Snickos Mega Tree

[Snicko]

First Year was 2022

I wanted to build a mega tree, knowing that it would be the star of the show I didn't want to half HoHoHo it or be faced with major upgrades later so i decided to try and do the core part of it properly.

With those considerations

- 180 Degree
- 32 Strands of 150 Bullets 12V Resistor Pixels (100 +50) - Etop from Light It up Leds - 1" Spacing
- Hanson Electronics HE123Mk2 (Running as a slave) with two 16 port expansion boards and two HP 1200W Server power supplies running the whole tree and start off one 15A power point. Allowed for 100% operation with some head room
- Using Mega Tree strip from Light It Up Leds
- Mast 6.5M 40nb 3.2mm wall thickness Gal Pipe from Complete Supply in Dandenong Vic - Cut down to 5.5M
- 50mm PVC Stormwater pipe used as a ground socket - sunk 600mm into the ground
- Topper - Light it up Leds Mega Tree Topper - Bored out to 50mm to suit the spigot and to slide up and down. Eye bolt for the winch.
- Winch - Ebay bought and mounted to the pole using some Flat Wall Mount Brackets welded to the winch, allowing it to mount anywhere on the pole. Brackets here (https://online.laceys.tv/documents/Laceys.tv_Catalogue_108_2018-2019_Web.pdf - Pg24)
- Winch Guide / Guy Wire plate - Sourced some 150mm x 150mm 6mm Plate from Frankston Steel for $10, Welded a Bunnings Gate roller to the plate & Drilled 3 holes for guy wire.
Wheels - Richmond 78mm Bottom Mount Gate Track Wheel - https://www.bunnings.com.au/richmond-78mm-bottom-mount-gate-track-wheel-for-sliding-gates_p3962447
- Enclosure - Boxco sourced from Switches Plus in Braeside
- Mounting Plate for top level - Acrylic sourced from Plastics to industry - cut to size for $10. Used long bolts and extruded aluminium to act as spacers
- Steel plate from Pennisula steel cuto to size for $15 to mount enclosure too. Used some Flat Wall mounts welded to the plate to mount th ebox
- Star - Extreme Lighting Displays Star, mounted using a Eave Mount from Laceys tV to the Topper Plate
- Lower Ring - Got some steel rolled by Frankston steel - Used cableties. Will make a pole mount for this next year rather than using stakes

4800 pixels for the tree & 300 for the Star

Tree topper is winched up and winched down easily - Was pretty straight forward, had a mate do the welding for me - took him 15 mins for all of it. Rest was done by me

 

[Snicko]

Place Holder for photos

 

[Snicko]

Photos

 

[Snicko]

Control box photos

 

[chickda]

Very impressive mate.
when you winch up the topper does it foul on your mast? How any issues with weight?
Is there gaps on your topper between each strand? Or do they over lap?

 

[Snicko]

Very impressive mate.
when you winch up the topper does it foul on your mast? How any issues with weight?
Is there gaps on your topper between each strand? Or do they over lap?

Doesn't foul going up
No issues with weight, I left it up during all the wind events we had in Melbourne with gusts of 70kmh and no issues.
It sort of overlaps, I reckon I'll go J bolts next year

 

[chickda]

Doesn't foul going up
No issues with weight, I left it up during all the wind events we had in Melbourne with gusts of 70kmh and no issues.
It sort of overlaps, I reckon I'll go J bolts next year

I am planning on putting a pulley on my mega tree this year after using a jacking pipe to lift the inner pipe. Where did you get your cap and pulley?

 

[Snicko]

I am planning on putting a pulley on my mega tree this year after using a jacking pipe to lift the inner pipe. Where did you get your cap and pulley?

- Winch Guide / Guy Wire plate - Sourced some 150mm x 150mm 6mm Plate from Frankston Steel for $10, Welded a Bunnings Gate roller to the plate & Drilled 3 holes for guy wire.
Wheels - Richmond 78mm Bottom Mount Gate Track Wheel - https://www.bunnings.com.au/richmond-78mm-bottom-mount-gate-track-wheel-for-sliding-gates_p3962447


I got 100mm of NB50 to weld to the plate to act as a cap

 

[chickda]

- Winch Guide / Guy Wire plate - Sourced some 150mm x 150mm 6mm Plate from Frankston Steel for $10, Welded a Bunnings Gate roller to the plate & Drilled 3 holes for guy wire.
Wheels - Richmond 78mm Bottom Mount Gate Track Wheel - https://www.bunnings.com.au/richmond-78mm-bottom-mount-gate-track-wheel-for-sliding-gates_p3962447


I got 100mm of NB50 to weld to the plate to act as a cap

Ah ok so you didn't buy a cap but more or less made one yourself. Looms good mate and the guy wires mounted off there is a great idea

 

[Snicko]

One change I made last year, put a PVC cap over the pole sleeve in the ground, my young bloke decided to fill it with rocks.
That was a fun 5 hours fishing rocks out of a 600mm deep pvc sleeve