A real tree in the house has long been a Christmas tradition. The look, feel, and scent of a real tree far out ways the the downside of falling needles and sticky sap.
A few years back the puddle under the tree said it was time for a new stand. The faithful plastic one (with a cool built-in adjustable tilt feature) had cracked. A scramble to find a new stand a few days before Christmas proved fruitless...with the popularity of artificial trees; a live tree stand was no where to be found.
Improvisation once again found itself hot on the heels of necessity.
With some spare parts from Santa's workshop... A floating Christmas tree is now part of our family tradition.
Why would we ever go back to a conventional stand, with all the advantages the Anti-Gravity Tree Stand offers?
- Its off the floor so its easier to clean-up the needles
- The tree spins, so you can decorate it standing in one spot.
- It won't tip over (a plus around small childen and pets)
- And best of all, It always points straight-up North!
In keeping with the spirit of the holidays and all...the instructions are roughly influenced (and I do mean roughly) by the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Please bare with...
And by the way; this Instructable is entered into the Homemade Holidays Contest.
Please come back when the Voting opens on December 28th.
A few years back the puddle under the tree said it was time for a new stand. The faithful plastic one (with a cool built-in adjustable tilt feature) had cracked. A scramble to find a new stand a few days before Christmas proved fruitless...with the popularity of artificial trees; a live tree stand was no where to be found.
Improvisation once again found itself hot on the heels of necessity.
With some spare parts from Santa's workshop... A floating Christmas tree is now part of our family tradition.
Why would we ever go back to a conventional stand, with all the advantages the Anti-Gravity Tree Stand offers?
- Its off the floor so its easier to clean-up the needles
- The tree spins, so you can decorate it standing in one spot.
- It won't tip over (a plus around small childen and pets)
- And best of all, It always points straight-up North!
In keeping with the spirit of the holidays and all...the instructions are roughly influenced (and I do mean roughly) by the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Please bare with...
And by the way; this Instructable is entered into the Homemade Holidays Contest.
Please come back when the Voting opens on December 28th.
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Signing UpStep 1: Instructables Poem
I stumbled upon this original Instructables manuscript while searching the attic for the Christmas Tree Stand...thought it should be published here in its entiriety along with accompaning photos. Enjoy.
HERE IS THE WHOLE INSTRUCTABLE AS TOLD IN VERSE.
(or as some would have it, told in prose - it's really much worse.)
And so, like a nut-covered treat to enjoy, if you please,
Here is a bit of Instructable-flavored, holiday Cheese.
(This is the lesser-known version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" )
Twas a few nights before Christmas and all through the rug,
the tree stand had leaked much more than the dog.
I'd just settled the nerves with a long swill of nog.
contemplating how the tree would burn nicely as a fireplace log.
When up in the brain there arose such an instructable,
I stopped prepping the tree for the flames of a firey destructable.
I dashed to the garage and threw in the trash,
the old stand that I'd loved; it'd failed me for last.
The light on the bench of laborious toil,
gave hints to a solution that had started to boil.
When, what to my twitching eye should appear,
but a length of black pipe and steel cable right here.
With my little old driver so lively and quick
I drilled a hole in the floor and tapped it up quick.
Spreading an eyelet, I threaded this hook
behind the closet door where surely no one would look.
I fashioned some plywood to support a "cant" boom
and the length of steel pipe soon swung out, over the room
Secure at one end tucked under the hook tight.
From the other end dangled a steel cord with a loop and a bight.
Noose the tree up...and heave on the leaver
freed from the ground it will twirl from here eaver.
Usually, I thought these trees must be kept moist.
but how is it done, when up on a hoist?
Held tight to the stump by the threads of screw teeth
the 3 liter with water encircled the stem like a wreath
As bulbs that appear tangled by wild hurricane fly
when wrest by installer, blood pressure mounts to the sky.
So up to the tree-top the LED's flew,
With the help of twist-ties and a star'ed "Bumble" too.
Hang a cane on a tree or tree on a cane?
So that it seems like you know what you're doing, add a curled bit of conduit
to the top of the boom, made to look like a cane when red ribbon's are wound on to it.
As i'm reminded, it'd look more like the candy with ribbons red / white
but when put away last year, they were too well-hidden from sight.
Thinking myself a right clever old elf
My wife laughed when she saw it in spite of herself.
til she ascended the stairs and found the pole in her path.
She let out a noise... not-so-much like a laugh.
Laying a cuff upside of my head
She stepped over the boom and headed to bed.
Never you worry, she couldn't have been much too sore.
for we've hung it like this, for the the last four years or more.
Something unusual born from a need, is really about nothing to whistle
but I rather like this one that twirls but won't topple down like a thistle.
The instructions are written and the photos you've seen
I hope you agree, A floating fir tree creates a wonderous scene...give it a try if you might
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
HERE IS THE WHOLE INSTRUCTABLE AS TOLD IN VERSE.
(or as some would have it, told in prose - it's really much worse.)
And so, like a nut-covered treat to enjoy, if you please,
Here is a bit of Instructable-flavored, holiday Cheese.
(This is the lesser-known version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" )
Twas a few nights before Christmas and all through the rug,
the tree stand had leaked much more than the dog.
I'd just settled the nerves with a long swill of nog.
contemplating how the tree would burn nicely as a fireplace log.
When up in the brain there arose such an instructable,
I stopped prepping the tree for the flames of a firey destructable.
I dashed to the garage and threw in the trash,
the old stand that I'd loved; it'd failed me for last.
