lithgowlights
Dedicated elf
- Joined
- May 6, 2010
- Messages
- 1,023
One of the only bits I truly hate on the lights is putting up the Bethlehem star on the house. A 1.5 meter tall star weighing 20+kg, while climbing an aluminium ladder and nestled between the power line and phone lines. You have to lift the star out behind you while leaning against the power line, and lift it above your head and slot it in the house mounting point.
The above image shows the star on the house in July 2020. It was left up as I knew it would be replaced, so I did not take it down
This is the initial star, before drilling holes and painting the frame. It also does not have the backing frame added at this point
For 2020 one upgrade was for a lighter star, but maybe a little more pixel density. An aluminium star was created, 252 holes drilled and it totals just 5.1kg with lights! I hope to finish the power injection and wiring tomorrow (Errr, today!) and give it a run. The old star was 166 pixels, with 48 of those being on the "spikes" I did not add in this version. The new pixel spacing is 25mm, with a couple a fraction lower than that
Oh and I have been asked why the frame around the outside - that's easy, the pixels are pushed through 25*20mm uneven Aluminium angle iron, but it's just 1.7mm thick, so it will bend easily, so this is to help strengthen it. The frame is 10*10mm aluminium angle, and is 3mm thick.
The above image is the final star, with pixels and backing frame
The old and new star side by side. The new star will be plugged into a controller that is mounted on the house, rather than on the back of the star so it will only have 2 meters of cable to the controller. The old star was controlled by a J1Sys P2 controller that was mounted in the small round tube, and it was powered from a box on the ground via a long (and sort of heavy) power cable.
The above image shows the star on the house in July 2020. It was left up as I knew it would be replaced, so I did not take it down
This is the initial star, before drilling holes and painting the frame. It also does not have the backing frame added at this point
For 2020 one upgrade was for a lighter star, but maybe a little more pixel density. An aluminium star was created, 252 holes drilled and it totals just 5.1kg with lights! I hope to finish the power injection and wiring tomorrow (Errr, today!) and give it a run. The old star was 166 pixels, with 48 of those being on the "spikes" I did not add in this version. The new pixel spacing is 25mm, with a couple a fraction lower than that
Oh and I have been asked why the frame around the outside - that's easy, the pixels are pushed through 25*20mm uneven Aluminium angle iron, but it's just 1.7mm thick, so it will bend easily, so this is to help strengthen it. The frame is 10*10mm aluminium angle, and is 3mm thick.
The above image is the final star, with pixels and backing frame
The old and new star side by side. The new star will be plugged into a controller that is mounted on the house, rather than on the back of the star so it will only have 2 meters of cable to the controller. The old star was controlled by a J1Sys P2 controller that was mounted in the small round tube, and it was powered from a box on the ground via a long (and sort of heavy) power cable.
