Daneisenberg Posted September 16, 2015 Posted September 16, 2015 Anyone have a good way of mounting your mega tree lights to the ground? I'm not using a stand for the lights. Just connecting them to the ground. Also if you have a photo of yours to demonstrate, I would appreciate it.
saxon Posted September 16, 2015 Posted September 16, 2015 I used stakes I got from harbor freight. When I tied them to the stakes I found some loose, some tight, and the wind would really move the loose ones. So I used mini bungee cords (also harbor freight) and it worked GREAT. Even in the wind it barely shook at all and all legs were evenly taught.This is the only method I have tried so I cant comment further but I have no plans on changing what works.
Max-Paul Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 Some of us will use PVC pipe with butt splices to make a hoop. Hoop is then anchored to the ground and strands are tied to the hoop. You will need about 6 good stakes. I used only about 4 and they were not that long. Good gust of wind came up and had the hoop blowing all around. So use long stakes and minimum of 6 I would suggest even 8. My hoop is about 3 inches off of the ground and this helps keep the connectors out of the water. Oh and I use one sheet metal screw to keep the pipe in the coupler.
Santas Helper Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 I use square metal tubing. But I've used a trampoline frame before too.I use zip ties to secure the strands.
Mega Arch Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 Dan,My mega tree is around 20 foot. My yard is slanted toward the street. So I'm running a guy wire down the middle of all 16 superstrands to a 1" pvc circle on the ground. I saw Santas Helper's superstrands (pictured above) and Papa6058's superstrands last year and said "oh yeah - that's the look". Even with the sloped yard, I want to appear going all the way to ground too as I like that look also. But with an inch per foot drop, I needed to level it a little bit. So using the same principle as Santas Helper's square tubing above, that's what my pvc circle is for. I'm using the below anchors to hold the pvc circle to the ground. Then I'm adding some all-thread rod to extend the ones on the sloped side. Paint the pvc black and it shouldn't be too awfully noticeable (unless my sequencing sucks, then everyone will pick apart the display....) The guy wires are so I can take the strands pretty tight to keep a real clean look without straining the lights. We sometimes get a lot of ice and must prepare for it. All summer was spent twisting strands..http://www.christmaslightshow.com/Mega-Christmas-Tree-Ring-Anchor.htmlGood luck,Daniel
Santas Helper Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 Daniel (Mega Arch) is right on track. I did the same thing he did with the light strands. We Oklahomans have to prepare for ice, snow and extreme winds (blizzard conditions). Good anchors, tree rings and guy wires are key and very important if nasty weather is possible. My 33 ft strands are built like Daniels with a support/guy wire in each strand to keep the tension off the light strands. This is very important IMHO when going higher than 16' feet on mega trees. Pre-planning for weather in our hobby can make or break a display. Here is a pic of the top side of my tree. There is a lot of weight here. And light strands can act like sails.
Mega Arch Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 No, no, no Tom. Yours are not built like mine. Yours was my pattern. So mine are built like yours.
rainyoregonchristmas Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 If you can fabricate, building a metal base ring is one of your best bets. This is my stand alone frame for my pixel mega tree. It is a 6 foot diameter ring with a center support structure. It is made from roll formed square aluminum tubing. The center post is 3/4" galvanized pipe. The pixels are on 5/8" pallet strapping. With everything tensioned it is very solid and acts like a pyramid and is extremely stable. Last year it set in my driveway just fine. I like it, because for a small tree, it is one man portable. I can climb inside the tree, grab the center pipe, pick the tree up and easily move it to where I want it to be. This year I am converting this frame to a spiral mega tree using icicle lights, and my pixels are moving to a similar style of frame, but it is only 180 degrees instead of 360. I have made rings as small as 2 feet across and as large as 17 feet for some other guys here in the PNW. 360 framehttps://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!400&authkey=!APOy3T81xJ4J_5E&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg180 frame mocked up, before the hook head was complete.https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!416&authkey=!ACij4qPmpulW-vI&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg A lot about the builds on my facebook page. Link is on the bottom of the post in my signature line.
saxon Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 Daniel (Mega Arch) is right on track. I did the same thing he did with the light strands. [ GOOD GRIEF!!!
Daneisenberg Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 Thanks for all the replies guys. Keep giving me ideas of you haven't and I'll try to incorporate all of them to make a solid structure for this years 12 foot mega tree.
George Simmons Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 My "mega" tree is only 10' tall. (I do a spiral tree, rather than a boring straight-line tree if that makes a difference.) The pole is a 12' 4x4 treated post sunk 2' into the ground. I screw 16" metal dog-ties into the ground and attach the strings to those.
Santas Helper Posted September 21, 2015 Posted September 21, 2015 (I do a spiral tree, rather than a boring straight-line tree if that makes a difference.) Boring???
Daneisenberg Posted September 21, 2015 Author Posted September 21, 2015 My mega tree is both a regular mega tree and a spiral tree. 1
Santas Helper Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 I guess everyone (including myself) with a non-spiral tree has a boring display.
sneakypete Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 My mega tree is both a regular mega tree and a spiral tree.
Santas Helper Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 how do you do vat Hang those straight boring strands and then layout your spiral non- boring strands on top of the boring straight strands.. 2
Daneisenberg Posted September 22, 2015 Author Posted September 22, 2015 Regular mega trees IMO are very much so NOT boring. I also have 2 regular mega trees in my display and I love them. And making a spiral tree over the mega tree is so much easier I believe because the lights going up and down hold the spiral strands in place perfectly. 1
Santas Helper Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Regular mega trees IMO are very much so NOT boring. I know. Someone said earlier in this thread they were, so it must be true. NOT!!! Edited September 22, 2015 by Santas Helper
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