2012 vids

[zwiller]

Very helpful. I'm going to get some 1x2 or maybe 1x1 to frame mine too...with new windows coming in this late fall, my wife would kill me if I tried to figure a way to mount on the new windows.

My frames are 2" strips of 3/8" exterior ply.  Not saying I am against 1x per se but ply is cheaper, lighter, stronger, and flexible in a good way. (long time wooddorker) I did my whole setup from 2 sheets including the north star and have a half sheet left.

I hear ya about mounting to the house...  I've done displays a long time before finally succumbing to some permanent mounts (2 years ago).  Mounts for window frames are on the trim and not window itself...  The way I figure it is safer and faster.  The temporary solutions I used in the past were very tedious to put up and take down.  That's dangerous working on 2nd story and roof line...  My wife and I are very particular about our house and we both agree the few mounts are not an eye sore or problem. 

[drlucas]

Thanks - I was wondering about pressure treated wood vs what I'd get otherwise....only can find 2x2 boards that are pressure treaded...maybe 3/8 ply is the way to go...if I can find some outdoor grade material. i'll take the trip to home depot/lowes this weekend and see what the options are. just I have a skill saw and my lines are never that straight with the skill saw and the precut 1x2s are always square

I've learned a ton so far about mounting from my flexstrip mega tree and star on the garage so far and i'm very disappointed with my garage peaks. I have a good idea for the roof outline though....hope the 104' of pvc (perimeter of my roof) can be mounted in a way that it doesn't sag in the middle when I put in some t's and middle joints...if it does my backup plan is the 1x2s and then pvc mounted on top of that with little u brackets screwed into the wood...then a couple of big clamps off the soffit to hold it down...and/or...some weights hung down the other side of the roof and tie them to the pvc (if that picture makes sense).

that is my project for the weekend (starting Friday)

[zwiller]

Exterior ply is not PT but uses waterproof glue.  If it gets painted with a decent exterior paint it should last a long time since it is only exposed to the elements for 60 days or so.  It should be easy enough to find someone with a table saw to rip your strips for a sixer.  If not, local high school shop, cabinet shop, contractor. 

I used pvc before and unless it schedule 40 it will sag but it was much better than just using clips.  Sounds like you have a good plan.  Try a few things on a lower section of the roof to test and you'll come up with something that works. 

Only other thought I have is maybe keep it simple like me and just light the front of house...  You can always go full Griswold later if you want!  I am a big believer that a smaller layout with good sequencing always looks better than a large layout with poor sequencing.   

[drlucas]

I'll ask my son if his high school has a shop....I know the catholic school locally here does, but not sure about his public school...have a friend around the corner who has a nice table saw....might load some wood in the back of the truck and go visiting

I'm using sched 80 (grey) for the pipe and sched 40 for the couplers. will post up some photos of the build of the tree and my roof outline. Overall I have built my 12 strand mega tree (quality build, easy to take down) with a nice coro star topper with about 60 dumb pixels (not so easy to take down, but have a better way for next year), 3 arches 10' length each with 12mm nodes drilled through the 3/4" pvc - 120 lights in total built, the garage peaks done with 96 lights in total across the 2 x12' lengths. want to use the left over flex strips to build 2x10' vertical strips for the garage. Have 400 or so dumb string nodes into 8 channels  for my singing tree in one upstairs window, and will build two window frames with smart strings (100 lights in total - the windows are 80x40") and finally the roof outline. Then I have a bunch of LEs and SSRs that I can use to light up a walk way full of simple candy canes or little mini trees...still trying to source those as right now I just have 4 candy canes from previous years. I've struggled with sequencing and still learning vixen and hls but have spent lots of time with xlights the last month and pretty comfortable with it from all the wonderful tutorials Sean has been hosting.

OK...coffee time and then walk the dogs and then work and then back to flexstrips tonight

[zwiller]

Schedule 80 which is code here is nice stuff.  Pretty rigid so I would assume you should not have an issue with sagging.  After watching your arch video I think you work well with pvc so stick with it and forgo the ply.  Great job!

[drlucas]

Here is the results of a really nice sunny day, a day off work and lots of motivation to get this roof outlined!!

Ended up using 1x3s because my 3/4" pvc clamps go out 3", so couldn't use 1x2. It was tough to get this built without any nails, but I was able too. It doesn't look too bad in the day light, will look awesome at night!!

Tomorrow I'll be back at it trying to get the rest of the lights strapped down to the PVC. It is taking me about an hour for 100 nodes once I get into the swing of things. About 150 lights done today across the top, but the top part was the most work as that's the way I was able to get the frame to stay put (there is eye bolts drilled through the PVC and I have counter balances on the other side of the roof).  And with the way I raised the frame off the roof in a few sections is great too because the rain can still run off into the eaves.

With any luck I will have a video for the roof tomorrow night...we will see!