Supplies:
• 216 lights
• 3/4" MDF Board ~ $32 plus cutting fee
• Bolt Cutter
• JB Weld epoxy ~ $12 (I don't own a welder)
• Clamps made from screws and spare wood
• Flat Black Rust-Oleum Spray Paint ~ $5
• Zip Ties (UV Resistant) ~$10
• 30 hours to complete
My Design is based on Matt Johnson's How To Build A Pixel Snowflake Video.
Sketched Snowflake design on 3/4" MDF board. Snowflake end to end is 32" with 1/2" space between lines. (*End product uses straight lines, instead of curved pictured here, for ease in later gluing.) The purpose of the MDF board is to create a JIG that can be used to make several identical snowflakes. One board is enough for several designs. (wreaths, snowflakes, candy canes, etc.)
Drilled out door knob sized holes for the major joints.
Borrowed a friend's router to grind out the lines for the 12 gauge hanger wire.
Used a bolt cutter for the wires ...and since I don't own a welder, I went with JB Weld epoxy. It is super strong and works like a charm. Make sure to completely surround the wire connections (forming a sort of X-shaped epoxy "tube" around them).
I pinched the main joints with some scrap wood and screws to glue them together with pressure. It took 2 separate nights.
In my design, I'm keeping the middle wires for support (Matt cut them out in his design). Here you can also see where I changed from a circular outer ring to a hexagonal shape. (Makes gluing easier)
I popped the wooden clamps off and sanded away the splinters. Then sprayed flat black Rust-Oleum spray paint over it to protect from rust and hide the snowflake support frame when the lights are on. (You can see the smaller snowflake under this one ready to be glued.)
Working on zip-tying the lights: It takes quite some time and took several nights of work.
Here is the finished 32" snowflake with 216 lights attached.
Plugged it in and tested it out. The final 24 lights didn't light up...
It turns out I had the incorrect number on the e682 webpage. Once I updated the number to 216 they all light up.
ALSO, I had to POWER INJECT from the end of the light strand. More on Power Injection can be found here.
Click to see Snowflake Video Test
Hi there! It took me 3 days of JB weld epoxy. I did the inner ring first. You completely cover the joints (all around... surround the touching wires to form a “tube of epoxy”) Then, while still wet, I clamped the group with 2 pieces of spare wood (shims work too) one on top and one on the bottom of the frame. Using a screw and a wire nut from below, I tightened it to pinch the wires together. PRO TIP.. these wood pieces snap off and sometimes completely break off when trying to remove them. I found it easier to cut pieces of paper or paper plate so the wood doesn’t stick to the JB weld glue. It’s still a pain to sand the stuck on paper later, but then you can reuse the wood clamps.
day 2, I removed the wood clamps, and JB weld epoxy'd the next outer rings... day three I found it better to just use straight wire instead of Matt's original ring. I removed the snowflake from the MDF board and balanced it on a roll of duct tape and clamped the outer "hexagonal" shape after glueing those in place.
THE SECRET to matching Matt's drawing... lol I slowed down his video during the timelapse part... and found the ruler he used in a perfect position to see it was exactly 32 inches from end to end. Then it was just a matter of measuring how far the "branches" of the snowflakes were. There was some guessing, but for the most part, it came out pretty close. :) Here is the screen shot I used from Matt's video to help me figure out how long each part was. If you'd like, I can get a better photo of mine with a ruler up against it. :) I have a large 32" like Matt's, and a smaller 24" version. He's got the center line plus a line on either side of it spaced exactly .5 inches apart.