Kenneth D Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I would like to make some multi channel trees about 6 feet tall. Probably about 500-800 lights per channel. I really don't want to try and wrap a commercial tree. I think that would take a long time and then I would have to store them complete.Has any one made any spiral trees like you see at the box stores? What about a large "mini" tree out of rebar or a small mega tree. I'm trying to balance cost and ease of construction with storage size and set up and tear down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I made some 10 foot tall wire frame trees last year.. They are 5 slices with a total of 137 C7 bulbs per color. They can be seen here in last year's city park show... I think they first appear around 42 seconds in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe2000 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I got some Tomato cages wrapped my lights around them and got instant trees. After Christmas I take the lights off put them away, stack the cages in the back yard. If you wish to see a picture let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friskybri Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Lets take a look. Show us the trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschultz56 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Clyde Dearing put me on to this design at a workshop in Houston this summer. They are easy to make. The only diference for me is I wrapped them completely with mini's and divided into 4 channels 4 colors so I could do different things with them. The instructions for making them are here. http://dearingd.ipower.com/MediumMinis.htmlLeave Clyde a note if you like his design.Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe2000 Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 It's simple very inexpensive and get the effect i wanted. The Tomato cage cost 2.79 and light string was 100 lights for 1.50. I put up 13 trees for less than 60 bucks. I set them up in a triangle with the single tree in the front. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill D. Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Kenneth D wrote: I would like to make some multi channel trees about 6 feet tall. Probably about 500-800 lights per channel. I really don't want to try and wrap a commercial tree. I think that would take a long time and then I would have to store them complete.Has any one made any spiral trees like you see at the box stores? What about a large "mini" tree out of rebar or a small mega tree. I'm trying to balance cost and ease of construction with storage size and set up and tear down.Kenneth,I have the same concerns, not sure how hard your soil is, but here is what I have done. I picked up 2"x2"x8' wood at Home Depot (non-presure treated only cost $1.50. Cut them down to stakes about 5 1/2 feet. Put some nails or screws at the top to run the wire to. For the bottom, I heated up some PVC conduit (10 foot section is about a dollar) into 30" circles. They have curved water tubing, it's just more expensive. Run some 1" screws into the circle to hold the wire. Drill holes at 45 degree angle for 1' nails ($.40) to hold the bottom down.5 strands of 100 lights = 1,440" divided by 60" top to bottom lenth = 24 points at bottom. Bottom is 30" so spacing is 3.92 or about 4 inches.Storage is just for lights, rings can be hung up on a wall. I set up ten of these trees in about 4 hours this year.I hope this helps!Bill D. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill D. Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Just a quick pic of the bottom ring from my post above. I like the idea of the tomato cages too.Happy New Year!Bill D. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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