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New Props


MichRX7

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Just now, MichRX7 said:

DING-bells are done-DONG!

Tools/Items I used:

  1.  Ryobi One+ Drill
  2.  1/8" Drill Bit
  3. Needle Nose Pliers
  4. 300 - 4" zip ties
  5.  4 - 2'x3' pieces of corrugated plastic sheeting
  6. Sharp Scissors/Knife
  7. Hammer
  8. 1 Skinny Finishing Nail
  9.  2 boxes each of 100 red and 100 green lights
  10.  3 boxes of 100 multicolor lights (cheaper than buying yellow replacement bulbs)
  11. Masking Tape (or other tape)

So, here is what I did.

  1. Find bell outline I like and manipulate it to size/rotation I like online (thanks bing images)
  2. Load that picture in Microsoft Paint because paint.net doesn't allow me to print across multiple pages
    1. In paint you choose Print->Print Setup and in the Scaling area tell it to Fit to 3x3 pages (my size on the coro when cut down)
    2. Print
  3.  Trim printed pages where necessary and paste your puzzle pieces together to form bell outline
  4.  Trim pages to the outline of bell
  5.  Put bell layout on a piece of corrugated plastic the way you want it and tape down
  6.  Take green sharpie (only one I could see on black coro) and trace outline
  7.  Remove layout and fill in tape spots with green marker for outline
    1. If you are much more art "skilled" than me you could free hand draw it or use @dibblejr's idea of using a project to trace)
  8.  Grab your 100 string of Walmart LED red or green lights and decide where you want to start
    1.  Each bell used 65 of the 100 lights
    2. I started on one side going up the bell where the upper bell lip starts (not on the lip, on the outside of bell next to lip) which allows for one continuous pattern
  9.  Lay light down on pattern, drill hole on each side just below the clip
  10.  Run zip-tie up from bottom, over the light (while holding light in place) back down and zip tight
    1. Crampy hands caused use of Needle Nose to really zip it down tight and in the correct direction
  11.  Lay down next light and go to step 9 repeat along bell outline until you get to clapper then goto step 12
  12.  Grab a multi-color string and plug it in
  13. Remove clapper bulb 1, remove yellow bulb from multi-string (don't grab an orange one) and plug your yellow light into the clapper outline
  14. Plug your removed bulb back into the multi-string so it lights back up (and you don't grab an orange bulb next time)
  15. Repeat steps 9-14 until you finish the clapper
  16. Repeat steps 9-11 until you finish the bell (ending at the upper lip against the far side) then goto step 17
  17. Take your knife or scissors and cut a plug size line across the coro near your last light on inside of bell
    1. Shorter than the distance from the last light used to the first free light
  18.  Then on both sides of your line cut vertically down
  19. Bend the upside U cutout back (bending as little as possible and push your female plug end through
  20. Push rest of extra lights through
  21. Slip cord to one side of your cutout U and pull the coro back into the same position before  it was bent
  22. Drill two holes somewhere in the middle and push a zip tie from the back through the front back to the back
  23.  Take your extra lights and weave them back and forth between the two zip tie ends with the female end hanging down
  24.  Zip tie the extra lights to the back

You now have your first bell done. Steps for creating bells 2-4 follow.

  1. Take your original bell and flip it over so you are looking at the back
  2. Carefully position each zip-tie block (what the thick square part is called on a zip-tie) dead center between their two holes
  3. Take another piece of coro and flip it over
    1. Mine had a sticker on the shiny side which I always want facing the back so I don't have to screw with removing the sticker
    2. You flip it over because I want my bells to face away from each other so we need a mirror pattern
  4. Gently tape the two pieces together
    1. This is so you don't press the zip-tie pattern into the new piece of coro
    2. Also, don't lean on it when doing the nail steps, lol
  5. Start where you zip-tied down your first light and hammer the finishing nail through each zip-tie hole remove nail and move to next light
  6. Repeat step 5 until you have done all of the zip-tie holes for every light
  7. Un-tape the two boards and put Bell 1 away so no animals step on it or knock it over
  8. Flip coro board 2 over, and you should clearly see your pattern nailed through and it will be mirrored from Bell 1
  9. Take two more boards out
  10. Flip one of the two boards over (remember, mirrored bells is my goal, so two are flipped)
  11. Tape coro boards 2-4 together
  12. Drill each hole from coro board 2 going through boards 3-4
  13. Un-tape boards 2-4, set boards 3-4 aside
  14. Take zip-ties and zip tie each light spot starting from back to front and thread back through the back
  15. Partially zip that zip-tie
    1. Don't zip to far or you won't get the light in
  16. Repeat steps 14-15 until every spot has zip-ties in it
  17. Grab your string of lights and start zipping them down repeating steps 11-24 above
  18. Repeat these steps for the other two boards

TADA!

Things I learned:

  1. I am really adept now at threading zip-ties through coro without having to flip it over to find the other hole
  2. Keep the string lit when putting in yellow bulbs for clapper to make sure you get a good connection and everything stays lit
  3. Keep the multi-string lit when pulling yellow bulbs because my old eyes can't tell the difference between yellow and orange when they are off
  4. If you need to manipulate a light after you zip-tied it down, use the cord going to the previous light under it and it'll help hold it in place (LEDs are cool, so no worry about melting, don't do this with incandescent lights)
  5. Make sure you start with enough zip-ties so you don't have to stop mid-bell and run to Home Depot
  6. Tell your wife, "Look honey, I got you three strands of multi-color lights to use on the tree!" (ignore that there is no yellow)
  7. If I were to do this again I would tape all four coro pieces together from the start (I didn't do it this time because I wanted to see one first before making three more and ruining sheets of coro if I was wrong on how it would work)
  8. My first bell took about three hours
  9. Bells 2-4 took about 1-1.5 hours depending on distractions from your spouse, kids and grandkids
  10. Not to add more bells to my house next year so I don't have to do this again

The Results:

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They look great. Slap some mouths on them and have them sing.

