There have been a couple of times I wanted to jump into a thread when it came to poles and how to mount things up in the air. I had planned on putting something into the Wiki but haven't gotten around to it yet. So I figured I would settle for creating a new topic.
The Problem
I needed a pole for my mega tree but it would have to be something I could put up and then take down when I was done. I was planning on a 15' tree and I would only have a step ladder to use in putting up the tree. The tree would also have to be able to handle some fairly good winds (it handle 40-50 mph without a problem).
The Solution
I drove a 2" PVC pipe into the ground. This provided a good anchor for the bottom of the tree.
Next I knew a 2" PVC pipe would be strong but I was planning on hanging 135 lbs of lights on it
(yes I'm a sick puppy I weight the lights). So to reinforce the PVC I decided to use 2" x 2" wood in the center of the tree. Between the wood and the PVC I should have enought strength to handle whatever I decided to do.
So to continue I used 2 - 7' 2"x2" pieces of wood and 2 - 7 1/2' 2" PVC pipes. What makes this work is the internal pieces overlap the outer pieces and nothing breaks at the same place. Hopfully you get what I am saying. Below is a simple drawing.
| | <---- Top 2" PVC Pipe
| X |
| X <------ Top 2"x2" piece of wood
| X |
+ X + <---- Break between the pieces of PVC NOTE: no break in the wood
| X |
| X |
|---<------ Break in the pieces of wood
| X |
| X |
-+X+--- Ground level
| X |
| X |
| X |
I sure do hope that was clear or at least helped.
To strength the top I add a 2" piece of PVC coupling. I drilled 4 holes around the the sides of this piece and fed 9 gauge wire thru the top. To this wire I attached my guide lines.
Problems I do know about.
1) the 2"x2" are good fit for going inside the 2" PVC pipe BUT would become trouble if they got wet. So I painted the wood to solve this problem. What did get me was the cold weather we got in North Al. this year and inside the pipe water had collected and froze. Pulling this thing apart was HARD due to the ice. I would cap the top of all this to keep the rain out.
What is nice is you just slide all of the pieces together while laying on the ground and then just lift it up and let it all fall into place. I did without even a step ladder.
I sure hope this is clear and helps someone.
Joe
