16' Ferris Wheel

[joeytx]

I just got up the structure for my ferris wheel. It has a diameter of 16' and the center is 9' off the ground, total height is 17'. There will be 5 cars carrying homemade elves. I am using mini multicolor lights on the front spindles, and two 52' strands of LED C7 bulbs on the both outer rings. On every other spindle I am placing a 3 watt LED strobe at the end, and four strobes on the center hub. I am going to use red and green minis on the legs and base. This Year I am working out kinks so it will not turn, but next year I hope to be able to spin it.

[txag2008]

WOW, looks great.

Are you using gray pvc for the wheel portion of it? or is that emt conduit?

[mlkren]

Very cool, what materials did you use?

[joeytx]

The spindles are 1/2" metal EMT and the outer rings are 1/2" grey PVC. The 30" hubs are 5/8" plywood sandwiching the 1/2" EMT between each set. I used black wire ties to hold the spindles to the PVC temporarily, and I am going to use 1/2 PVC Tees cut in half to secure the spindles to the outer rings. The pipe through the center of the hubs is 1 1/2" rigid electrical . The plastic at the top of the 2 x 4s is 1" UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) drilled to accept the 1 1/2" rigid pipe. I used 2" PVC as spacers on the rigid pipe and 2" PVC caps on the ends. There is a 48" long 1/2" all thread running through the middle of the hub locking the PVC caps on. At the bottom of the UHMW, I used two 3/8" eye bolts to secure the plastic, this gave me a location to attach the 3/32" cable so as to anchor the whole unit to the ground in 4 places. Worked it all in my head, lets see if it works on the ground.

[lightman]

Wow! Impressive effect. It is gonna look great when lit up.

[dirknerkle]

Fantastic!

And I imagine you'll be storing it in the living room?

What a terrific project, and one that looks very well engineered! Looking forward to seeing it in action!

[dmcole]

And I imagine you'll be storing it in the living room?

Hell, I think it's purty enuf to just leave in the front yard ... ;-) ...

\dmc

[budude]

This is such a blatant attempt at making the rest of us look bad!

Looks great - wondering about storage myself...

[FIRECOP252]

That looks great Joey...I cant wait to see it in action either....still amazes me things you come up with sir.

[Skunberg]

WOW! I love it! I wanted to make something half that size. Maybe now I'll have to scale up.

Brian