Looking for ideas on building mini trees

[Rhizzlebop]

I've been working on my programming, and planned to use some front yard bushes for some of these mini trees in a row, ( just a net light set on each bush).   However, I'm rethinking, and realizing thats gonna look weird with some bushes, and some that I need to make something.

 

SO, now I'm thinking I need to build some kind of mini trees.  Trying to keep this mostly simple, and flatter might be better becasue my whole front yard is really small.

Not really sure how to build them.  These will just have basic AC LED sets.   Should I go with a piece of 2x4 as a middle, and just some light strips to the ground angled like a tree, or maybe buy some coro and try to cut my own tree shapes from white coro?

 

I'm thinking around 36-40" tall would be about right.  I didn't see any premade coro tree profiles that tall.  I see HD has 48x96" coro sheet for $23.  I can make 3 from 1 sheet, maybe 4 if I turn 2 upside down.

If I went that route, they'd be solid white, maybe just 1 verticle 2x4 down the back middle, zip tied to a piece of rebar, and let the coro just self support.  WOuld that work?   Would I need the 2x4 to standoff of the coro somehow with some spaces so the light holes I drill can fill the front and not have this 2" wide dead zone down the middle?

 

Thoughts are appreciated.  I have to make 8 of these things.

[dibblejr]

Wire frame tomato cages to start is pretty good

get 2 per tree and rotate the vertice veins so they are staggers as much as possible

If only one cage you get a triangle looking tree

JR

[Rhizzlebop]

29 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

Wire frame tomato cages to start is pretty good

get 2 per tree and rotate the vertice veins so they are staggers as much as possible

If only one cage you get a triangle looking tree

JR

Hey JR,

Thanks for the suggestion.   I'll have to see if I can even still buy tomato cages this time of year.   I know they have the expensive green plastic coated ones.  They might last longer.

 

So, 2 cages per tree, and then I guess if its just 1 channel LED, you can just wrap the lights and zip tie in whatever pattern is easiest.    

Only challenge here will be where do I store these things after the season.  My singing faces hang on my garage wall, but 8 of these tomato cages will be huge.

I thought about buying coro and trying to cut my own pattern for 180s at about 40" tall.  Potentially they could at least fold out flatter and into some kind of storage bin.  

[tlogan]

Yes, STORING the tomato cages is a real pain. At least it was for me in my 10x12 shed with all the other stuff in there. I used a single cage and the top half looked fine because I could use the round cross bars. Overall, even with the bottom being somewhat triangular, I thought they looked fine. But....storage. So, last year, I rebuilt them using three lengths of 2x2.  I cut a triangle out of 2x4 and attached small hinges to the 3 sides and then to the legs. You can open them up into a triangle. And you can use the 2x4 block triangle to attach a topper if you want. I painted the wood green and attached lights and can fold them up for storage. Takes up MUCH less room. Yes, they are triangles, but I think they look fine at night with the lights on. At least none of the neighbors have said "what are those things supposed to be?" so I guess they look fine.   

[Vince4xmas]

https://www.holidaycoro.com/Coro-Mini-Tree-p/16.htm

Boscoyo may also have some that work with led mini lights.

 

 

[dibblejr]

I just stored my tomato cage trews light and all inside each other. Of course don’t push down on them. I Put in stacks of 4. 
 

I had 4 different colors of lights 200 count each color

Use zip ties to hold light on. You do not need to use a bazillion zip ties since they layer in each other really good.

JR

[Rhizzlebop]

8 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I just stored my tomato cage trews light and all inside each other. Of course don’t push down on them. I Put in stacks of 4. 
 

I had 4 different colors of lights 200 count each color

Use zip ties to hold light on. You do not need to use a bazillion zip ties since they layer in each other really good.

JR

Thanks JR.   So you put 800 lights on a mini tree ?    How tall?     Or do you mean each tree was a diff color with 200 lights?

 

 

[Rhizzlebop]

16 hours ago, tlogan said:

Yes, STORING the tomato cages is a real pain. At least it was for me in my 10x12 shed with all the other stuff in there. I used a single cage and the top half looked fine because I could use the round cross bars. Overall, even with the bottom being somewhat triangular, I thought they looked fine. But....storage. So, last year, I rebuilt them using three lengths of 2x2.  I cut a triangle out of 2x4 and attached small hinges to the 3 sides and then to the legs. You can open them up into a triangle. And you can use the 2x4 block triangle to attach a topper if you want. I painted the wood green and attached lights and can fold them up for storage. Takes up MUCH less room. Yes, they are triangles, but I think they look fine at night with the lights on. At least none of the neighbors have said "what are those things supposed to be?" so I guess they look fine.   

I like this idea.  A little upfront work, but collapsible.   
 

I think I have some treated 2x4 s that are too warped to build with on my porch but good enough to rip down for this.  Gotta find small hinges.  
 

did you use treated?   How tall did you go?  How many lights?    Did you zip tie at random to sort of hold the row heights?    You store them in bins on their side or standing up?  
 

 

I also looked at the boscovo stuff but they are all for rgb nodes. 

[dibblejr]

21 minutes ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Thanks JR.   So you put 800 lights on a mini tree ?    How tall?     Or do you mean each tree was a diff color with 200 lights?