JR

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2 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

They look great. Slap some mouths on them and have them sing.

JR

Great, now all I see are tongues instead of clappers. Thanks a lot. 🤣

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2 minutes ago, MichRX7 said:

Great, now all I see are tongues instead of clappers. Thanks a lot. 🤣

If you made several clappers next to each other you could sequence them to appear to ring with the music. You have a month.

JR

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5 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

If you made several clappers next to each other you could sequence them to appear to ring with the music. You have a month.

JR

 

The boss has said that I have used up my budget for new boxes this year, so the single clapper stays for now since I am already using every available channel.

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NICE JOB!

If you laid the mirror images on top of one another (for two bells instead of four) you could have the whole bell ring back forth. Or if you did about 8 of them it would really smooth out the motion.

Tools Items Used:

12. One of those zip tie tightener-upper-cutter-offer thingies.

Things I Learned:

6A: And, Honey, bring me a beer!

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Nobody tell my wife, but this was in the budget this year! Now on to put some plug ends back on Candy Canes (without having to plug the heat gun in though we do have electrical outlets here in Michigan @dibblejr.)

y4mxvzFqyiTZurBWmANOSQr2zMQFinLYK3WbEgqs

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2 minutes ago, MichRX7 said:

Oh wait, that was @tlogan that gave me grief about my battery operated tools. Sorry!

I was trying to figure out the heat gun, pov. LOL wasn't sure where it fit in with my post.

JR

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1 hour ago, tlogan said:

I'm buying stock in HD as long as @MichRX7 is sticking with this hobby!

As well you should. I am in no way a craftsman, and I'm sure I'll be back there soon after I screw something else up.

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You guys are funny , If we dont show up at  "HOME DEPOT" on the weekend  they call to see if we are coming !!!! 

  • Haha 1
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So my wife has given me this bag of old incan lights she found in the basement to cut the ends off for my candy canes when I start thinking what moron taped the ends of these lights as I am peeling off electrical tape. Then it hits me that it is this moron and these are my lights from my first ever Christmas light show back when I only had 32 channels and before I got on the forum and everyone yelled at me not to tape. I feel like I should memorialize them somehow, or maybe the fact that part of them lives on to this day in my light show is enough, lol...

Also, I have set the over-under at 48 as the number of times I will burn my index finger and thumb while heat shrinking. Which is the exact number of heat shrinks I need to do to finish. I'm halfway through and keep pace at a perfect 24. Have I learned anything so it'll be less, or will I beat the odds. Anybody want in on this action?

Edited by MichRX7
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I'm in at OVER for 1 MiLLION….I mean 1 BILLION dollars.

 

And it just occurred to me last night that I'm building 10 new lampposts and rewired 10 candy canes for my brand new, shiny 16 channel AC controller. Something's gotta go...4 posts, 4 canes or 2 of each?

Edited by tlogan
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Wednsday night ,in the dark I wanted to hang the two foot by five foot wood frames for each side of the garage , each one has three sets of lights and crossed candy canes in the middle . I had the other half turn his car around and put the head light on so I could see the inserts in the stucco to attach the frames to.  Ok I know now as this is my third year I need help,  a doctor of some sort, but I dont think Light O Rama has a emergency depeartment  !!!!

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1 hour ago, tlogan said:

I'm in at OVER for 1 MiLLION….I mean 1 BILLION dollars.

 

And it just occurred to me last night that I'm building 10 new lampposts and rewired 10 candy canes for my brand new, shiny 16 channel AC controller. Something's gotta go...4 posts, 4 canes or 2 of each?

I mean, the obvious answer is to drop 4 posts because they take much longer to build. But then, the layout person inside me cries out that it won't have balance unless you cut two of each.

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35 minutes ago, DLH lites said:

Wednsday night ,in the dark I wanted to hang the two foot by five foot wood frames for each side of the garage , each one has three sets of lights and crossed candy canes in the middle . I had the other half turn his car around and put the head light on so I could see the inserts in the stucco to attach the frames to.  Ok I know now as this is my third year I need help,  a doctor of some sort, but I dont think Light O Rama has a emergency depeartment  !!!!

Hahaha, we all have it bad. They should just rename this forum the loony bin. I mean honestly, I fall asleep thinking about what I've got to do, and the good dreams are the one's where I think of how I'm going to do even more next year (bring on the smart pixels!)

I did finish the candy cane "re-ending". If you picked the under you were correct by about two. My left hand finger ends are crispy/raw.

Edited by MichRX7
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8 minutes ago, MichRX7 said:

I mean, the obvious answer is to drop 4 posts because they take much longer to build. But then, the layout person inside me cries out that it won't have balance unless you cut two of each.

Now I'm talking/quoting myself...

But, I take this back because we all know the obvious answer is to keep all of them, buy another CTB16 and add 12 more props!

 

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14 hours ago, MichRX7 said:

Now I'm talking/quoting myself...

But, I take this back because we all know the obvious answer is to keep all of them, buy another CTB16 and add 12 more props!

 

I thought of that,  but at this point I think that will be next year's project. 

I woke up this morning thinking that I  have an idea of pulling two of each and putting them along the side of the the driveway across from the others and, heaven help me, leave them static.

That doesn't get me banned for heresy or anything,  does it?

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