Mike's creation

Put mine up over the weekend. 20 hours. As I was finishing the damn ice cycles started to die one section at a time. Will work on them this coming season, I may switch to a nice 3/8 led red rope light. Anyone know where I can get 10 sections of 3/8 mounting trac for this or gutter clips?

When I was working with the 1/8 hanger rod, I took a 4x8 sheet of mdf board and layed a 4x8 sheet of peg board over it. Clamped it together and then spend the next 3 hours drilling holes. It gave me a nice grid system. Then using oak dowels that I purchased from Home Depot, about 3 bucks for 50 pieces, I would lay out a pattern on the board and zip tie the end to the first and work it around the shape bending and manipulating the metal. I then would slip a piece of 12x12 inch sheet metal under the material and solder it and then move it to the next point. It worked very well. For working with the 3/16 rod, this was more of a free form work. I would trace out the design on 48 wide by how ever long butcher paper which I got in a 1000 foot roll. To do this, I would lay out a 2 inch grid on the whole sheet. I have a drywall square that the width of it is 2 inches and 52" long so this worked out well. I would then take whatever my design was and sketch it out on the large sheet. Then using a bench vice, the 6" poles in the basement, a couple of different size galvanized pipes and some vice grips would spend the next few hours forming the shape. Back and forth bend a little compare to the sketch and adjust. My 3/16 stock comes in 9 foot lengths so there is now welding involved. Welding is not hard, it is not expensive, it takes some getting use to. I purchased an in expensive flux core wire welder for under 150 bucks. The wire comes in 1, 2, 5 and 10 lbs spools. I prefer the 2 lb cause it does not bind up in the machine. There are tons of videos on line to learn how to weld. Keeping in mind we are not welding to support tons of weight. When you weld doing it outside requires you to erect a blind, a place to weld where others will not be blinded by the arch. My blind is built out of 3/4 pvc pipe and fittings to make a square area 10x10X4 tall . I then took 2 painters drop cloths, (on sale for 5 bucks each) then went to the local stage supply company and got the fireproofing fluid to keep it from having and flare up problems from splatter. total cost for the blind 45 bucks. You need a welding shield and some good thick cotton clothing with long sleeves to keep from getting burned by the spatter. You will also need a welding table to put your material that you are going to weld on. I build a cart that is 36 wide by 6' long that had a fold down flap on it. Got 2 pieces of 1/4 steel plate for the table top from a local metal dealer, (tell them what you are doing and they may have scrap you can grab) The frame of the table is 1/8 thick angle iron bolted together, with a shelf to hold the welder and tools. This may sound involved but once you have all the basic stuff, you will find yourself dreaming, "what am I going to add next year" I have and I love being creative.

Yes Maroonz28. My first batch of 12 was made with 1/8 hanger rod. This material is used in commercial applications for hanging suspended ceilings. I took an unusual approach in the design. I laid the design out like a railroad track, two pieces with a cross piece soldered in place every foot. It was a great way to do it, all the lights laid into the track and stay in place very nicely. The only disadvantage to this design was burning myself multiple times. One would forget that the wire can stay hot for up to 1/2 hour after you were finished soldering. So the second, third and now forth batch are made of 3/8 cold rolled steel bent and shaped and then welded. (taught myself from you tube) and all of the frames from past to present are welded to 3/4 steel tubing frames. They are held upright in the ground by 5/8 16" long steel rods. At this point I have aprox 12-14 thousand lights (all led) and it all runs off of 12 amps. Have it split into two circuits only because the cord runs would be extremely long. 22 wire frames in the pict above. Adding a donkey and cow this year, along with 2 more sheep, 2 more nutcrackers (on the other end of the yard) along with a sleigh and reindeer and 6 4' tall candles. Love being creative!

Here is mine, 2 years worth of work and still going, adding a cow and donkey this year! Each of the main figures have 200 lights, the camels have 400, the flying angel is 600, the sheep are 150 and the rabbits are 100.

