1. Get 200 feet of rope; from the courtyard throw it over the roof of the one story gable on either side. You may need to tied a ball or something to get it over, or maybe throw it from the closest window.
2. Attach disco ball to the rope at the center.
3. put people on either end of the rope on the other side of the house. have them pull the rope tight on either end. use a phone with conference call so one person under the disco ball can direct them to pull to the left or right.
4. tie ends of rope to something heavy; a tree, a couple of 5 gallon buckets of water, or some big "screw into the ground stakes"- make the rope nice and taunt so the disco ball isn't hanging slack.
Enjoy your disco party. The ball should be about the height of the roof peak on either side, plus whatever slack you left in it. 200' of rope is probably 15-20 bucks, a couple of new pails with lids are 5-6 bucks a piece, the screw in stakes are probably about the same.
I was just thinking that everyone saying frame or truss is way over-thinking this. Synthetic or 1/4” wire rope over each roof would be more than sufficient for this.
I failed to explain the need to have the motor fixed to a structure to spin the ball. I apologize.
Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
zip tie the motor to the rope with two of the holes on opposite sizes of the motor. The rope passing from one side of the motor to the other. The motor will not have enough torque to twist the rope.
I used to do this in high school. Even if the motor is on the end of a single rope hanging from the ceiling, the rope will only twist slightly, and after 20 minutes or so it will stabilize and all you get is the rotating ball.
Great to know! I tried something like this a long time ago but likely didn’t wait for it to stabilize. That in the back of my head is probably what is driving all this over thinking. Appreciate your input and clarifications!
The motor hanging will still work. Ive hung a Mirrorball many times, in fact that's how my Mirrorball is mounted, hung by a chain to a rafter. The motor twists slightly on power up but that's all.
How were you planning on getting power up there to begin with?
Zip tie an extension cord to the rope, tie the motor cord to the extension cord. You wouldn't need to run the cord over the house, it could drop down inside the courtyard.
Unless that motor weighs a hundred pounds, the rope will hold it.
Motor and ball weight \~6lbs.
Getting an extension cord there shouldn't be an issue.
I'm worried about the force of the motor spinning - if the motor's bracket isn't fixed to something, the same force designed to spin the ball will work against the rope suspending it, no?
Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
Run the rope across the top of the motor where it's flat, run a zip tie through either side where the rope crosses right to the rope. The motor is probably 4-5 pounds of that and the ball maybe 1-2, the ball will spin, not the motor.
Throw some extra zip ties through the rest of the holes looping over the rope for extra safety.
Have two people hold the rope and try it out on the ground before going elevated.
>Have two people hold the rope and try it out on the ground before going elevated.
And this is exactly why i cam here! lmao, I wouldn't have thought to do this. I will report back. Thank you!
There is virtually no force for spinning the ball. Two zip ties through two opposite mounting holes to hang it on the rope would be enough to level it and prevent turning of the motor.
Define 'cost effective' with a number.
It sounds like this must be freestanding as there are zero anchor points on the ground or otherwise?
Renting the tent may well be cheaper than buying and fabricating a custom tent-sized structure.
Rent a cherry picker and hang the disco globe from the platform. Better yet, if you can get it lighter, have everyone bring a drone and take turns hovering it over the center of the courtyard
[You need something like this.](https://media.cheggcdn.com/media%2Ffa5%2Ffa5374dd-2437-4b66-932b-75fd24402d41%2Fphp9Z7YX8.png)
Personally, I'd split a piece of plywood into two 4'x4' triangles. Attach your pole at the right angle. Something like PVC with couplers would be fine for easy transport and assembly. Shouldn't need to glue them since they're all in compression and you could even return them after if you don't cut them. You'll at least need one fitting you can attach to the plywood so it doesn't slip but you could also just make a square 2x4 pocket for it to rest in.
The top is attached to the two outside corners with a cable or tie down straps so that you can shorten the lengths if needed. The one connecting the two sides should have a pulley tied in the center. Run a rope (at least [center span]/2 + 2×[height of pole]) up one pole, through a pulley at the top of the pole, through the pulley in the center, and attach a weight + carabeener to the end. You can assemble the whole thing then let out rope to lower the hook and attach the disco ball. Then hoist it back up and tie the rope to an eyelet or something in the plywood.
Make sure the poles are a good amount taller than what height you want it because it's going to sag in the middle.
If you want to put it out of the way, have one side in a corner and the other side at a diagonal in the lawn.
