Spray Foam Expands Over 48 hours

I filled the north poles with spray foam (Great Stuff Big Gap Filler) and let them cure for 2 days.


The north poles fell over because the foam pushed out the bottom...which is what I wanted. Today, I used a saw and sander to make the bottoms nice and smooth.

Here's the video of the spray foam air pocket on the bottom of one of the north poles.

Here's how I cut the notches for the cords at the bottom of each pole.

Lastly, here's the video of the conduit being glued to the inside of the north poles.

Cleaned the Globes on the North Poles

Yesterday I cleaned the globes from the north poles. I soaked the globes in a diluted Rustaid mixture which worked really well. I had to lightly scrub each one with a kitchen scrubbing pad, but all 16 only took me 30 minutes. I was worried the Rustaid would etch the globes, but since I hosed them off, there was no damage.


I also soaked the fixtures in a baking soda-water mixture then scrubbed each one with a wire brush. There was green corrosion on the metal parts. I was very happy to use my new boat batter cleaning skills to clean up the north pole light bulb fixtures!!! Now, I just have to find out if I can put dialectric grease on the light fixtures...that's what I do with a boat batteries, so it would make sense to follow suit.


Today I also purchased the new couplers and 3 inch poles. I got the red duct tape and 3 cans of Great Stuff Big Gap Filler. Yesterday and this morning I experimented with crack filler and gap filler. Lesson learned........if you use a big stick to push down the crack filler, it will deflate and never expand.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations for Copeland Christmas

Back in 2007, I made north poles for our Christmas display. Below are some current photos. The 2010 display will not feature these north poles, but instead north poles version 2.0.

Here is a closeup of the water rust discoloration on the globes. Last week, I dipped a globe in Rustaid and it cleaned up beautifully! So, we can re-use the globes!

The red duct tape we used to stripe the north poles has faded and begun to separate and peel off. So, the PVC will have to be replaced because I am not stripping all this tape off 16 poles.

The 3M hooks we used to hang the rope lights have rusted. These will need to be replaced.

The light sockets we used have held up well. We will reuse these fixtures. We can also reuse the cord and all the bulbs.

So, to update these north poles, we will have to purchase new 3" pipes and 16 new couplers. We will also need to purchase new paint/tape for the stripes. I have plastic hooks and zip ties for the rope lights.

A major upgrade is that we will not use rebar and concrete to anchor the north poles into the ground this time. Instead, we are experimenting with spray foam and rebar. We have a couple reasons for staying away from the concrete this time around. First, the concrete makes the north poles very heavy, so storage is cumbersome. Next, the north poles take a beating each year when we hammer them into the ground. If we just have to hammer rebar into the ground, then place the poles on top of the rebar, it will be much easier on both us and the north poles. Another option is to use flanges.

2010 Copeland Christmas Lighted Fence

We are trying to come up with a new fence that will replace the north poles we've been using for the past few years. We love the north poles, but we'd like a solution that is easier to set up, take down, and store. So, I've been surfing the internet for inspiration. Here's our north pole fence:

I happened to google "Christmas fence." There is a 94 year old guy in Australia that walked every street in 286 suburbs of Sydney. He has a website that documents his travels. I don't quite get it, but then again, there's lots of people who don't quite get my hobbies :)
 

Here's the photo that brought me to his website.

Oh, by the way, I'm absolutely no closer to figuring out the 2010 fence design.

Many Christmas enthusiants are using small leaping arches as a fence. I don't know that we want to go this route, although they are beautiful.