Help/ideas needed

[Warlock]

If I do the 10 foot arch how would you mount it on a floor and have it be safe..I do this Santa village for kids and I think it would be cool to bring some gear to play with.I was planning on using the arches for a rope line to Santa then have it cross behind him so the arches will be in every picture that is taken..
So any suggestions to safely have this sit on a floor would be greatly appreciated..
Only thing I can come up with so far is to join all the arches together but I am unsure how to keep it stable on the floor..
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions..

[dj merritt]

I have an Idea with flat steel and 1/2 inch pipe but first I need to ask do you have a welder ? If not then ill have to rethink the idea :)

[Warlock]

I have access to anything my heart desires basically as far as benders,welders etc are concerned..
Thanks for your reply..
Joe..

[dj merritt]

ok in that case, Here is and Idea. since I dont know how to draw on pc, ill explain the best i can.

first get a 2 or 2&1/2ft flat steel 2 inches wide then purchase black pipe, cut into about 8 inch peices , weld them to the center of the flat steel with the pipes at about 50 degree angle on each side of each other ,once you do this it will look like a peice of steel with ears sticking out the center.that will make a stand to put you arches on. do that for every section and the first and last section will only have one pipe welded to the flat steel. then to pull the arches together use black stageon wich is at walmart, same string used for a trout line. Drill a hole in each end of arch run string through the holes and pull the string until you get your hight that you want and tie it. this will keep the arches from falling over , will keep them nice and uniform and also nothing really in the way to trip over. I have done this and it works really well, Good luck

[djulien]

So any suggestions to safely have this sit on a floor would be greatly appreciated..

This past season I used semi-circular PVC arches with a supporting post down the middle and a cross piece at the bottom for free-standing arches. They were rigid (no spring-like tension on the arch part), so they did not need a stake in the ground to hold them in place; they just sat on the ground. (I used guy wires, but that was only for wind tolerance). I intend to write it up in a few weeks or so, but in the mean time, here is a quick sketch.

I've add perpendicular feet to the sketch to show how they could be made free-standing without guy wires. Depending on how stable you need them to be, you can make the legs shorter or longer, or put weights on them, etc.

EDIT: here is a link to a write-up:
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/dynamics/showentry.php?e=89

don