Metal Cab...what would YOU do with it?

[cfltime]

Hey all. I just bought this for 10 bucks.

What would you do with it?

I wanna put a 150 HPS in there. How should I go about with ventilation and odor control?

Can I cut the metal some how? I would like help turning this into a great perpetual grow cab. Well, just a whole flower room. I can veg clones elsewhere. Whats most effecient for this space?

Inside top to bottom is 3 feet. It is 3 feet wide. And 2 feet deep.

 

[m00nchild]

Cutting through metal is a PITA, but it can be done. I'd use a high-powered dremel or rotary blade. You'll want to use some of that silver reflective insulating stuff from home depot, too, and line the entire inside with it. Reflectix or whatever it's called. Otherwise, the heat from the HPS will make the outside of the cabinet very hot, I would think. Even if you went with CFLs it would get very hot without it.

It's definitely useable. It's just not what I would call ideal. Wood is so much easier to work with and manipulate.

 

[messn'n'gommin']

One way of cutting holes into sheet metal is to scribe a circle and drill a series of holes inside it, then finish it off with a file. And m00nchild is right, it will be a pain. But, I think if you take your time and use all due diligence, you'll be happy with the results and it should serve you well for years to come.

Just a personal opinion, but, if you're using HID, you might want to consider putting a 250w or even two 150w's in there. At the very least, I would go with one 150w HID and several CFL's (red or blue, as the plant's phase dictates).

namaste

 

[Frosty Buds]

Use something round as a guide to mark the hole with a texta (sharpie/marker for those in the US) and then drill a hole next to the edge on the inside of the circle large enough for the blade of a jigsaw to easily fit through, go slow with the jigsaw and afterwards file any roughness away and then file at a slight angle around the hole inside and out to remove any sharpness.

Use a fine tooth metal cutting blade in the jigsaw as it is sheetmetal so you want to avoid large tooth blades as they will make a rough cut and cause more vibration which can make the cut wonky and cause lots of noise in case you are worried about neighbour's.

If you have a rotary tool like a Dremel then that can be used with a grinding stone to smooth the edge and remove sharpness instead of a file.

Plan everything before you cut and measure everything at least 3 times as once you have cut you can't put the metal back together again with or without the help of all the kings horses and all the kings men (Humpty Dumpty Syndrome).

 

[cyber echo]

CFLs would be easier to use than a HID for sure, but if u still intend to use HID u'd better get a cooltube so you can get it close to ur plants and vent as much heat to outside the cab. Ceramic metal halides lamps (CMH) will also help since they "throw" less heat towards ur plants, keeping the heat closer to the bulb, so if its inside the cooltube most of the heat will be vented outwards.

Its gonna be a bish to cut the metal for the intake and vent fan... but it will be done, and if you already have this it'd be a waste to buy another cab.

If you wanna grow perpetual with one cab only, check out autoflower strains.They flower under constant light so you can pack both vegging and flowering plants in there. They also grow shorter (and faster) and are generally good for micro grows. MDanzig has some nice strains like BlueStreak and Sour60 which pack on lots of resin and are pretty potent.

Gluck

 

[cfltime]

Thank you all for your reply.

I am still going with one 150 watt HPS. I am going to do homework on this CMH you speak off. And if I can get a cooltube goin, that would be nice.

I plan on scroggin one or two plants. I aim to yield at least 2-3 zips. Shit, I will be happy with one. Ive been thinking alot bout this. I have to go shopping and see if i can rent a sawz all from HD. Thanks.

oh yeah. i heard auto flower strains werent ideal. whats with that?

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Is it steel sheet metal? If possible, use anything but sheet metal sheers, thats what I tried and it was hell.

Here's pics:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=5865&pictureid=93989

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=5865&pictureid=93990

http://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=5865&pictureid=94009

It's very crude, but both holes where covered by light traps.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Definitely a PITA. I used the method described by Messin. Take a look here for some serious inspiration.

 

[cyber echo]

oh yeah. i heard auto flower strains werent ideal. whats with that?

Lots of ppl grew Lowryder #1 and were dissapointed. So general consensus is that AFs are shit. However, it's been more than a decade since LR1, and the new genetics are blurring the lines between AFs and regular strains in the potency department. If you aren't smoking elite cuts, you won't even notice.

Long story short, there's an AF section in the growers forum, lots of info there :]

Cheers