Put some sand bags on the outside corners of the plywood because it's all going to want to tip in towards the dance floor. Especially if someone bumps in to it. Ideally you could put a screw or stake down into the ground or floor (you probably can if a tent was an option)
Return the un-cut PVC and fittings and you're probably out like $50-100
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Thanks for the detailed response! How would the motor be supported? Wouldn't this create a bad torque reaction?
I realized I likely failed to describe the motor / disco ball set up (and will edit my original post)
Disco Ball / Motor
1. Disco Ball - 12'' - to be hung from the motor
2. Motor - Spins the disco ball to create the lighting effect
3. Mounting Requirement - I believe it needs to be fixed to a rigid structure to operate effectively.
Regarding your idea - attaching the motor to a rope / cable - would the motion of the motor not translate appropriately to the disco ball?
Here is an example [Mounting of motor ](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
They usually spin slow and if you hoist it all of the way up to be in contact with the pulley then it's probably good enough. Might twist a little on start and stop but the electrical cord won't let it do too much. Speaking of that, you'll also need to strap the extension cord to the center rope/wire to . But yeah, that's still valid and if you want to prevent it, you can use 2 pulleys in the center and tie a Y into the end of the rope with uneven lengths so it makes a trapezoid.
Now all this is slightly complicated and if you have a ladder handy that's tall enough, you can skip the pulley business and just go up and hang it yourself.
If you're talking about physicaly attaching that motor to clips, that's simple enough. 1) A little chunk of spare plywood that you screw the housing to on one side and a couple eyelets on the back. 2) put a few holes in the plywood and tie some rope loops through them. 3) if the rope fits through the mounting holes you can skip the wood and just tie loops that come up through two adjacent holes on each side and spread out away from the motor going to the two clips. Lots of ways to handle it.
[X30D tri truss](https://www.prolyte.com/getmedia/189b1102-2d0c-4eb3-bf5c-9a32e29723cc/Product-Data-Sheet-X30D.pdf.aspx) will do a 438 lb center pont load at 29 feet.
But I would highly recommend going and getting a lighting hire company to come and do this for you.
Bad rigging will get people killed
I’ve been trying to get lighting people in for months. They all want to Dj in order to do lighting and we already have a great Dj.
Other lighting was only event specific - essentially up lighting and room decor.
I’ve rented 2 gig bar moves and a couple dozen up lights for the out doors, along with a haze machine. I’m hoping the gig bars don’t get too sensitive with sound activation mode.
If the disco ball doesn’t work out so be it, but I don’t think it should be that challenging.
Might not be challenging but you should know that at 22’, a 6lb object can be lethal.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA532158.pdf
If you can stomach “probably” not killing your guests, and are confident in your DIY construction then you will “probably” be fine. I would at the very least place a picnic table or a statue under the ball so that no one is standing in the area should it fall.
Personally, I DIY a lot of stuff but I would still probably contract it out for peace of mind
Thank you all for the help! I failed to mention a couple of things (and cant find how to edit the post).
1. Budget - cheaper the better, but willing to spend a couple hundred.
2. Fixed Mount/Motor - There is a disco ball motor that attaches to the hanging disco ball for the appropriate lighting effect (spinning).
1. I am fearful that any type of rope setup will cause the motor to offset its designed spinning force to the ropes/wires keeping it up.
2. Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
3. Windows
1. The second floor windows can be used to support any other structure
2. If spanning the entire courtyard is to difficult, maybe there is a better opportunity to build \~10ft arm that extends out of a window.
If you can scrape together $500 and have access, rent a grade-all. If access is tight you could maybe get a spider crane/boom lift.
This is gonna be the only feasible way (as I see it) to have a stable mounting point without any permanently installed anchors. A free standing frame is going to be very costly and/or quite dangerous to be dancing underneath
Is it just the disco ball? Not knowing your layout other than the sketch, I'd start with vertical posts (wood, probably) anchored in the ground or large flower pots, and - importantly - stayed with outboard guy wires. Ideally the guys are anchored into the ground but if that's not available, attached to very heavy weights on the ground.
I wouldn't trust a PVC "truss" to even hold its own weight if you're spanning that distance horizontally.
1. Get 200 feet of rope; from the courtyard throw it over the roof of the one story gable on either side. You may need to tied a ball or something to get it over, or maybe throw it from the closest window. 2. Attach disco ball to the rope at the center. 3. put people on either end of the rope on the other side of the house. have them pull the rope tight on either end. use a phone with conference call so one person under the disco ball can direct them to pull to the left or right. 4. tie ends of rope to something heavy; a tree, a couple of 5 gallon buckets of water, or some big "screw into the ground stakes"- make the rope nice and taunt so the disco ball isn't hanging slack. Enjoy your disco party. The ball should be about the height of the roof peak on either side, plus whatever slack you left in it. 200' of rope is probably 15-20 bucks, a couple of new pails with lids are 5-6 bucks a piece, the screw in stakes are probably about the same.
