Ground Breaker Tree

1758 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by bringjoy, Aug 4, 2009

theedwin

Discussion Starter · #1 · Jul 20, 2009

Hello all,

I thought I would share this with you. I started out with a 4x8 piece of stryofoam that was also almost 1' 1/2 thick. I got this FREE because it was windy one day. Very Windy.

I finally decided what to do with it, as I had always wanted to make a tree. I cut up the styrofoam with various saws. (Long and short ones) and an electric knife came in handy too! Here is a pic of what I came up with. (with paint!)

Now, you may or may not notice that there is a square cut in the "Y" of the branches. That's where my "Ground breaker" (Shiatzu massager) is going to go.

I created this "branch mover" from the idea I got on THIS website for a ground breaker. Sure enough, it worked!

I hope that video worked.....

Anyway, I hooked up the "contraption" to the tree with just simple wire, and the thing ran great! Now keep in mind, that my "Shiatzu ground breaker" IS supporting alot more PVC than most. Also, I added a bunch of leaves and such at a 45 degree angle.

I ran this "waving branches tree" for over a week, 15 plus hours a day, every day.

It broke. Here is a picture.

Too much weight at too much of an angle I think. The metal rods from the Shiatzu finally wore, or BROKE through the PVC. I tried to fix it by placing metal conduit inside the broken PVC, but it bound up the motor for some reason. I decided at that point, rather than take the display down, I would leave it up, but leave it as a Static prop.

Here is what it originally looked like:

It was alot of fun! And I learned alot!

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berkisho

· Registered

Joined Oct 27, 2005

·

123 Posts

#2 · Jul 20, 2009

I love it...looks great...a couple of thoughts on how to fix/reinforce the arms so they don't break...

Do the arms of the messager fit snugly into the PVC? If not try and file the gap space with cardboard or styrofoam

Place several "set screws" at your massager linkage point. That is small flat pan head screws that you can screw into PVC and tighten down against the arm of the massager - this should help keep everything tight and secure

Consider replacing the initial piece of PVC that connects to the messager with metal condiut, again making sure it is a snug fig, then you can transfer to PVC making sure the transfer joint is strong and reinforced.

again use metal conduit to connect to the massager unit, leave it 6"-12" longer then necessary then insert wooden dowels (so it is a snug fit), then you can transfer to PVC; the wooden dowels should help reinforce everything without adding to much weight. Make sure you screw the wooden dowels in place into the PVC (and if possible, the metal conduit).

The key to all the above is making sure you have a snug fit.

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