Tubes / Arch with LEDs

justaplaneguy

New member
I consider this arch, but I'm not really sure what it is so I'm placing the thread here. I've seen several displays where there are "tubes" in an arch (Like over the sidewalk). They're like white tubes that the LEDs go inside of so you can't see the light unless the LEDs are on, and it makes it look like.... a neon tube I guess? I'm not sure how to describe it. I'm trying to figure out what they're using for the tubing so I can make a few of these. I believe it's as simple as getting the tube, and then putting some leds in mega strip and feeding them through ,but I'm no expert here.
 
You may be surprised. Many people use a thin walled PEX pipe and run the pixels inside it. It makes the pipe light up nicely. If you use 30mm space pixels, then it tends to make any hotspots difficult to see and you get a nice glow.

My arches are such a pipe but I use bullet pixels that are inserted into the pipe from the back side with 11mm holes. It works nicely and you cannot see the hotspots until you get to less than a meter from the arches.
 
You may be surprised. Many people use a thin walled PEX pipe and run the pixels inside it. It makes the pipe light up nicely. If you use 30mm space pixels, then it tends to make any hotspots difficult to see and you get a nice glow.

My arches are such a pipe but I use bullet pixels that are inserted into the pipe from the back side with 11mm holes. It works nicely and you cannot see the hotspots until you get to less than a meter from the arches.

Thanks for the advice. I considered PEX but my local hardware store doesn't have white (just blue and red) and I don't think it's thin walled either. Tried doing a little research online for some, but maybe i'm just not searching for the right stuff. Do you have an example of "thin walled" PEX or some place you can point me:? Much appreciated!
 
i call it thin wall but that is in comparison to pvc sched 80 pipe. low pressure heating pex will have the thinnest wall. i got mine at home depot 8 years ago.
 
Mine are from McMaster and are hdpe 2" (probably 50375K64). I like it but it is expensive to ship. Most branches don't carry it locally. I use strip with 3 leds per pixel inside mine. I like them but if you are doing coro props, get coro arches instead of the tube. Then your arches match your other props and they will do the job nicely.
 
I had tried white pvc pipe but it was too dark. Then I zip tied clear 3/4" briaided tubing to the pvc and ran the pipels inside. It not really clear and appears white. 1729356357753.png
 
I had tried white pvc pipe but it was too dark. Then I zip tied clear 3/4" briaided tubing to the pvc and ran the pipels inside. It not really clear and appears white. View attachment 47820
This what I have used for over 12 years now with 30pixels per meter ws2811 strips from Ray Wu.

3meter strips, 3.1meter tube, 2.2meter arch base

For the 3 Countries on planet earth that use non-Metric,
9ft.9inch pixel strips inside a 10 foot tube on a 7 foot base
 
I started with the Mc Master car HDPE leaping arch like Matt Johnson's youtube video but
the shipping is crazy. 1 1/2 inch is just as good as 2" and cheaper but it doesn't save you any on shipping!
10ft =19.70 ea + 25.00 shipp 63.00 to ship 4 pieces as apposed to 10' x 1" white pex at Lowes, Homedepot or Menards
for about 10.00 ea. I think the pex looks just as good.
 
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