MiniTree

[drlucas]

I picked up three of these small tomato cages and trying to figure out the best way to make them into a mini tree. They are about three feet high. The biggest issue right now is the top of the tree is three prongs that I have joined by a make shift clothes hanger.  I think I may want to consider perhaps building a small coro star to put on the top instead and have it give me some better overall support on the top.

Questions I have....

1. What type of topper should I put on?
2. Any better ways to secure the top part of the tree?
3. Should I use nodes like I'm trying now or move to flex strips?
4. Should I wrap nodes around and circle the tree or should I start at top and run the strips down?
5. 360 or 180 degree tree?

I know there are a few dozen ways to light these little trees up but thought I would see what other peoples thoughts are before I got too much further down the build process with my prototype.

[MrChristmas2000]

Nice grid you have there. How long is it?

[UncleBuck]

This link might help. I built nine of these.

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[drlucas]

The grid is 90 lights per string 3m or about 11' and have 32 rows. Makes for some really sweet glediator/xlights effects.


Here is one full length picture.

I'll also go check that other link.

[drlucas]

Interesting idea - using two of them and cutting in half. I'll have to go hunting for another three more cages if this works for me.

[PJNMCT]

I'm thinking about using this idea for a nine leg mini tree with vertical flex strips on each leg.

[danj]

I have made 16 mini trees (regular incans wrapped...) for my first year (last year).   I held the top together using small hose clamps.  A little knuckle dragging solution, but it worked pretty well.  I tried ty wraps, but I found that they "slip off" of the top of the tree, so I went to the ty wraps.  I just read last night on the spring planet Christmas magazine that they use washers--slip them over the three ends and it kinda locks them in place.  Some ideas for ya...

[drlucas]

I'll try the washers and then to the heater hose clamps - thanks!! Sadly I don't have a cutter like the website has so I used some side cutter and worked through it. My hacksaw did nothing but jump around me. Needless to say I have two trees cut and today I'll see if I can join things together. Thanks for the tips!

[mmais68569]

I use plain old zip ties to hold the top

             Mike

[t.jo13]

You can also use a hot glue gun with or without a washer to secure the top as a glue gun is a common tool in our hobby. Works well 

[drlucas]

I think hot glue would work better than the liquid tape that was originally used. Gotta love how a prototype tree gets improved upon. I'm also going to use all three of my cages instead of just the two. I know this may mean more trips to the store, but I do like the sounds of a 9 strip tree vs 6

I'll post pictures as I progress through this build.

[DonFL]

I use plain old zip ties to hold the top

             Mike

Same here. Just clip the tops a bit, and put a heavy zip tie around it. But the washer idea sounds like its worth checking out.

[taybrynn]

I personally don't put star toppers on mini trees because the scale isn't always there.  You could possible just do a simple vertical spire with some additional nodes on it and when you sequence it, treat those nodes differently as want, get creative with it?

[therealbigjim]

Looks like a simple solution. The single cage doesn't appear to have quite the right shape. Several years back I bought pre made two peace trees. 1/4" powder coated round steel , they are heavy duty. They are made in bolt together halves but are still hard to store and were about $25 each + shipping so it was 300 for the 10 I got.

[drlucas]

3 cages seem to look good so far. I guess I'll try without a topper first and wrap the lights around for a 360 degree look. More than likely I'll jump back to a 270 degree look. I also will have to figure out the base because I remember how much snow there was last year. Maybe just sticking it on a milk crate will do the trick. More videos (of the 360 and 270 look) to come. I'll also let you all know how many nodes I end up sticking on it - from top to bottom with standard spacing nodes I can get 12 nodes which is good if I stick with that count as I can light the tree with a single SSC.