first year I tried ABS pipe but it was to flimsy for me to trust it.You could try it now to see how it is, don't wait till November. If it doesn't work you'll now have some extra conduit for some other project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowpoke Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Ok. I think I will see if the 1" iron pipe will flex enough on its own to make the arch without a metal shop pre bending it. Take your experience and not even gonna try the plastic pipe. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indi Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Next year, I plan on using a pixcon16 that I got during the summer sale to create new leaping arches. I haven't decided where to use pixel nodes or strips. I know this is a loaded question, but what would be the best and most versatile way to go? Pixel nodes or Strips. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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