Christmas Mega Tree

Ben Walker

New elf
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Jan 3, 2019
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12
Hey guys,

I’ve got a traditional light display and this year I want to make a mega tree. I plan on making it about 6m(20ft) tall, I have a couple of questions I would like answered.

what should the diameter of the base be?
What length of lights (m) would I need to make it look nice and go all the way around?
what’s the best way to put them up? Pulley system or?
What should I use for the centre pole?

Thanks heaps.
 

Fing

Full time elf
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Dec 31, 2014
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Muswellbrook
hi Ben,
they are the easy questions....
1. about 8-10ft or whatever you think looks nice... a lot of us use trampoline bases
2. 48 strands
3.I have a pulley, works well and is easy, but requires some DIY skills
4. 50mm gal water pipe
now the other questions..
what type of lights?
what is it sitting on?
how big is your budget?
cheers
Fing
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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There's a few mega tree calculators around. https://www.lightshowhub.com/tools/mega-tree-calculator is 1 of them.
I added a pixel megatree in 2018. I ran out of time to do it properly but I ran with 12 strands of 75 for a 5m 120 degree tree. I plan on going with 24 strands for 180 degrees. Because of the single sided design I used I repurposed a frame I built for my rope light megatree about 10 years ago. It is made as an A frame with super cheap and super light plaster battens.
 

Ben Walker

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Jan 3, 2019
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12
Thanks for that Fing,
I was just thinking about a pretty basic tree and probably now thinking 5.5m tall would work well.
My lights I use are just your typical led ones from stores and not pixel lights so I was thinking because I have a few of these (picture attached) laying around I could use them to do the tree. How many sets would I need though?
I plan that the tree would sit on a flat dirt area (if it fits). My budget is flexible and open to ideas but don’t want to spend too much. One of the main things I want to figure out is how many lights I need to make it look decent, I have a good idea of how to build the tree. Thanks
 

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Fing

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best to experiment, also search for spiral trees, these might suit you.
also take into account the wind load, it is basically a large sail..and it will need anchoring
 

Ben Walker

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Jan 3, 2019
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best to experiment, also search for spiral trees, these might suit you.
also take into account the wind load, it is basically a large sail..and it will need anchoring
Yeah, I’ve drawn plans which I will take photos of to show you tomorrow. I’ve had a quick look at spiral trees but not really what I had in mind, did you have any photos? Thanks.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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I have a fairy light mega tree of 6m height that has been in use since I retired my rope light 1. It uses 12 strands of 10m each with the tail of each strand meeting at the pole. The strands are actually doubled over so in actuality I have 240m of fairy lights at 10cm spacing which when the strings are doubled over it gives you about 5cm spacing. There's a pic of my tree at the right of http://www.hansonelectronics.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Xmas2012-1.jpg
 

Fing

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my mega tree is on here somewhere as is my presentation from the minis, try Adelaide 2017?
 

videoman3857

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Glass House Mountains
The tree to the left in this photo is a mini mega tree made from store bought fairy lights - 350 per string. 12 strings of mixed coloured and 12 strings of white.
All set to twinkle. Its made from an 8' star picket in the ground. 50mm pvc pipe over the picket. Pvc socket on the top with 24 screwed hooks. 3 guy ropes to hold it in place and a round trampoline base at the bottom
48426668_531602174007372_1345514538308468736_o.jpg
 

Ben Walker

New elf
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
12
The tree to the left in this photo is a mini mega tree made from store bought fairy lights - 350 per string. 12 strings of mixed coloured and 12 strings of white.
All set to twinkle. Its made from an 8' star picket in the ground. 50mm pvc pipe over the picket. Pvc socket on the top with 24 screwed hooks. 3 guy ropes to hold it in place and a round trampoline base at the bottom
48426668_531602174007372_1345514538308468736_o.jpg
Yours looks really good and the kind I was considering to build. How tall is your tree and what’s the size of the trampoline base? I’m starting to think that if PVC is strong enough that may be the way to go instead of metal poles to keep the weight down. Thanks.
 
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