The light on the bench of laborious toil,
gave hints to a solution that had started to boil.
When, what to my twitching eye should appear,
but a length of black pipe and steel cable right here.
With my little old driver so lively and quick
I drilled a hole in the floor and tapped it up quick.
Spreading an eyelet, I threaded this hook
behind the closet door where surely no one would look.
I fashioned some plywood to support a "cant" boom
and the length of steel pipe soon swung out, over the room
Secure at one end tucked under the hook tight.
From the other end dangled a steel cord with a loop and a bight.
Noose the tree up...and heave on the leaver
freed from the ground it will twirl from here eaver.
Usually, I thought these trees must be kept moist.
but how is it done, when up on a hoist?
Held tight to the stump by the threads of screw teeth
the 3 liter with water encircled the stem like a wreath
As bulbs that appear tangled by wild hurricane fly
when wrest by installer, blood pressure mounts to the sky.
So up to the tree-top the LED's flew,
With the help of twist-ties and a star'ed "Bumble" too.
Hang a cane on a tree or tree on a cane?
So that it seems like you know what you're doing, add a curled bit of conduit
to the top of the boom, made to look like a cane when red ribbon's are wound on to it.
As i'm reminded, it'd look more like the candy with ribbons red / white
but when put away last year, they were too well-hidden from sight.
Thinking myself a right clever old elf
My wife laughed when she saw it in spite of herself.
til she ascended the stairs and found the pole in her path.
She let out a noise... not-so-much like a laugh.
Laying a cuff upside of my head
She stepped over the boom and headed to bed.
Never you worry, she couldn't have been much too sore.
for we've hung it like this, for the the last four years or more.
Something unusual born from a need, is really about nothing to whistle
but I rather like this one that twirls but won't topple down like a thistle.
The instructions are written and the photos you've seen
I hope you agree, A floating fir tree creates a wonderous scene...give it a try if you might
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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til she ascended the stairs and found the pole in her path.
She let out a noise... not-so-much like a laugh.
I have to say I loved this instructable and I loved the poem !!!
The Mother of Invention would be so proud :)
Anyone attempting this will add their own ideas and personal touch to it of course, perhaps improve on it.....isnt that what its all about??
(and yes I am missing some apostrophes...dang mini comp from Dell who put the apostrophe key way down low so I can never hit it!)
*thumbs up to the inventor of the anti grav tree!
good idea. it would look cool.
-segabud
domo arigato mr. roboto himi lo shiri tai!!!!
If you are questioning soda versus pop...again it depends who you ask.
If the question is 3 versus 2 the answer is definatly 3. Yes, they are out there. A little harder to find and usually the off-brands. Larger size plastic juice bottles also work well. Depending on the trunk size, I have forced on a juice bottle and the handle indentations in the side of the bottle held the so tight I didn't need the screws.
If the question is, Question mark "?" versus Exclamation mark "!"... I leave that up to you :)
Oh, and I'm a Canuck ex-pat. I recently went back up home for Christmas and, though I still spell it 'litre' as most good Canuckians do, I still got teased for sounding 'merican because I've taken to saying 'soda' instead of 'pop'.
*sigh*
Just goes to show that you can't please everyone.
Oh, and great job on the tree, by the way!
Now vacuums need never be thwarted again in their quest to pick up all the dang pine needles! :)
Why must it be either / or when the excellent and seldom used Interrobang will do the job of both.
In my area (Central Florida, USA), I usually have to hit up bargain stores, like Dollar General, Family Dollar, or the Dollar Tree to find a 3 liter soda.
You may be able to substitute with a 3 liter water bottle (Zephyrhills bottles have a newer, rounder, 'eco-friendly' design that robs you of 0.78l of water in the process) if you can't find the soda bottle. It has the bonus of being a clear bottle, so you can either decorate or disguise it. :)
On an aside, why is everyone pasting interrobangs‽
but oh well to each their own
Gotta go and catch the tree before it hits the ground!
Made ya look though, didn't it?
Thanks for the compliment.
Like your LED book light Instructable. Clever use of the drill to twist the wires. Keep up the good work.
To answer your question...A REAL Engineer would have: sketched a free body diagram showing the beam and the forces applied to it (the weight of the tree) and the constraint of the fulcrum (pivot point) and the equal and opposite force at the anchor point.
Bending moments (also known as torque) would have be calculated as force applied at a length from the bending point (force x distance).
Being a stationary object the sum of all the forces and moments would equal zero.
Then, the cross sectional bending moment of inertial would have been calculated for a hollow cylinder using the inner and outer diameter of the pipe and Young's modulus of elasticity for plain carbon malleable steel.
With this information the strain on the beam would have been calculated to ensure that the stress was well below the yeild strength of steel with a comfortable safety factor.
A well provisioned engineer might have also run an a compurtized F.E.A. (Finite Element Analysis) to analyze in detail the stress on the beam.
Only then would an engineer truly know the beam would not bend under the weight of the tree.
I, on the other hand, just took a chunk of pipe and hung a tree on it!
The Theoretical and the Applied Practical each has its place... you be the judge.
you should try putting a fake present over the soda bottle, to make it look a bit more decorative.
or spray pain tthe soda bottle gold.
My wife usually puts on a Christmas "mini' skirt...What?...No!...ON THE TREEEE! - to cover the bottle. A clear bottle helps to check the water level.
thats amazing. i have never seen and instuctable done entirely in verse.
i applaude you.