# Cemetery Arch Help



## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

Okay so Im building my arch. The arch itself must span 10ft. Yes I realize Im taking a risk with that, but I gotta try it. Soo that being said. Im making it out of PVC rather than wood because I can get a 10ft piece of pvc and use heat to bend it much easier than i can try and shape wood. What I want to know is this...In shaping the arch does my top arch need to be longer than the bottom one to have them look even? Or should they be the same length? Im thinking the top should be longer and the bottom shorter. Oh and yes I realize that I'll need more than 10' to get the arch to span 10'. Im going to use a coupler which yes will add bulk and I hate that, but I cant see any other way, unless you know of a place I can get 1/2" or 3/4" PVC in 12' lengths.

Oh and one other thing. Im making my letters 12", do you think thats large enough for an arch 10' in the air? And what program can I use to make the letters larger without it cutting it off? Ive tried it with microsoft word and powerpoint and cant get the paper to print out right. Also any ideas for a good font to use?? THANKS (I guess that was 3 more things )


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

I could do it up in Illustrator for you Turtle and save it as a PDF for you to print. What is the name of your cemetery?


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

I've thought about this since I need to finish my columns and gateway, they need to be parallel to maintain the spacing between then. Also there was a thread here or on halloweenforum that talked about a program that would enlarge prints, did some searches came up empty maybe some can give more info on the program


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## BoysinBoo (Dec 10, 2007)

Rasterbator. That's the one.


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## scream1973 (Dec 23, 2007)

An overhead projector will work well as well ..

Cut the entire letters etc out of masonite (hardboard)


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## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

I have an overhead projector I forgot about that. Hardboard is too thin to screw in to the PVC.


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## Long_Tom (Oct 7, 2006)

You can get masonite in 1/4" thickness. That should be sufficiently strong. Be sure to drill good-sized pilot holes for the screws, so the masonite doesn't split.


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

I plan to put tabs on the letters and then cut slots into the PVC and then screw through the PVC and masonite


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## Turbophanx (Jun 30, 2008)

the bottom arch pipe should be shorter than the top pipe.


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## tuck (Oct 27, 2007)

it really depends on how you are building your arch. If they are both attached to a single pole that extends down into your column then they should be close to the same, with the bottom arch being slightly shorter than the top pole. I did a quick drawing in autocad and the bottom pole was 3/16" shorter at the midpoint. Sorry I don't have time to get an attachment right now as I must leave for class. The good news is PVC is cheap. Just cut it long and trim it until it looks right.


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## tuck (Oct 27, 2007)

Also why are you heating the main arches. the PVC should stay bent once you get it between the two support poles. And once you get the lettering in place it shouldn't move at all.


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