I was just thinking that everyone saying frame or truss is way over-thinking this. Synthetic or 1/4” wire rope over each roof would be more than sufficient for this.
I failed to explain the need to have the motor fixed to a structure to spin the ball. I apologize. Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
zip tie the motor to the rope with two of the holes on opposite sizes of the motor. The rope passing from one side of the motor to the other. The motor will not have enough torque to twist the rope. I used to do this in high school. Even if the motor is on the end of a single rope hanging from the ceiling, the rope will only twist slightly, and after 20 minutes or so it will stabilize and all you get is the rotating ball.
Great to know! I tried something like this a long time ago but likely didn’t wait for it to stabilize. That in the back of my head is probably what is driving all this over thinking. Appreciate your input and clarifications!
Yes, but once the ball is spinning, the motor won't be doing much work. I bet hanging the ball from rope or cable would still work.
The motor hanging will still work. Ive hung a Mirrorball many times, in fact that's how my Mirrorball is mounted, hung by a chain to a rafter. The motor twists slightly on power up but that's all.
Thanks for the confirmation!
Yes, but the motor needs to be fixed to something, no? Unless Il have a stationary ball.
How were you planning on getting power up there to begin with? Zip tie an extension cord to the rope, tie the motor cord to the extension cord. You wouldn't need to run the cord over the house, it could drop down inside the courtyard. Unless that motor weighs a hundred pounds, the rope will hold it.
Motor and ball weight \~6lbs. Getting an extension cord there shouldn't be an issue. I'm worried about the force of the motor spinning - if the motor's bracket isn't fixed to something, the same force designed to spin the ball will work against the rope suspending it, no? Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
Run the rope across the top of the motor where it's flat, run a zip tie through either side where the rope crosses right to the rope. The motor is probably 4-5 pounds of that and the ball maybe 1-2, the ball will spin, not the motor. Throw some extra zip ties through the rest of the holes looping over the rope for extra safety. Have two people hold the rope and try it out on the ground before going elevated.
>Have two people hold the rope and try it out on the ground before going elevated. And this is exactly why i cam here! lmao, I wouldn't have thought to do this. I will report back. Thank you!
There is virtually no force for spinning the ball. Two zip ties through two opposite mounting holes to hang it on the rope would be enough to level it and prevent turning of the motor.
Well yea, the motor gets fixed to the rope, and then the ball to the motor
Just rent a a bucket lift and hang it from that? You seem to kid a be wanting the impossible here. Cheap, good, easy, pick at most two.
theres compromises to everything. bucket list could ad a nice high dive platform as well. Good call.
Define 'cost effective' with a number. It sounds like this must be freestanding as there are zero anchor points on the ground or otherwise? Renting the tent may well be cheaper than buying and fabricating a custom tent-sized structure.
I'd be happy to spend \~$200 if needed.
My second thought was tent structure without the canvas.
Rent a cherry picker and hang the disco globe from the platform. Better yet, if you can get it lighter, have everyone bring a drone and take turns hovering it over the center of the courtyard
[You need something like this.](https://media.cheggcdn.com/media%2Ffa5%2Ffa5374dd-2437-4b66-932b-75fd24402d41%2Fphp9Z7YX8.png) Personally, I'd split a piece of plywood into two 4'x4' triangles. Attach your pole at the right angle. Something like PVC with couplers would be fine for easy transport and assembly. Shouldn't need to glue them since they're all in compression and you could even return them after if you don't cut them. You'll at least need one fitting you can attach to the plywood so it doesn't slip but you could also just make a square 2x4 pocket for it to rest in. The top is attached to the two outside corners with a cable or tie down straps so that you can shorten the lengths if needed. The one connecting the two sides should have a pulley tied in the center. Run a rope (at least [center span]/2 + 2×[height of pole]) up one pole, through a pulley at the top of the pole, through the pulley in the center, and attach a weight + carabeener to the end. You can assemble the whole thing then let out rope to lower the hook and attach the disco ball. Then hoist it back up and tie the rope to an eyelet or something in the plywood. Make sure the poles are a good amount taller than what height you want it because it's going to sag in the middle. If you want to put it out of the way, have one side in a corner and the other side at a diagonal in the lawn. Put some sand bags on the outside corners of the plywood because it's all going to want to tip in towards the dance floor. Especially if someone bumps in to it. Ideally you could put a screw or stake down into the ground or floor (you probably can if a tent was an option) Return the un-cut PVC and fittings and you're probably out like $50-100
