Spiral tree calculator

[Slowpoke]

I know most people have moved on to pixel trees but I am wanting to build a spiral tree this year . I used search feature but the links to most results were out of date and not there anymore. Anyone have a working link or a spiral tree calculator or build guide that could help me out ? Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

[k6ccc]

I don't have a website for one, but I do have an Excel spreadsheet saved that I found some while ago.  I just stuck it up on my website.  Download the spreadsheet and run it from your computer (does not run on the web page).

http://newburghlights.org/share/Slowpoke/

 

[DLH lites]

A neighbor just built one from a you tube video, I will ask him for the link. It looked great.

David

[webgoof]

hi *waves* this is David’s Neighibor 🙂
 

There are spreadsheets out there that are supposed to help calculate how far to space the screws for optimal spiral but they didn’t work for me so what I did was this: (based off of 8 total channels per color)

Mount a test string at the top of the tree and test wrap a spiral.  Generally try to go for increments of half a lap...so try a 1-lap spiral, 1.5-lap, etc. the length of your light strings will impact this.  I used painters tape to hold the strings in place and even as I went around  

For us, the right amount was 2.5 laps. 

We used this information to count out how many times a wire would cross one specific vertical support. For us, this was 21 mounting points, including the starting and ending point. This means there would be 20 gaps between the points.

Measure from top screw to bottom screw on one upright. Let’s pretend it’s 7.5 feet.  That’s 90 inches. That 90-inch space needs to be divided evenly between the 20 gaps, which would be 4.5 inches per gap. Thus, we put screws every 4.5 inches. 
 

Once you know the measurements, you can apply it to all the legs. 
 

 

 

Now, for us, we wanted 2 colors, and spirals in both directions, so we put screws at the halfway points as well, strung 2 colors on the screws in one direction, and then 2 colors on the midpoint screws in the opposite.  

[webgoof]

Here are the videos I used as guides

 

[webgoof]

You can see test videos of mIne on the FB page.
 

www.facebook.com/jpchristmaslights

Edited August 3, 2020 by webgoof

[Godney]

Look on the Forums for a man named Earle Tally in Ocala FL he had the best ever seen spiral trees. he will be glad to  help you with the design he used.

[Slowpoke]

Thanks guys, think I got something to work with now . I'll use the spreadsheet to get me started , and adjust as you did as I go .  videos will get me started on the fabrication .  cant wait to get this done .