Building & buying display items

[ghethco]

Hi guys,

I'm a little surprised there isn't a "display items" forum here.  I know it isn't rocket science to make (or buy) a candy cane or a star, but I'm sure there are some hand made items that get complicated and would be interesting to see go together.

I'm also sure that some of that kind of thing has been posted here, but I'm not finding very much.

My house is a little difficult since I have two huge trees in my front yard that obscure most of the house when viewed from the street.  I also have a street light right in front of my house.  I've been toying with ideas for making the streetlight 'go dark' :-) but I think I'm just going to have to deal with it.

I'm trying to come up with ideas for a display and I think making a few free standing items might be a good idea.  I'm a little concerned about vandalism though so I could also use some ideas for fastening things down so they're not easy to steal.

Thoughts?

Gary

[drlucas]

I have a similar tree blocking part of the house problem.  So.  I'm creating arches that run across the front yard.  I have 24' of space between my driveway edge and neighbours driveway of grass so I figure 3x7' arches with a bit of space in between will work lovely for me.

post later on... so far is my build. Hoping to secure with some rebar and may use u spikes to the bottom bar.  That should protect from people walking past and kicking and/or make people think twice before trying to run off.

Failing that I'll put a fake camera up outside.

[ghethco]

Good ideas, thanks.  The pic didn't seem to upload properly though, I can't open it.  You might try adding it as an attachment.

Gary

[sirloinofbeef001]

Good ideas, thanks.  The pic didn't seem to upload properly though, I can't open it.  You might try adding it as an attachment.

Gary

I couldn't open it either...

[drlucas]

Lets try it this way then ( i tried to attach the image using tap talk iPhone app)....lets try from the laptop instead....

[drlucas]

Note...this is still in the "beta" phase...given my thought about rebar, i may need to pull the bottom most node out to get the rebar in. These are 12mm nodes and I had to drill out the 40 holes per arch. 

[sirloinofbeef001]

I started doing mine the way you did and after bending the pipe, it kept snapping the pipe so I just zip tied them to the pipes instead. Mine were 2" apart so I'm sure that had something to do with the breakage. Also, another note is I used the gray electric PVC. Even tho I didn't get the lights to point straight out they still are very bright.

[drlucas]

I tried to do the hot water through the pipe first...ended up with an wickedly bad shaped D...so scraped that idea, went back to the tension pole....hope this schedule 40 PVC holds up in the colder temps. The pixels are exactly 3" apart and wires  are nice and clean on the back side of the arch. I am hoping the white for the arch is ok...was even thinking about wrapping the PVC in garland later on...might make the arches look better in the day time...but i'd guess at night during the show it won't matter.

I am hoping my SSCs arrive in the next few days and then I can try them out. It really was a pain in the butt to drill out those holes....i have one more arch to build and not looking that forward to doing it. i am not a very patient guy , but we will get it done. I used two drill bits to do this too...the first one was just a pilot hole and then i switched over to the 15/32 bit. I think because of the pilot hole I was able to get the bigger bit in and out very straight. with the 3/4" pipe the nodes just fit in perfectly. so far i'm happy with the design. we will see how it holds up and looks lit up.

[tmcteer]

I'm building 8 arches using 2" HDPE. They are 5.5' wide, 30" tall. I got this idea from another site..(Thanks Timon). This tubing is frosted, disperses light evenly and has no ink manufacture markings. It is very stiff but was naturally arched be cause it comes in a 100' roll. I used a tie down strap to pull it in and 12ga THHN solid copper wire attached to the ends to keep the distance at 5.5'. 24" 3/8 rebar pounded in at the angle for the arch and zip tie holds it in place. You could attached PVC tees and make feet for a standalone arch. This can be ordered by the foot at McMaster-Carr. There's a will call warehouse nearby, so no shipping. I using 5m 150 3LEDs per pixel weatherproof strips. Basically 25 pixels per arch. The strip lays flat on the bottom of the tube with the pixels pointing up. I will be putting a clamp on both ends to keep the strip taught against the bottom of the tube. It's doing well without clamping but the ends move to the outside edge and the pixels tend to show.

Tom

[rrowan]

This idea has come up a few times. Way back when I created a wiki page so people could add this display items. A few did but not many. Its on the main page in the FAQ section and titled DIY Building Display Items.

It would be great if people started to add to it. If you need help just let me know.

Rick R.

[jnealand]

24" 3/8 rebar pounded in at the angle for the arch and zip tie holds it in place.

Just guessing based on my past experience with using rebar and arches.  You may need a longer piece of rebar (sticking above the ground to keep the arches from leaning over due to wind or wet ground allowing the rebar to move around.  I had some arches that were about 48" high in the middle and I finally put some rope and the peak and tied it to two stakes to keep the top of the arch from swaying in the wind.  Youu might be ok with the 30" arch, but you are using a much bigger piece of PVC than I had at the time.

[tmcteer]

This material is not like PVC.. Do to the size and 1/8 wall thickness the arch it self does not flex. I may increase the rebar length to 30" but the over height of the arch is only 30". In fact I only have one side zip tied and it's very stable.

[sirloinofbeef001]

Last year my arches were 20' made out of 1" PVC and they seemed to stand ok but I did a lol something to the center to keep them from moving to much I use 1/2 all thread I get from work and keep them about 2' in the ground with 4' up. This year in using 10' electric PVC for my Ss and the used PVC for the regular arches.  On that note, I'm using the same electric PVC for my Ss mega tree. They will allow for the movement and keep the lights looking straight. At least I hope they work that way.

[sirloinofbeef001]

This idea has come up a few times. Way back when I created a wiki page so people could add this display items. A few did but not many. Its on the main page in the FAQ section and titled DIY Building Display Items.

It would be great if people started to add to it. If you need help just let me know.

Rick R.

I can't seem to find the DIY building display items.

[rrowan]

I can't seem to find the DIY building display items.

Not sure why?

On the main wiki page. Second column (FAQ) after the intro text. Second link "DIY Building Display Items"

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Rick R.