MegaTree BIG Kit

NAME: BIG MEGATREE KIT 15-18'

The MegaTree Kit provides a quick and easy solution to building a 15-18' tall MegaTree with our custom fabricated parts and off the shelf parts purchased locally.

FEATURES:

When we designed the MegaTree kit for a 15-18' tall tree we wanted a simple design that cut down on the cost of construction. Our custom fabricated pieces are designed to work with readily available parts from almost any hardware store. The MegaTree Kit includes a custom topper that is designed to work with our 12mm MegaTree Mounting strips and MISR Clips. The topper has 32 string mounting holes. Each string mounting hole is laid out so that the 12mm MegaTree mounting strips will slightly overlap but not on top of the pixel and reduce the size of the toppers overall diameter and avoid the flat top Christmas tree shape as much as possible. The MegaTree kit also includes a guy wire ring, pre-made guy wires (3), and a base plate to keep the pole from sinking into the ground. Our guy wires come with loops already made on each end and a custom S hook that attaches to our guy wire ring.

The MegaTree Kit includes:

• 1 pc - 16/32 Topper for use with 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe (not included) (topper diameter 8 3/4")
• 1 pc - Guy Wire Ring
• 3 pcs - Pre-made Guy Wires with attachment hooks on one end and a loop on the other
• 1 pc - Base Plate

Recommended Accessories from Boscoyo Studio:

• 12mm MegaTree Mounting strips
• MISR clips (while not required to construct the MegaTree, it is recommended that you install one on each end of your 12mm MegaTree mounting strips to keep from damaging the ends and increase the amount of tension that can be applied to the strips)

Recommended Accessories from a local hardware store:

• 1 pc - 20' section of 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence pipe. This is a galvanized metallic pipe that is common and cheap at $19.00+/- per 20' section.
• 4 pcs - 8" long Landscape Spikes or 60d nails. (Galvanized is preferred but not critical as long as you don't mind the rust. The Galvanized 60d nails run about $0.40 each in contractor packs while the plain steel nail is a little cheaper.)
• 16-32 pcs - 8" long Landscape Spikes or 60d nails. This depends on what type of MegaTree you are making, 180 degree to a 360 degree and if it is based on the 16/32 string topper. (Galvanized is preferred but not critical as long as you don't mind the rust. The Galvanized 60d nails run about $0.40 each in contractor packs while the plain steel nails are a little cheaper.)

And you will need the 12mm pixels or RGB nodes of your choice in bullet, square, or flat format.

Installing the MegaTree:

This is where it gets a little hard to address every scenario because the MegaTree is end user adjustable. Some people like tall skinny trees and others like short squatty ones. We like them all and can accommodate pretty much whatever you want. I will cover the basic principles around the design and intent and you can adjust from there.

Installation can be done by one person but two makes the task go much faster in the beginning while you setup the pole and get it plumb. Tools you will need, 2-4' level, hammer, 2 each 7/16" wrenches, tape measure, 10' or 12' ladder, 8" zipties, and some string or a scrap piece of wire about 6' long.

1. Mount the Guy Wire ring 13'-4" +/- up from the bottom of the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe and tighten the 1/4" bolt enough to hold the ring in place. It doesn't take much.

2. Mount the Topper around the 15'-18' mark. And just finger tighten the bolt. We will come back to this later.

3. Figure out where you want to plant this tree! Take the Base Plate and put it where you want the center of your MegaTree. Now take a 60d nail place it in the hole of the Base Plate and hammer it into the ground. This will keep your tree from slipping around while you get it plumb

4. Now have an assistant place the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe with the Guy Wire Ring and Topper mounted to it on the base plate. Hand them the level to use and keep the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe plumb while the guy wires are installed.

5. Take the 3 provided Guy Wires and insert the hooks into the 3 holes found on the Guy Wire Ring. I like to install them from the bottom of the hole.

6. The Guy Wires are designed to be about 5' away from the base. You can use the tape measure to locate the approximate location. I would only drive the 60d nail in about 75% of the way at first to allow for minor adjustments after you get all 3 Guy Wires in place.

7. Once you have all 3 Guy Wires in place you can drive them down evenly until you are happy with the EMT being plumb and the tension of the Guy Wires. They need to be snug but not overly tight. The 12mm MegaTree Mounting strips will also act as a guy wire once installed.

8. That is it for the standardized portion of this install! So you have your Pixel Strings figured up. You can use any spacing in 1" increments on the 12mm MegaTree Mounting strips and you can make the strings 16' to 20' +/- in length depending on the shape desired. This is a good point to figure out what you want that shape to be. Take to strips; they do not have to have pixels installed. Install a MISR clip for the top of them if you are using MISR Clips. Now, attach one strip on a side and the second strip opposite of that one to the Topper.

9. Now you can adjust the width of the tree and the height of the topper to get the desired shape you want. Use a 60d nail to hold the bottom of the strip in place. Once you like the shape, go ahead and tighten up the 1/4" bolt on the Topper. Measure the distance from the base of the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe to your desired bottom location of the 12mm MegaTree mounting strip. Write it down, you will forget later.

10. With the topper position decided, you will most likely have a section of the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe extending above the topper. You can cut it off or you can leave it there. I chose to leave the full 20' intact. Now you have a few options again. You can attach a star and the pipe will support it. Maybe you wanted an Angel on top of your tree. Either way there is no right or wrong choice here. It is more about how you want it to look.

11. Now you have the total length based on the desired tree shape, you can trim the 12mm MegaTree mounting strips or add on to them. If you are using MISR clips, add an extra hole to allow for the fold during the MISR clip installation.

12. Make all of your strings by installing pixels and MISR clips.

13. Now take a piece of string and tie it to the base of the 1-3/8" Top Rail Fence Pipe. Remember that measurement for the width of the tree you wrote down? Put a mark on the string at that point and now you can use the string to mark all of the nail points or spray paint a ring around the base of the tree to use as a guide while installing the strings.

14. Now you can ziptie the tops of the strings to the Topper. I like to get them all on the topper before staking them down. This helps to load the weight on the topper evenly.

15. Now you can start anchoring the strings down with the 60d nails by using the string to regulate how far out from the base you are. DO NOT START ON ONE SIDE AND STAKE ALL THE STRINGS AS YOU GO AROUND. You need to even out the tension in the beginning. So do a crisscross pattern at first to keep the topper level. Once you get several on each side it doesn't matter as much. When you drive the stakes in try to keep about an inch above the ground at first. The strings will relax and increase in length over the first 24-48 hours and you can retighten the string by driving the 60d nail in more. If you do drive them in to the ground and still need to tension the strings you may need to pull the nails and move the anchor point further out a little.