Leaping Arch Stakes

C

chris2879

New member
For all you folks that have leaping arches, what are you using for stakes. I was thinking about using rebar, about a 2 ft section for each end. Bury 18" and have 6" exposed. What do you all use?
 
As the man in front of me said, rebar is the way to go. I use 3/8 2.5 ft. sections with 2 3rds of it in the ground. Our ground is so soft right now that I don't even have to hammer them in - just push down - makes them stand up against the wind very easily. A 20ft piece from Marvins was 4.99.

Ciao

:)
 
I use rebar pounded into the ground at a slight angle. I was thinking that this year I might weld up a couple of rebar "Y"s so that I only need to pound in one rebar between two arches.
 
ppohlman said:
I use rebar pounded into the ground at a slight angle. I was thinking that this year I might weld up a couple of rebar "Y"s so that I only need to pound in one rebar between two arches.
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I did a single rebar stake (2ft long) at each junction, and "zip tied" the arch to the exterior of the stake. I felt this was more secure that sliding the pipe over the rebar, and not having any "tightening method". In hindsight, I think next year I will drill/tap some screw holes so I can tighten screws in against the rebar. This will give me better "angles" to the ground. (live and learn)
 
I used 1/2 steel conduit and pounded that into the ground . Much better/tighter fit on the inside of 3/4 PVC that I used . That way , the leaping arches , don't literally leap around , when high winds blow . :cool::lol:
I took a 10 foot piece ( which is what length Norbys Farm fleet sells it in ) and cut it into 3 even pieces .
 
LabRat said:
In hindsight, I think next year I will drill/tap some screw holes so I can tighten screws in against the rebar. This will give me better "angles" to the ground. (live and learn)
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I doubt the material is strong enough to have tap screws that will be helpful. There's an awful lot of leverage on an arch where it connects to the ground, and I think any screw holes would only weaken the material at its most critical points.

Why not use hose clamps instead of zip ties? Much stronger, adjustable, and you could continue with attaching the arch to the external rebar.
 
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I use rebar at both ends, but I also use two guy wires at the center of each arch. Keeps it from wanting to flop out of being centered.
 
dirknerkle said:
I doubt the material is strong enough to have tap screws that will be helpful. There's an awful lot of leverage on an arch where it connects to the ground, and I think any screw holes would only weaken the material at its most critical points.

Why not use hose clamps instead of zip ties? Much stronger, adjustable, and you could continue with attaching the arch to the external rebar.
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Why?? Why you ask?? Well I'll tell you why...


'cuz you thought of it... and I didn't. ;)


An excellent idea, and I'll try and remember for next year.

Now I'm MacGyvering how I'm going to attach the top of the midi-mega, part way up an existing pole.. when there's a lamp already on the top of the pole.. so I can't put anything smaller than an 8" diameter over the top.

I'm thinking a hinged piece of 4" PVC.. that I support atop of some L-brackets that I've clamped (hose clamps (thought of BEFORE this discussion)) to the pole.

Confused? I'll send pictures if/when it works.
 
Your idea of a hinged section solution and L-clamps makes a lot of sense, and fastening it to the top of the pole can be done pretty easily. Here's the top of my midi-tree (about 12' high). I wanted to make it removable so I could take the light collar off the pole and store the lights separately from the pole, but the concept could be similar to what you could do.

I drilled 3 holes all the way through the main pole and put three large hook eyes through it. The top collar (4" pvc) fits right over it and sits inside the hooks. The multiple holes in the collar are for zip ties that are used to hang the light strings from the collar.

Obviously, these pictures are horizontal as I was making the pieces, but it's not much of a stretch to see how the collar just sits down into the hook eyes. Your hinged collar could work much the same way. You could hold it together with a hose/duct clamp and still have plenty of room for lights.
 
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dirknerkle said:
Your idea of a hinged section makes a lot of sense, and fastening it to the top of the pole can be done pretty easily. Here's the top of my midi-tree (about 12' high). I wanted to make it removable so I could take the light collar off the pole and store the lights separately from the pole, but the concept could be similar to what you could do.

I drilled 3 holes all the way through the main pole and put three large hook eyes through it. The top collar (4" pvc) fits right over it and sits inside the hooks. The multiple holes in the collar are for zip ties that are used to hang the light strings from the collar.

Obviously, these pictures are horizontal as I was making the pieces, but it's not much of a stretch to see how the collar just sits down into the hook eyes. Your hinged collar could work much the same way. You could hold it together with a hose/duct clamp and still have plenty of room for lights.
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Wow.. that really is very similar to what i was envisioning. How many holes did you drill around the circumference?
 
24 holes. My midi-tree uses a single Renard SS24 (wireless, by the way ;)) and 24 strings of 50 lights (I cut 100-light strings in half). If a string dies, it's pretty easy to replace since each is fastened individually. The whole thing requires less than 4 amps to run and still gives a nice chase effect since it's only 12 feet high including the star on the top. If you wanted more than 24, you could certainly drill another set of holes around the top and attach them there, too.
 
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You guys are making it way too hard on yourselves.

Ther eis the idea.

1) When you build your arch put one eye bolt at each end of the PVC.

2) When it is time to put them up configure your arch like you would do with a bow. A sturdy piece of rope between the eyebolts. It will look like the letter D. With this you have now removed any tension from the ends.

3) stand up your arch, and run 2 simple guy wired to hold it up. There may be other ways.

In summary, if you remove the tension of the arch then you will noot need as much stuff stuck into the ground to hold it up.

Dean
 
I made some of these to use between arches, and they worked great. (I used a 24" piece of straight rebar at the ends) I actually ended up having to bend the arch support legs a little more toward the vertical. I drilled a small hole near the ends of the 3/4" gray conduit, and used black zip ties to anchor each end to the rebar. Kept them very stable and somewhat vandal proof.

Vertical piece - 1/2" rebar 30" long
Arch Legs - 1/2" rebar 30" long
Welded at 12" from bottom, leaving me 18" above ground to mount a single Ren 16 in a mini bazooka.
 

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budude said:
Ahh - - perfect oppportunity to show off and say "With my bare hands - what else!?" ;)
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Hmmm, wish I'd of thought of that............ getting old, don't think as fast as I once did ....... (and a few other things too)..........:lol:
 
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