Cut-out Star

T

txag2008

New member
Was wanting to make a cut-out star to go on top of our chimney for the display. I am wanting to use mini-lights for this project. I was originally wanting to use 1/4" plywood to cut out of and just drill hundred of small holes for the lights (lots of work I know....). We then had the idea to use pegboard as the starting point and possible even drilling additional holes within the board. I'd like to have 3-4 100count mini-light strands and be able to 'sparkle' the star with the four channels.

I have attached a few different designs that I drew up. I like the Bethlehem star look the best. My question: has anybody tried a similar project such as this using mini lights? Suggestions? Comments?

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OK - I'll bite... I'm not sure pegboard would hold these shapes well - it tends to be made from that soft particle board stuff so I think you would lose edges/corners pretty quickly. Also - I would think that any pressure at all in the holes near an edge might pop out the material pretty easily. I have seen plastic pegboard and that might actually work but might be harder to cut.

With all that said - - there's no harm in experimenting! Pegboard is fairly cheap so cut out a few and see what happens. If it works you could crank out stars pretty fast/easy.
 
I'd go with 1/2". 1/4" and peg board will likely only last one season if that long. The 1/4' ply will warp and is generally just flimsy. The peg board will absorb water, expand and deteriorate over time much faster than ply.

I know drilling a couple hundred holes could be tedious, but it will be worth it in the end to not take the shortcut.
 
I don't think pegboard will last outside. I would use 1/2 inch Birch with lots of paint. If you are only doing one it should not take that long. I drilled 97 holes for my snowflake and 176 for my star that has c9.;)
 

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If made smaller stars for the tops of my mini trees out of 1/4" hardboard (similar to pegboard). I drilled my own holes slightly larger than the minis and then applied two coats of exterior white paint. Let the paint drip into the holes as this coats the hardboard and also tightens up the holes to hold the lights. After pushing in the lights, I put a light coat of silicone sealer on the back of the light to secure it to the hole and seal the hole.

I have used these for two seasons and have not had a problem with the board swelling or separating. I think in you use the the sealed peg board (like hard board) and sealed the board with paint, you should be able to get several seasons out of the display.

Don
 
caviar said:
I don't think pegboard will last outside. I would use 1/2 inch Birch with lots of paint. If you are only doing one it should not take that long. I drilled 97 holes for my snowflake and 176 for my star that has c9.;)
Click to expand...

What is the spacing in your snowflake?
I want to make one to be able to view from at least 50 feet away.
 
txag2008 said:
Was wanting to make a cut-out star to go on top of our chimney for the display. I am wanting to use mini-lights for this project. I was originally wanting to use 1/4" plywood to cut out of and just drill hundred of small holes for the lights..... I'd like to have 3-4 100count mini-light strands and be able to 'sparkle' the star with the four channels.

I have attached a few different designs that I drew up. I like the Bethlehem star look the best. My question: has anybody tried a similar project such as this using mini lights? Suggestions? Comments?
Click to expand...

If you need this star made, I can cut them for you with the exact spacing/count you need on my CNC machine. I have the Bethlehem star already drawn and I can easily adapt it for mini lights.

You can submit a request here:
http://www.holidaycoro.com/CustomItem.asp
 
I made one of these out of 1/2" plywood for last year's display. I used 1/2" because that's what I had.

First I found a drawing of the holdman star over on PC. Then I resized it to 18" tall and printed on 11x17 paper, which obviously clipped the top and bottom, but it's easy enough to finish the lines on the plywood.

Then I used an engineer's ruler to divide up the segments so I could use the 100 minis evenly spaced. It didn't take too long to make it perfect.

I marked the light locations on the paper, then stapled the paper to the plywood. Drilled the holes through the paper and plywood.

I wanted it to be a little fancier in daylight, so I partially cut out the circumference to make it more of a star shape.

I don't know that you will be able to line up the minis properly if you use pegboard; i think the star looks better when the minis are positioned just right.
 

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