Quick welding project

[BravoXray]

The GF mentioned that it would look nice if I put an illuminated star on the top of the flagpole in front of the house. Soooo, I picked up some 1/4" rod, cut it into 2 foot pieces, MIG welded the pieces together at the proper 36ｰ angle at the points and where they cross. Took a piece of 1/2" stock, threaded it 1/2"-13 on one end and tapered the other end to fit in one of the corners, then welded it fast. Scuffed it up with some 80 grit sandpaper, primed it and gave it a couple of coats of Rustoleum Aluminum paint. Let it dry overnight and used about 75 zip ties to fasten the string of 50 LEDs to it. The length of the string and number of lights came out just perfect.
My flag pole is 3 inch aluminum tube, hinged at the bottom so I can pull a 5/8" bolt out and lay it down, and I drilled and tapped a hole in the top cap to mount an eagle. So I just laid it down, took the eagle off and screwed the star on, strung an extension cord on the pole and zip tied it fast. Tipped the pol back up, put the colt in and plugged it into the remote control switch for the other lights.
Looks great at night.
A friend saw it and liked it, so I made another one for him. That one I made with a saddle to go on his pole, and a couple of hose clamps to secure it. Should work just fine.

 

[Dougeye]

Nice.

 

[user.69169]

I think I just discovered why nobody asks me fer stars any more. You sure on de 5 points? I made 6 point last time Jewish girls loved em.

Zip ties expensive, guy sellin old fashioned lacing twine on ebay for few bucks to yer door.

I look for picture of my lights, pretty sure dey got lost in storage.

 

[dragoneggs]

Nice job, BX! I like how you took some time to manage the wire wrapping. You may want to consider black zip ties for better UV resistance long term, but then again if only used seasonally in the winter... no worries

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks Guys!

(removed), I used zip ties because I have a lot of them, probably 3 or 4 hundred of the 4 inch white ones. I had to snug them up pretty tight to keep the lights pointed in the right direction.

Dragoneggs, yeah, it took a little finessing to wrap all the lights around the frame. Thinking about it a little, I think I could start in the middle of the wrapping process and work from the middle of the string to each end. I only had a few black zip ties in the proper size, so I used what I had. Like you said, UV exposure shouldn't be much of a problem around here, as we get a couple months o perma-clouds around here in the winter.

I got another order for a star from a friends neighbor, so I'll get a chance to try wrapping the lights the new way.

No rest for the wicked. :thumbsup:

 

[user.69169]

Bob & Shirley They (now ya know dey first names) always say no good deed goe unpunished. Sad part is I never seem to remember till de punishment part.

I can solve dat zip tie situation fer ya, even toss in some I think 18" long aspart of deal.

Dem little ones is manufacturer warranty timers fortrue. I catch lot of #ell fer opening machines & cuttin em out even thou I take time to cut proper fer reuse.

I even got #e11 from lady I put back together wire reindeer for. I burned dang powder coat off. Sure wasn't gonna smell dat crap. Worst part was I did job as a favor.

Ain't never gonna win I guess. Good thing I got into this UniverCity business.

 

[AlMills]

Wow, BravoXray. Your work deserves respect. Thank you for telling me how to replicate your process, but I think it is too complicated for me. But I would like to give such a gift to my sister for her house. The maximum she has is a solar flag pole light . Of course, she is happy with this lantern. At night her house can be seen from afar. Although, I don't think she would trade a wireless lantern for a wire. But on the other hand, the look is noteworthy and maybe for the sake of such a star, she would trade it in. I guess I'll try to study your instructions more and try to make a fancy star.