Full Circle or Half MegaTree

[kgustafson]

dpitts,

Glad you cleared that up.  3/8" seemed small.  1/2" makes much more sense.

Kurt

[zwiller]

Thanks, Kurt.  1/2" it is.  Punch is still the same cost.  Ok, you guys think the burning critical to the strength?  No fraying, etc.  I am interested in making a jig that will ensure even spacing and I can't see how I could do that with burning the holes.  Not opposed to burning afterword to seal the fibers. 

[dpitts]

The holes came out really close. I used to 2 - 2x4x10 screwed together the make a jig to hold the strap. I then marked hole locations on the board. The holes were put in within an 1/8". I mean nothing as close to the aircraft assembly lines I used to help contruct but this is not flying at over 1000 mph either.

[wildwillie]

Thanks, Kurt.  1/2" it is.  Punch is still the same cost.  Ok, you guys think the burning critical to the strength?  No fraying, etc.  I am interested in making a jig that will ensure even spacing and I can't see how I could do that with burning the holes.  Not opposed to burning afterword to seal the fibers.

I think the burning (melting)is the key. Keeps it all from fraying, and makes a nice strong hole to insert the node into. I was going to run with this idea, too. I was thinking 2 pieces of 1" wide sheet metal, with 9/16 holes spaced about every 4". Clamp the webbing between them, and you've got a jig all set to melt a bunch of holes on 1 heating.

[kgustafson]

It would be an interesting test to see how bad the fraying could become with just a punch and a grommet put in place.  My biggest issue is that I live in a townhouse (no garage or semi-enclosed outdoorsy place where fumes wouldn't matter too much) and I would prefer a non-plastic/nylon burning scenario.  I think I am gonna test the grommet punch without burning and see how bad it is or can be potentially.

Kurt

[taybrynn]

I think a bigger issue with rgb trees ... Will become the ability to also do text.   As you Said, the horizontal density is twice as good on a half tree, if you double up,in front ... Since normally the vertical spacing is much closer than the horizontal spacing.   I really think most of the full isn't visible ... In my yard, it's deep .... So as you said, place it back a bit and nobody can see behind it.   Plus these things are so directional. It limits what you can see, unlike a mini lights based tree.

[smeighan]

I think a bigger issue with rgb trees ... Will become the ability to also do text.   As you Said, the horizontal density is twice as good on a half tree, if you double up,in front ... Since normally the vertical spacing is much closer than the horizontal spacing.   I really think most of the full isn't visible ... In my yard, it's deep .... So as you said, place it back a bit and nobody can see behind it.   Plus these things are so directional. It limits what you can see, unlike a mini lights based tree.

I was amazed at how much of my half megatree is visible from behind. google map my address 4217 greenfich dr, 80126.

When people where on Goldcrest, they could see the megatree very bright and clear as you looked up kittiwake. This even though the tree is positioned nearly 180 degrees away from your vantage point.

As i mentioned before, the plastic sleeve of the flex strips glowed on its edges. I can stand behind my 20x120 tree and see the light animation for 18 of the 20 strands.

Remember my tree, flex strip is cabled tied to 1/2" metal emt, I will take a movie standing behind it and post it. My windows 7 box is now completely dead, i am using my windows 8 box. I luckily got the 500 gbytes of stuff onto a backup before it died. One issue is my Windows 8 box does not have firewire. My Sony TRV950 has the movies of my display. I ordered a firewire board from amazon, this week i should be able to capture video.