All about Light Arches (PVC pipe, conduit, light choices, winding the lights)

[dadams14]

If you are interested in winding the lights on with the drill method, I have found that one of the harbor freight sanding drums is a perfect fit into the gray pvc conduit sch-40 .
here is a link. ($4.99)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42006
you take the sanding drum off and stick the rubber end into the wide end of the pvc and tighten the nut on the drum drive .. It tightens inside of the pvc and you chuck this into your variable speed drill.... and then wind away...
I hope this helps...

 

[51fordf2]

Replacement of a defective section is a snap.
Rice66

Charles - I saw the picture of it, by the driveway, but it's rather small...I'm curious, did the curve end up really smooth, or a little "jerky" where the joints are? The picture looks really good, and I don't think a bit would be noticable at all, but was wondering...

I thought about a swage tool, also, and probably would have, if I used the gray conduit, but I had a bunch of the 1" 200 psi, from another project (plus most of the fittings), so used that. ID is 1.180, that's a pretty good sized chunk of metal, and I only have up to 1", then jump to 2" in the scrap pile. My 1940-ish Atlas 10" X 42" is up to it, I would need to find some steel.

I like the idea, though, of sections. I have plenty of room to store mine, but would be nice to just swap out a section, rather than taking the whole string off, in the cold, cold Indiana winter! I will probably try it on my NEXT set, when I make them. I had a lot of multi colored strings, and used them up on the arches, but I know I'll go with clear, eventually, and probably LED, and that would give me an opportunity to re-make them.

Do you think aluminum would work? I might have a chunk of that laying around, or would it take away the heat too quickly?

Great idea!

Roger

 

[dadams14]

If you are interested in winding the lights on with the drill method, I have found that one of the harbor freight sanding drums is a perfect fit into the gray pvc conduit sch-40 .
here is a link. ($4.99)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42006
you take the sanding drum off and stick the rubber end into the wide end of the pvc and tighten the nut on the drum drive .. It tightens inside of the pvc and you chuck this into your variable speed drill.... and then wind away...
I hope this helps...

I thought some pictures would help here:

 

[LabRat]

Love those roller/bearings... very nice!!

 

[Wayne J]

Wow, that is a lot of effort just to wind them up. Good job though!
This is all I did...

 

[rice66]

Do you think aluminum would work? I might have a chunk of that laying around, or would it take away the heat too quickly?

Great idea!

Roger

Thanks Roger for the reply.

Aluminum was my first choice, when I went to the local scrap dealer, they had little round stock of aluminum above 3/4" diameter. Usually their scrap pile has aluminum stock, but that time was all angle pieces. They had numerous pieces of the steel stock that I bought. I think the aluminum would cool off, however, If you have many pieces of, pvc already precut(as I did) then, the swagging tool would have little time to cool off to the point where it would not make a difference IMHO.

As far as the irregular shape around the arch, yes it is noticable, I will take a night pic with all segments lighted and we will see if it is noticable. I appologize for the poor photography in showing the segments.
Regards
Charles aka rice66

 

[Really Big Christmas]

question: I'm really new at all this what cords are you running inside the pvc or metal pipes and why? I have been reading the threads and trying to get as much info on making this arches as I can Thanks

 

[51fordf2]

RBC - were talking about the wiring to each string of lights. The arches have "segments", that have a string of lights, each under individual control from a solid state relay. To get the power to each segment, you need to run a power cord. That individual cord is what we are talking about - like an extension cord. We are discussing different ways of running it. Hope that was your question, and that I answered it.

Roger

 

[Really Big Christmas]

RBC - were talking about the wiring to each string of lights. The arches have "segments", that have a string of lights, each under individual control from a solid state relay. To get the power to each segment, you need to run a power cord. That individual cord is what we are talking about - like an extension cord. We are discussing different ways of running it. Hope that was your question, and that I answered it.

Roger

yes i under stand the big boy toys , i just have a tiny Mr christmas music box at this time one day i hope to be able to make or buy what you have.Thanks for the answer.

question when you have to run lights across a side walk or drive do you hide the electric cord in side a leaping arch ? I live in a apt and want to make sidewalk arches

 

[51fordf2]

yes i under stand the big boy toys , i just have a tiny Mr christmas music box at this time one day i hope to be able to make or buy what you have.Thanks for the answer.

