Thread: Outdoor FCG

Tweet

I would like to do a FCG for next year. I use projection in my windows and I am running out of space in my yard. I was thinking of putting it on my roof somehow.

Has anyone done this?

Roof sounds unstable and risky, especially with winds. My FCG would get trashed. The past few years we have had in in the master bedroom you walk by it. I am building a mausoleum next year for housing her in our ever-growing cemetery.

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_4438.jpg

I have 2 FCG's outside, every time we have a windstorm I have to pull them down but I can do it in a 3 to 5 minutes it’s no big deal. I have the cheap $2.99 12 volt motors that everybody is using and they work great. They are very light weight.
I dug 2 holes in my front yard (I put end caps on them off season) about 32" deep, put a 2" plastic plumbing pipe in the holes then used a 90lb bag of concrete to anchor the tube. Purchased 2 sticks of Electricians 3/4 conduit from Lowes ($3.00 per stick) and several couplings, Home Depot also has it about the same price. 1 Coupling on each FCG because 10 feet just wasn’t high enough for me so I cut one piece of conduit in half and attached it with a coupling. So they hover (I like that word) about 12 feet in the air over the graveyard. I added a white LED to the FCG frame aiming down to add some lighting. I used a piece of Rebar bent over and dropped into the top of the Conduit to hang the FCG frame on using some wire ties. The nice thing about the rebar is if the wind direction changes the FCG can move somewhat freely. I had cars stopping in the street to look... and the cars behind would stop also sometimes 5 deep. Normally horns would be blaring but never had a single angry driver they would all just line up look and then drive on... I highly recommend suspended FCG's! Great for traffic control also.
Hopefully my photo link works it’s my first photo link.

Don't see your link. It sounds awesome.

Rabbit,
When you say the cheap 12v motors are you referring to the automotive, black vent motors?

Originally Posted by Nepboard

Rabbit,
When you say the cheap 12v motors are you referring to the automotive, black vent motors?

I believe that he is likely talking about these:
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G16034

I've been thinking about switching from my mirror ball motor to these for my FCG. Anyone have more experience with this type of setup? The mirror ball motor seems to have problems getting stuck and reversing direction constantly so that I get limited motion. Would these others work better?

I was hoping those were the ones. I bought a dozen of them last fall for 1.99 each and haven't used them yet. I am going to do 2 FCG this winter.

I mounted my FCG on top of a 22 foot telescoping flag pole. I got the flag pole off ebay several months ago for a steal ($30 shipped). I attached angle iron to the wood frame of the FCG with wood screws. This one had a little gold ball that screwed down into the top. I used this hole to mount the angle iron onto the flag pole. I then drilled a hole through the flag pole, ran a bolt through it to help secure another piece of metal to brace to top angle iron. The flag pole which is aluminum came with a larger 16" piece of PVC pipe. This PVC pipe is supposed to be cemented into the ground and then the flag pole fits down into it. I will attach this pipe to the corner post for my fence using pipe clamps and it will sit on the metal electrical box which will be attached to the fence post. I will probably be able to mount the pipe 3 to 4 feet off the ground which should put the top of the FCG about 24 to 25 feet off the ground.

It was very windy here on Halloween so she only went up about 10'. I also forgot to put her up the full length later when the wind died down.

I think that is the same motor as here https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.a...tname=electric , your link says 5 PRM at 20milliamps, while the one I used (hence the link) says 4 RPM at 10miliamps. However it does pull 20 not 10. I used it for my FCG this year and it worked great. No reverse action, the motor strained a bit pulling the head up, but it never faltered.
YouTube - 100 0220

Originally Posted by Nepboard

Rabbit,
When you say the cheap 12v motors are you referring to the automotive, black vent motors?

Same motors Rev. Noch mentioned only I found them for $2.99 each from another vendor here

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.as...-1587&catname=

I use a 2" phillips screw (I think it was a #8) and heat it a little with my torch.
Screw it into the the center of the moving gear with a little epoxy then cut of the head leaving ony as much as I need to attach an arm or whatever.
Its quick and easy to work with after that. When I first picked up the motors I thought I would never be able to attach anything to them but they work really great this way. Im not sure how others are attaching stuff to them maybe there is a better way but I have not had any problems yet.