Rope Light writing

[newlifer89]

Hey all. I am looking to write "Merry Christmas" and hang it vertical. I was wondering what is the best way to secure it to the house? I was wanting to put it on plywood or a similar materal if I can find something that is lighter, but I'm not sure whats the best way to secure it to the house without drilling into the house and through the siding. I am not sure if they make a bracket that is strong enough to hold this weight. I was thinking using these https://www.amazon.com/Siding-No-Hole-Hanging-Outdoor-Decorations/dp/B07YS4KW4Y but they are only rated to 18 lbs.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[newlifer89]

Each letter should not be more than 18 lbs if you are using lightweight backer (cut away as much as you can). You could stack a bunch of those clips per letter and should be fine.

Alternately, use dual cables screwed into a roof tail in your soffit area. Secure the bottom side into a earth anchor. Or stretch a rope over the top of the building and secure it in the back yard. I suspect you might have some "slack" problems doing this but it shouldn't mess anything up too bad and you can tighten it up every couple of days.

I guess its my fault. I didnt specify and also I dont know if I am in the right forum. I'm looking to do the writing with the rope light on one big board. Not cut outs.

 

[dirknerkle]

Hmmmm...,. you want to make a rope light sign, put it on a strong mount such as plywood and mount it on the house yet not drill any holes in the walls??? Wow, tall order. Do you know how to do magic?

Seriously, the only way I can see you getting that done is to build the sign and attach it to poles that are mounted in/on the ground, then camouflage the poles and sign background. I've had good success using green vinyl-coated garden fencing, zip tying the rope light to the fencing and suspending the whole thing on a frame made out of PVC pipe painted black.

I have a rope light singing choir display designed that way; it's about 6' wide and 9' tall that weighs about 50 pounds and has lasted more than ten years now. It's brutal to move it around because of its bulk, and I use short rebar stakes to hold the legs from slipping. It's a tripod frame with the frame parts painted black; the 3rd leg is just for support. There's a whole thread about it here in the forum if you search for "singing choir." Here's a link to the prototype back in 2010...

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?11882-Singing-Choir&p=133211#post133211

Here's another example of a sign that's about 6' wide and 5' tall:
https://vimeo.com/133000611

 

[angus40]

Hmmmm...,. you want to make a rope light sign, put it on a strong mount such as plywood and mount it on the house yet not drill any holes in the walls??? Wow, tall order. Do you know how to do magic?

Seriously, the only way I can see you getting that done is to build the sign and attach it to poles that are mounted in/on the ground, then camouflage the poles and sign background. I've had good success using green vinyl-coated garden fencing, zip tying the rope light to the fencing and suspending the whole thing on a frame made out of PVC pipe painted black.

I have a rope light singing choir display designed that way; it's about 6' wide and 9' tall that weighs about 50 pounds and has lasted more than ten years now. It's brutal to move it around because of its bulk, and I use short rebar stakes to hold the legs from slipping. It's a tripod frame with the frame parts painted black; the 3rd leg is just for support. There's a whole thread about it here in the forum if you search for "singing choir." Here's a link to the prototype back in 2010...

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?11882-Singing-Choir&p=133211#post133211

Here's another example of a sign that's about 6' wide and 5' tall:
https://vimeo.com/133000611

Hey ......wait just a minute .... This is very cool ,nice job on this prop !!!

I cant stop watching this bell as it is tripping my mind in a 3D sorta way trying to sort it out .
My brain is saying what is going on here .
Is it how you sequenced this that is messing with my vision ?
Just what type of trickery am I not seeing in the dark there . lol

Do you have a daylight image ?

Great stuff .

 

[dirknerkle]

Hey ......wait just a minute .... This is very cool ,nice job on this prop !!!

I cant stop watching this bell as it is tripping my mind in a 3D sorta way trying to sort it out .
My brain is saying what is going on here .
Is it how you sequenced this that is messing with my vision ?
Just what type of trickery am I not seeing in the dark there . lol

Do you have a daylight image ?

Great stuff .

No trickery.... well, a little....

There are three bells, and it's an auto-running prop: you power it up and it immediately does it's thing... power it down to turn it off...

The controller is a DIGWDF 675 connected to a DirkCheapSSR. The 675 has 4 channels and when you power it on, it starts the sequence flashed into it. You design the sequence's flashing, the channel order, how long on/off, etc. So the firmware on this prop turns channel 1 on (the NOEL), and channels 2-3-4 alternate continuously to make the bells turn on and off.

To control the prop, it's power plug goes into a DIGWDF OneStick, so one channel in the sequence is used to control the whole thing.

See? No magic, really...

 

[Reddy_Kilowatt]

I make my signs using cutdown concrete re-mesh for a backer.

I form the letters using steel wire, then tack weld or braze the letters to the mesh.

You then can support it using a PVC pipe frame or rebar.



-Craig

 

[rstehle]

When I built my large Merry Christmas a few years back, I used black wire fencing from HD. Made a frame from 1" PVC and zip tied the wire to the frame. Then used black 4" zip ties to secure the rope light to the fencing. A heat gun comes in handy to soften up the rope light a bit for tighter bends.