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Christmas Star Completed

Finally finished the Christmas Star I reported last month...



This is my original design for the mounting structure. A few changes were made as I began to build it.


Originally I thought I would cut notches into four horizontal 2x4s that would receive a 1/2" bolt that passes through the spine of the star. I realized that this would not have much strength to prevent the front of the notch from breaking off and letting the star move forward and off of the mount. What I came up with was bolting a piece of angle iron to the end of those 2x4s and letting that become the "slot" into which the bolt would be captured. The star spine is screwed to the center line of the star and acts as the primary attachment to the mounting structure. It is notched to allow for the two center sockets. The stabilizers are also screwed to the star and fit over studs that protrude up out of the two side arms of the mounting structure.



This is a close-up view of the hanger setup. To hang the star, the spine is placed against the vertical post of the mounting structure, with the 1/2" ll-thread studs above the hangers, and then the star is lowered so that the studs are captured by the hanger and the stabilizers are over the studs in the side arms. The stabilizers prevent the star from wobbling (around the spine) in a wind.



Here I have dry fitted the mounting structure before fitting the star.



The star is clamped to the mounting structure to complete the fitting of the hangers, studs, etc.


Harvey is wiring the sockets after setting all 206 of them. It was a long day.



Harvey borrowed a bucket truck from a friend at Sign-Arama to help set the mounting structure and star on the roof. His display is only partially completed, I post once he has it completed.