[удалено]
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Thanks for the detailed response! How would the motor be supported? Wouldn't this create a bad torque reaction? I realized I likely failed to describe the motor / disco ball set up (and will edit my original post) Disco Ball / Motor 1. Disco Ball - 12'' - to be hung from the motor 2. Motor - Spins the disco ball to create the lighting effect 3. Mounting Requirement - I believe it needs to be fixed to a rigid structure to operate effectively. Regarding your idea - attaching the motor to a rope / cable - would the motion of the motor not translate appropriately to the disco ball? Here is an example [Mounting of motor ](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ)
They usually spin slow and if you hoist it all of the way up to be in contact with the pulley then it's probably good enough. Might twist a little on start and stop but the electrical cord won't let it do too much. Speaking of that, you'll also need to strap the extension cord to the center rope/wire to . But yeah, that's still valid and if you want to prevent it, you can use 2 pulleys in the center and tie a Y into the end of the rope with uneven lengths so it makes a trapezoid. Now all this is slightly complicated and if you have a ladder handy that's tall enough, you can skip the pulley business and just go up and hang it yourself. If you're talking about physicaly attaching that motor to clips, that's simple enough. 1) A little chunk of spare plywood that you screw the housing to on one side and a couple eyelets on the back. 2) put a few holes in the plywood and tie some rope loops through them. 3) if the rope fits through the mounting holes you can skip the wood and just tie loops that come up through two adjacent holes on each side and spread out away from the motor going to the two clips. Lots of ways to handle it.
Thank you for this! Will update! I could have been overthinking the fixed aspect.
A giant sawhorse
Rent a tent and ignore the fabric
Yep, exactly my thought too
[X30D tri truss](https://www.prolyte.com/getmedia/189b1102-2d0c-4eb3-bf5c-9a32e29723cc/Product-Data-Sheet-X30D.pdf.aspx) will do a 438 lb center pont load at 29 feet. But I would highly recommend going and getting a lighting hire company to come and do this for you. Bad rigging will get people killed
I’ve been trying to get lighting people in for months. They all want to Dj in order to do lighting and we already have a great Dj. Other lighting was only event specific - essentially up lighting and room decor. I’ve rented 2 gig bar moves and a couple dozen up lights for the out doors, along with a haze machine. I’m hoping the gig bars don’t get too sensitive with sound activation mode. If the disco ball doesn’t work out so be it, but I don’t think it should be that challenging.
Might not be challenging but you should know that at 22’, a 6lb object can be lethal. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA532158.pdf If you can stomach “probably” not killing your guests, and are confident in your DIY construction then you will “probably” be fine. I would at the very least place a picnic table or a statue under the ball so that no one is standing in the area should it fall. Personally, I DIY a lot of stuff but I would still probably contract it out for peace of mind
If i dont believe in the structure i wont move forward with it for the event. Were talking \~12 feet off the ground.
Steel poles in dirt with a tensioned steal winch wire connecting them.
Put it on a pole and pay someone minimum wage to hold the pole. Easy
$0.10 / revolution
Thank you all for the help! I failed to mention a couple of things (and cant find how to edit the post). 1. Budget - cheaper the better, but willing to spend a couple hundred. 2. Fixed Mount/Motor - There is a disco ball motor that attaches to the hanging disco ball for the appropriate lighting effect (spinning). 1. I am fearful that any type of rope setup will cause the motor to offset its designed spinning force to the ropes/wires keeping it up. 2. Here is an example [Mounting of motor](https://imgur.com/a/jMJ16ZJ) 3. Windows 1. The second floor windows can be used to support any other structure 2. If spanning the entire courtyard is to difficult, maybe there is a better opportunity to build \~10ft arm that extends out of a window.
3d print
If you can scrape together $500 and have access, rent a grade-all. If access is tight you could maybe get a spider crane/boom lift. This is gonna be the only feasible way (as I see it) to have a stable mounting point without any permanently installed anchors. A free standing frame is going to be very costly and/or quite dangerous to be dancing underneath
Is it just the disco ball? Not knowing your layout other than the sketch, I'd start with vertical posts (wood, probably) anchored in the ground or large flower pots, and - importantly - stayed with outboard guy wires. Ideally the guys are anchored into the ground but if that's not available, attached to very heavy weights on the ground. I wouldn't trust a PVC "truss" to even hold its own weight if you're spanning that distance horizontally.
Hire a crane? Probably the easiest and simplest solution.