The Bazooka (Ren16 mega tree enclosure)

[xmus]

Building on BillAd's PVC pipe idea, this enclosure is long enough to hold 4 Ren16's, however, I'll only have 3 in there for this year.

My good camera is in DC this weekend, so these are on the cell phone, but they are reasonable quality.

When I get these done in a few days, I'll post some better pictures.

The idea is: Use SPT1 wire that is slightly longer than the radius of the mega tree, this enclosure will be mounted vertically to the pole at the center of the tree (the mast). So i wont need any extension cords. The female plugs from the enclosure will plug directly into the lights.

At this point I'm planning on a 10' tree, with a 6' diameter base. I will have the "inverted V" super-strings (bundles of red, green, yellow, blue, white) (20 feet long, 10 feet up, 10 feet back down). There will be 6 super-strings, that only do the front of the tree.

The back of the tree will be 6 individual 20' strands of white only (Again inverted-V with the white on the back of the tree). So I'm kinda of doing a modified 1/2 tree, kind of, but it will be white all the way around (does that make any sense?)

I did get 19 strobes (C9 style) inbound.... And I still need to build a fancy star for the top of the tree, with at least a couple of channels for some animation.

[BillAd]

Ooohhh, and room for expansion as well. Nice!

Hey, could you stain the wood a nice shade of walnut and add a couple of layers of poly? (You know, for us woodworkers)
Bill

[JohnByrne]

Dave,

Is that standard thin walled PVC pipe? I'm thinking about using 4" drain pipe from Home Depot out in the garden center. It comes in a coil so I can get it in my car, easy to cut, and is already black. On the down side the ends snap on and will require perhaps silicon to seal them. I thought at first you were using it with the spiral lines which is why I asked.

BTW, I like this.

[xmus]

Dave,

Is that standard thin walled PVC pipe? I'm thinking about using 4" drain pipe from Home Depot out in the garden center. It comes in a coil so I can get it in my car, easy to cut, and is already black. On the down side the ends snap on and will require perhaps silicon to seal them. I thought at first you were using it with the spiral lines which is why I asked.

BTW, I like this.

Looks like BillAd used 4" PVC, which I couldn't find this trip (I have seen it years past), so I am using 4" septic drain pipe, but it isn't pre-drilled. I could have used the black ABS 4" sewage pipe, but it was really expensive. Actually the caps were like $6 each, whereas the 4" drain tube had $1.50 caps.

All that to say, I did the best I could with availability of stuff in Boise.

One more thing, real Bazookas are green right? :)

[xmus]

Hey, could you stain the wood a nice shade of walnut and add a couple of layers of poly? (You know, for us woodworkers)
Bill

I've learned that I'm kindof a functional guy, get it done: Reliabitly, cost, safety. And I've learned there are others out there (Not to name names, Bill Ad) who really "go to town" with the details! I am already keeping a mental list of all the things I've made that are (as Phil says) crusty. For example, my super cheap mini-trees for example. I'll do those right one day. Wrapping net lights around a flat tree only to "waste" 1/2 the lights on the back, and they draw 1/2Amp each tree!

And I'm currently using duct tape to hold my window candles down to the sill. They advertise them with "brass base", which is true, but the bases have NO weight at all. The candles can not stand on their own. Now Bill, you would have made something super cool, and once I have time, I will try to do something reasonable :)

[xmus]

the pictures have been updated (In the first post, scroll up), and the spt1 has been added. It is almost done, just need to put the 120VAC pigtail on it.

Scale is hard to judge in the photos:
The Bazooka is 33" long cap to cap.
The shortest wires are 48" long
So the whole thing is REALLY heavy (from all the wire) and it is 7 feet long.

maybe octopus is a better name? Squid? Bazooka is cooler :)

[xmus]

more pictures

[Walden]

Looks like a factory made it :D

[xmus]

Is that good or bad :)

[Walden]

lol good, unless you used child labor

[xmus]

I spent a lot of time undoing child labor :)
My kids really "helped" me a lot this year!

[Walden]

lol they dont seem like they are doing much.

[BillAd]

Any film of the tree in action?

[klanger]

lol they dont seem like they are doing much.

Yes they are, they're being cute as kids are at that age. :)

[Wombat]

Looks great I like the enclosure. My one is just going to be a box but I run the wires from the top instead in one loom intstead