The 2008 Snowflake Propper Project
More Needed for 2009
Here's a small project to get you motivated for the 2009 display...Snowflake Proppers. What are they? These homemade proppers are
used when installing snowflakes on the slanted roof tiles. If the snowflakes were just attached to the roof, the angle wouldn't be "sharp" enough for the viewers
on the ground to see them well. Hence, the snowflake propper was born, and as a bonus, they help keep the snowflakes in place on the roof with a small piece of sheet metal
that slides under the tile.
We had a few of these in the display last year, but this year we're adding more snowflakes to the display on the roof. So why not
feature the "proppers" as a project on the website with a few photos? It's a rainy day outside in May 2009, so here's something to keep occupied while planning
the display for this year. Stephen is with me in the garage, and we're having a good time. We need six more of these, so let's get started in the shop...
The proppers consist of a wooden base, a wooden riser, the sheet metal attachment to wedge them into the tiles, and a large deck
screw protruding from the top to hold the snowflake. So to start off, let's cut the wood. We used some old scrap cedar fence post for the base, and some 2x2
pieces for the risers...The higher the riser, the more proppage...So we settled for about 4" of rise, and that seems to work well. It's a pretty informal design;
so precision not really important.
We cut the pieces, and then sanded them down a bit to eliminate splinters, etc. Don't you just love the smell of freshly cut cedar? Yum.
After some sanding, the pieces are prepped and ready. Let's join them together...
Belt and Suspenders, right? Let's glue them with Big Stretch caulking AND attach the risers to the bases with fasteners of
some sort...Hmm, what type of fasteners?
After thinking for 0.1 seconds, it's clear. Let's use the air stapler to attach the risers! Argh Argh Argh, as Tim Allen would say. So we
prep the air compressor, get out the stapler and load it with some long staples. Now we're ready to go. Just a little guide mark where the corner of the riser is to go, and
we're ready to staple...
We shoot 3 staples that are 1 5/8" long through the bottom of the base up into the riser for a nice tight fit. There's just
something about firing that stapler, isn't there? Ha! Maybe we should build more than 6?
Okay, we made it through the stapling fun part. Now it's time to paint. Because we already built a few of these for last year,
I already had a can of paint mixed up that matched the colors of the roof tiles. So next we paint everything above the bottom of the base and when that dries,
then we paint the bottoms as well...While waiting for that paint to dry, I dig out a snowflake for some testing. Stephen is getting real interested...
Stephen is my work partner today, so while the paint is drying we spend some time together...He loves his DaDa, that's for sure!
So we have some of his favorite music on and hang out in the garage...He wants to go outside real bad, but it's pretty wet outside and that's been vetoed by the big boss...
We'll keep him interested in the garage. Lots of fun stuff to do with Dad, right? The paint is starting to get dry, so let's keep going.
The next step is to attach the small sheet metal pieces to the bottom of each base with three small wood screws. These metal pieces end up sticking out from the base,
and they are gently worked under the edge of the flat roof tile to help hold the "propper" in place. As thin as they are, it's a pretty tight fit, so no way the snowflakes will come loose
in the weather during the lighting season. "Snug as a bug in a rug"...I think my grandmother said that to me many years ago. She was right!
Once the sheet metal is attached, then we drive a long deck screw into the top of each riser and let it protrude about 1" above the top.
This is used to attach the snowflake to the propper. We just wrap a long cable tie through the snowflake and secure it around the screw. Voila! That snowflake isn't going anywhere!
And they're all raised up off the roof tile by the same amount and look nice and uniform...
Here's a photo of the "finished product" with a sample snowflake in place. Combined with the slight downward angle on the roof,
the Propper gives a few more inches of incline and really sets off the snowflakes in the display...Bet you never thought that something so simple would be so involved?
Here's another view of the snowflake on top of the riser. If you look close, you can see the circular loop of the snowflake right above the
deck screw on top of the riser. A cable tie is used to keep the snowflake nice and secure up on the roof...
Here's a view from last year's display with a few snowflake proppers in action. You can see how the sheet metal is tucked under the tile. The snowflakes
are held in place very well with the cable tie. There will be 6 more snowflakes on the roof this year at Belardo Lights!
That's it, folks. A project for a rainy Saturday...It took just a few hours, even including the time spent "waiting for the paint to dry". Of course, Stephen and I spent
some good time in the garage listening to his favorite band (The B-52s), and it was a great day...Christmas is coming in a few short months! We'll be ready! Come by the
Belardo Lights display and see how it all comes together!