There are some mod's you can make for the Mr. Christmas, to expand it's capabilities. You can drive solid state relays with it, to allow you to have the ability to increase the current it can control, meaning more lights. As long as you have enough current available, that is. You can go to planetchristmas.com, and do a search, as there are quite a few good explanations on how to do it, on that website. I have the Holiday Lightshow (or something like that, by Gemmy), that I modded, and over tripled the number of lights it would control.

question when you have to run lights across a side walk or drive do you hide the electric cord in side a leaping arch ? I live in a apt and want to make sidewalk arches

Basically, whatever it takes. Many people have used their arches, to take a few extension cords over a walkway or driveway. Other's have actually run a piece of PVC conduit underneath, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea, in an apartment... If you use your arches, one thing to be careful with is that you don't "chafe" the wire, at the ends of the pvc. Plus, you'll probably need 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" PVC pipe to allow room for the extension cord, if you leave the plug end on. If you are handy, you can cut the plug end off, then put a new one on, after it's inside the pvc, and you could use 3/4" easily. Just make sure your extension is rated for whatever current you plan on having on the other side.

R

 

[Really Big Christmas]

There are some mod's you can make for the Mr. Christmas, to expand it's capabilities. You can drive solid state relays with it, to allow you to have the ability to increase the current it can control, meaning more lights. As long as you have enough current available, that is. You can go to planetchristmas.com, and do a search, as there are quite a few good explanations on how to do it, on that website. I have the Holiday Lightshow (or something like that, by Gemmy), that I modded, and over tripled the number of lights it would control.



Basically, whatever it takes. Many people have used their arches, to take a few extension cords over a walkway or driveway. Other's have actually run a piece of PVC conduit underneath, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea, in an apartment... If you use your arches, one thing to be careful with is that you don't "chafe" the wire, at the ends of the pvc. Plus, you'll probably need 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" PVC pipe to allow room for the extension cord, if you leave the plug end on. If you are handy, you can cut the plug end off, then put a new one on, after it's inside the pvc, and you could use 3/4" easily. Just make sure your extension is rated for whatever current you plan on having on the other side.

R

Thanks R for the help I understand what you are saying to me , I cant wait till Christmas this year. Hope your is great too.

 

[rice66]

I took the time to set up one of the arches, putting them togeather, you can hardly see the distances between the segments. the arch looks pretty smooth. My intention is to put the extension cords outside of the wrapped lightds bundeled on top of the arch with zip ties. I use a lot of recycled plugs and sockets, to make extension cords. You have to be careful of the3 string light rule when it comes to amp draws, but having stated that, an 8 segment arch has a low current draw, no way would you approach 3amps which some plugs are fused at.

Rice66

 

[51fordf2]

Very nice! And should make it very easy to store. I don't have to worry about the arches, they can go up above in the 28' X 40' shop, but the 5 foot, 8-sided star, don't know HOW I'm going to store that - probably cut it in 1/2 after Christmas, and re-weld it together next year...It's unbelievably HUGE!

Like the arches! It's amazing what people can come up with! I never would have guessed it would looks so good!

R

 

[WWNF911]

I took the time to set up one of the arches, putting them togeather, you can hardly see the distances between the segments. the arch looks pretty smooth. My intention is to put the extension cords outside of the wrapped lightds bundeled on top of the arch with zip ties. I use a lot of recycled plugs and sockets, to make extension cords. You have to be careful of the3 string light rule when it comes to amp draws, but having stated that, an 8 segment arch has a low current draw, no way would you approach 3amps which some plugs are fused at.

Rice66

Hard to make out for sure,.. it that clear on white wire. I don't think I've seen that before. If so I guess I didn't notice. Looks great! I'm doing something similar this year and am curious the distance from the ground to top of the arch? I assume you started out with a standard 10 ft PVC section?

Leon

 

[rice66]

Yes the lights are clear and the wire is white. These are the wal-mart 100 minis ;the advertised length is 24 ft. I didnt pay close attention to the height of the arch, but just measered it at 42" nearly 4 ft. It may be interesting ,if I increased the height of the arch, to see how the individual joints hold up when more and more pressure is placed on them. Hmmm! For my application I will have 3 of the arches down the 32 ft driveway.
Regards
Rice66

 

[rice66]

I have decreased the length of the arch from approx 10' 6" to 9' 6" and the height now of the arch is ~52in at the midpoint. No problems with the joints yet, however the average daily temp is 98 to 101 deg F.
Regards
Rice66