I Have One! It is the one that light o rama sells. I purchased it 3 years ago, then put it away, FORGOT where I put it and so purchased another one. Then 3 months after I purchased it, I found the other one! DUH!!!! So this is brand! Never Used! It is the same one I use for my display. 1 mile transmission! I was amazed. I paid $130.00 plus shipping. I will sell it to you for $120.00 and no shipping charge! The 2.0 Whole House FM Transmitter® has been replaced with a the new Whole House FM Transmitter® 3.0. This new transmitter is superior to the original version with a long list of new features. This new FCC approved transmitter comes with an easy to install, international antenna extension that helps boost performance in countries that allow. LCD display that shows frequency and other settings. Covers entire FM band from 88.1 to 107.9 in 0.1 MHz steps. Automatic Gain Control (AGC) evens out high and low volumes. Input Volume Control to adjust to input levels. Stereo/Mono switch (mono has a longer range). Microphone input and line input. PLL (phase lock loop) prevents frequency drift. Includes Audio "Y" cable allowing speakers and FM transmission. Universal power adapter (4 different power sources supported). Remembers station frequency and on/off state without power. Broadcast 150' (longer with the international antenna wire). This is everything that comes in the Box: Whole House FM Transmitter 3.0 1/8" (3.5mm) Stereo Audio Cable RCA Jack Stereo Adapter Stereo Audio "Y" Cable 110/220 V AC Wall Outlet Adapter 12V DC Car Adapter Computer USB Power Adapter

Well, been busy, got good report on my heart so I am back to leading a normal life, so I have been designing and already have stock cut and shaped for the following. 6 4' candles, 1 cow, 1 donkey, Dog & Cat singing by a lamp post, 2 more nutcrackers, a 5' long sleigh and this weekend starting on 5 more reindeer. So for next year that will bring my count of wire frames to 42 units. Plus everything else. Think it's time to build a 10x10 shed in the yard, tried of carrying them all up and down from the basement.

Need some advise. Building a bunch of new frames this year probably around 15-20. In the past I have used wire wheels for cleaning frames. I want to switch to sand blasting. Lots of stuff on the market. Want something that will do the job but not break the bank. Will need compressor and blaster. Anyone at PlanetChristmas that has a setup that they are happy with and would recommend. Expecting cost around 250-300. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. My previous frames from two years of exposure are showing signs of rust.

Have 8 boxes of universal light stakes, fits c7 & c9 bulbs. Purchased these 3 years ago in bulk (30 boxes) 25 per box 8 boxes. Paid $6.50 per box, selling for 35.00 for all eight including shipping in lower 48 priority mail shipping.. NO splittling all 8 or nothing.

Hi, I have 7 boxes of blue Incandescent 120 blub count mini lights available. I do not use incandescent in my display. The length of the strings are 24.79 on the lite portion and 26.6 over all length. These all work. Asking $40.00 for all seven boxes and that price includes shipping priority mail anywhere in the lower 48. No Hawaii or Alaska. Also have a light keeper pro that has not been opened. $20.00 for that includes shipping.

Ok, I'm happy to report that as of the shut down of this season, my floods worked wonderfully! Got them to the correct internal program and they faded together from start to finish. Having over a 150' long house (with the attached garage) they lite up the house wonderfully and stayed in sync! Having a stone face see the pict above. The house looked wonderful. I am going to get lower wattage versions of these for next season to do up lighting on the trees. I have 3 batches of 4 together in a section and plan to use this to uplight. I had single stationary color and with the snow in the trees it was beautiful. Going to do the 3 color, red, green, blue and they will all be in sync and it should look amazing.

Not big on this at all. I got of all the crappy social media because of the B.S. and drama. Why do we need to do this to a group of folks that don't need it or want it?

Ok this may sound a little weird by I am very particular about what I build and how it is built. With that said, I am looking at what I am planning on adding for 2018! I already have drawings for my additional wire frame that I will be making. What I am looking for are strings of GRAY LED 5mm. 70 or 100 count 2 in quantity. What for you may ask, for a DONKEY! for the stable. I know there are gray Led's out there just don't know if you can get them in strings or not. If not the donkey will not emerge. Mike

Well I got some down today. Took the painted cartoon characters down. Pulled the floods on them. Took down the radio signs and lights, killed the power to the nativity wire frames. Shut down the computer for the singing trees and pulled the outdoor speakers (klipsh) in bags. Rest of the stuff will have to wait till the beginning of Feb after my cardio procedure rehab. The great thing this year was the folks with their kids on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day parking in the lot and walking in front of the house. Never had anyone except my niece walk in the display. Family privilege you know! Oh and the weekend folks going really slow in front on Saturday and Sunday nights. Local law enforcement even brought their families over. They use the adjacent parking lot for speeders. So I never worry about any problems. Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

That’s whats I’m talking about most of the paint would not let the light through. You need to connect to a pro theater supply company and talk to them about the coatings they have for various light bulbs. Explain what you are doing and they could advise. But regular spray paint will not work.

Depends on the paint. Most of it peels after a season or two.

Mine's not coming down until the end of January, I shut the show down this weekend (epiphany) It is so damn cold out right now that I'm not going to even try. Beside my cardiologist said no stress or heavy activity until after my cardiac ablation next week. Had SVT and afib during christmas. Here is what my display looked like this year.