 

 

4 colors each tree

i believe they tall cages are 50”

JR

[Rhizzlebop]

2 hours ago, dibblejr said:

4 colors each tree

i believe they tall cages are 50”

JR

Trees look great! I watched the video you shared.   
I thought those were RGB till I just saw this message.   So basically you've got 32 channels to those 8 trees, and you turn on and off each color, almost like an RGB to get different color effects.  Very cool deal.   I like that as a way to "Step up" my tree game, without having to scrap the beginnings as I'm just gonna do 8 channels for this year.   I'm already adding 2x 16 channel controlls, AND an RGB flood kit this year, plus cords and lights, and fixture building, so thats WAY MORE thane nough spent this season.  But next year I could add more lights and more channels to them like you did.

I am sort of liking the wood tripod with hinges just becasue my garage storage is very limited, and being able to fold them down would be great.    Thanks again for all your support and help.  Amazing guys on here.

[Rhizzlebop]

19 hours ago, tlogan said:

Yes, STORING the tomato cages is a real pain. At least it was for me in my 10x12 shed with all the other stuff in there. I used a single cage and the top half looked fine because I could use the round cross bars. Overall, even with the bottom being somewhat triangular, I thought they looked fine. But....storage. So, last year, I rebuilt them using three lengths of 2x2.  I cut a triangle out of 2x4 and attached small hinges to the 3 sides and then to the legs. You can open them up into a triangle. And you can use the 2x4 block triangle to attach a topper if you want. I painted the wood green and attached lights and can fold them up for storage. Takes up MUCH less room. Yes, they are triangles, but I think they look fine at night with the lights on. At least none of the neighbors have said "what are those things supposed to be?" so I guess they look fine.   

Did you find a source of small and cheap hinges?   I'm guessing nothing special, just small, cheap and in bulk.    KInd of winder of 4 sides, or even 5 sides might look better and more full, and less triangle.   Also, at some point it becomes heavy and could break the bulbs when you fold em.

Also, did you use a guide wire or anything between legs so they all open out to the same diameter limit, or you just wing it and stood em up as a tripod?

[tlogan]

Yes, I just went to HD and picked up small cheap hinges. basically just enough to old them together.  I made 10 trees so needed 30! And now that you mention it, I used 18" metal straps that I found in the concrete supply aisle. The straps really stiffen the whole thing up, but wire should work (and be cheaper). I stake down the legs, too. Let me see if I can link to a couple of pictures. I know I have some SOMEWHERE. Again I think the 3 look fine.  

[tlogan]

@Rhizzlebop try these pics. Let me know if you can't see them.

 

Trees in the dark: Mini tree in dark

Trees in the light: mini tree in light

[Rhizzlebop]

44 minutes ago, tlogan said:

@Rhizzlebop try these pics. Let me know if you can't see them.

 

Trees in the dark: Mini tree in dark

Trees in the light: mini tree in light

Yes, I see exaclty what you did there.   I'm seeing some fairly cheap 10-20 pack hinges on amazon, that even say theya re SS in some cases.  However, some have reviews that say they wont lay down flat due to holes not being counter sunk.  I'm thinking in my case that doesn't really matter.  Kind of depends on how I put the hinge, such that the triangle of wood sits down flush with the top of the 2x2, or if it sits up above the 2x2s(hinged at its lower side)

 

 

[TheDucks]

Make your own PIVOTS by using (4) eye bolts in pairs with a stiff wire/rod  as the Pin.

https://www.amazon.com/Axe-Sickle-Stainless-Eyebolt-Screws/dp/B082GQ8N95/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=screw%2Beye%2B%238&qid=1630689722&sr=8-8&th=1

$5 per 50 (12 pivot locations)

The alternate to the pin, is to just open one eye  a bit and hook it into the other (after placing into the frames)

Edited September 3, 2021 by TheDucks
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[k6ccc]

3 hours ago, tlogan said:

@Rhizzlebop try these pics. Let me know if you can't see them.

 

Trees in the dark: Mini tree in dark

Trees in the light: mini tree in light

You did not make the photos public.  Can't see them.

It asked for a MS account (which I do not have)

 

[PhilMassey]

17 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

It asked for a MS account (which I do not have)

You and I must be about the only people left using a local Windows account. They keep making it harder to find with every version 

[TheDucks]

I saw them. I do not use one drive for anything, which probably puts me in the same boat as you and Jim

[lightzilla]

I used Tomato Cages too. 2 per cages per tree. Wrapped 250 to 300 Leds around it per colour. Mainly just 2 colours, once or twice 3 colours. Then I sold most of my stuff & now I use 1 colour per tree. Maybe 2 colours like red & green Leds this year. However since times are hard $$ wise for me now, now I use 100 count Led light strings & zip tie the light string to each rib (6 ribs) but if there is a big gap between ribs then I make a rib or 2.  Six ribs means you need 16 lights per rib. 7 ribs 14 lights per rib & 8 ribs you need about 12 lights per rib. My trees are from 12 to 14 lights per rib. My trees are 38" tall . 11 mini trees.  My yard is small too but 16 mini trees can fit in it.

My 1st mini trees between 2007-2017 were short but had as I mentioned above lots of lights on them. They were short because I cut the tops off. No one seemed to care. I took almost all of my videos down from YT but now I put a few back up. I forgot I took a break from a musical display in 2015. Rock N Rolling snowman was back in 2010 or 2011. The other video is my way smaller 2020 display , not much will change in 2021. You can see the Mini trees.

 

[prevue12]

I use tomato cages also, two per tree, but if I did it now I would use only one.  I have two sizes,  big ones have 200 of each color, small ones 100 (total of 28).   Have videos posted on FB page, at Shawns Christmas Lights.