Mega Tree safety?

[Jayxdallis]

Hi guys

I’ve decided that a 50x50x3mm shs @ 7m is my MegaTree post and that I will keep this post solid with a sleeved topper to hoist to the top to reduce on engineering & cost of making it a 2 or more piece post. However this is a heavy & long chunk of steel that absolutely will be guy wired but my fear is any sort of temporary mount/hold would not suffice!

Is my only option to permanently concrete a socket (65x65x6mm) into my nice lawn? Or am I over killing this a bit? Any ideas or pics from other builds that can help with ideas?

Another idea was to get one of this massive plastic pots from Bunnings and flip it & fill with a socket & concrete! It would weigh a ton but and would not sit perfect flat on the grass!

 

[AussiePhil]

i'm sure that others will have ideas but funny how i've been back to vimeo twice today

Vimeo

vimeo.com

the video shows a timelapse of setting up v2 of the megatree...
Pole is 65mm round ALU with 3mm walls (maybe thicker). 6.5M long with about 1M sunk in the ground, star adds around 1.4M. The whole thing just sits in the ground with the strings providing the guying once they are tied down.
the whole thing is light enough (just) that i can put the pole in the ground myself.
The PVC pipe holder is concreted into the ground at least 1.2M

 

[Kartman]

Hi,

Is it possible to move the socket to a place in the garden / lawn where it won't notice? Mine is under the garden edging, which is a log I just roll out of the way to reveal the hole.

Also consider how you are going to stand the pole up and put it into the socket, as a pole that size can get unwieldy, and trying to hold it vertically and line it up with a hole can be very challenging.

This is how I did mine and it is a one person job to get it up and down.

Build guide - My Mega Tree

The first prop I decided to build was a mega tree. The design is - 180 degrees, 24 strings, 75 pixels per string, 50mm spacing, total 900 pixels. Approx 4M tall plus 1M for star. Star is currently 69 pixels in one layer but I will probably add another one or two layers for next year The...

auschristmaslighting.com

regards

Julian

 

[Notenoughlights]

I have a 6 meter 73 pixel 64 string tree, I had this guy wired in 5 places for support and pegged the base down as it gets very windy here in spring/summer. I ended up having to put a rope around the strings to tighten them and prevent them blowing around in the wind which helped prevent the tree becoming a giant parachute. It sits inside a portable hole, made of concrete and full of steel for extra weight, and weighs about 400kg, this alone I feel is enough to stop it blowing sideways, but I am not willing to take that risk. I also agree with post #5, standing my 6m pole up and getting it into the portable hole is a 2 person job for sure as the topper, winch and 3 layers of steel poles make this very heavy.

 

[bpratt]

I have used a 6m long scaffolding pole (aluminium), which is sold as a ROT4844, so 48mm diameter, 4.4mm walls. I also run a length of ROT383, 38mm dia and 3mm walls that fits nicely inside of the other, which I put my star on to.

My tree is 100 pixels with 50mm spacing.

I've actually stuck a 150 post concreted in the ground, as the scaf pole is attached to the post with 12mm bolts, so that it pivots from up high.

I do guy the top of the 38mm pole to prevent wind issues, as the first year I didn't and the 38mm pole got bent.

off season, you can use it as a flag pole.

Most people use square pixels with the boscoyo strips to reduce the 'parachute' effect.