A country twinkle

[mborg10]

Welcome to ACL. Lots of great ideas on here.

 

[Christmas on Clarafield]

Welcome to ACL. Sounds like you have a bit of work to be done but at least its always easier with the support of the household.

 

[scamper]

Yes David. This year. I've got a big head start as I've already got a 1 inch round 1.5 metre tall pole
Already sitting in the middle of the roof from our old tv aerial.

That should help, all you need is another pole to go either in or outside of that, a pole top to hold the lights up, somewhere to pin the lights at the bottom and then the strings of lights attached to something for strength.
You can do it!

 

[fasteddy]

Welcome to ACL, you will find all you need to get yourself into the hobby even deeper than you already are, so feel freet to ask any questions

 

[Lenny]

Yes David. This year. I've got a big head start as I've already got a 1 inch round 1.5 metre tall pole
Already sitting in the middle of the roof from our old tv aerial.

That should help, all you need is another pole to go either in or outside of that, a pole top to hold the lights up, somewhere to pin the lights at the bottom and then the strings of lights attached to something for strength.
You can do it!

How important is that the strings are attached to something? I had strings setup last year that spanned 6 metres between posts with out have any issue? Is it just a recommendation to do it?

 

[scamper]

It really depends on the strings that you are using (in my opinion) the wire is only meant to supply power and not actually take any weight and if you are using pixels from china etc, then you may actually pull them apart under their own weight. especially if you get a storm or strong winds.
Even when running cheaper Big W strings I tend to attach them to something.
Better to be safe than sorry.
And in your case especially if you are putting the tree on the roof.

 

[Lenny]

It really depends on the strings that you are using (in my opinion) the wire is only meant to supply power and not actually take any weight and if you are using pixels from china etc, then you may actually pull them apart under their own weight. especially if you get a storm or strong winds.
Even when running cheaper Big W strings I tend to attach them to something.
Better to be safe than sorry.
And in your case especially if you are putting the tree on the roof.

I've been thinking about how exactly I will set it up and supports and I'm going to to use a few guide wires to to keep the top as rigid as possible so I will most likely run strings down them. Not every string will have a wire but it will releave the stress that would have been on there.

 

[scamper]

I attached mine to plastic coated clothes line with cable ties.
There are a bunch of ways of doing it.
As it is getting close to xmas go with whatever you have time for, but maybe think about it for next year.

 

[Lenny]

That's quite a good idea. Will make it look less industrial. I'm pretty lucky with my work schedule as most days I'm finished by 330 and drive past a bunnings on my way home so should be able to knock something up in time

 

[Lenny]

Finally found some photos of last years display. I had to pull them down 2 days before Christmas because some low life decided to cut the strings that ran along the front fence.

 

[dale82]

just a question, are you wanting to do a pixel megatree or just an led (Using existing lights) tree?

 

[Lenny]

Just using connectable bigw led strings. I'm on a budget and I really don't know enough about pixels and all the fancy stuff to playing around with them this close to the big switch

 

[Bird]

One thing to keep in mind, last year there were 2 points (fence & house) holding the weight of the light string.
With a tree you have only one point (the top) holding the weight of the string.

 

[kel]

 

[Lenny]

Looks like I've more work ahead of me. Just had 8 sections of 6metre pvc dropped off by my mate who works at reece plumbing along with 24 T pieces. Marty fans and arches in the build for tonight and tomorrow night. 6 of them in total