Long awaited and long over due write up of my Ikea Rast cabinets. I'll try and put as much detail in here as I can. Unfortunately I lost a few photos I had mid-build, but it should still be fairly obvious what the main goal of this is:
To build a self sustaining twin cabinet system for around the price of an ounce. Your first harvest will more than pay for the build.
The potential for these is huge. If you waterproof the inside you can run a perpetual SoG of around 10+ plants or SCRoG out one big plant for larger yields.
You can even double up the build and have 4 cabinets which would give you a little more room to play around with different strains.
Click here to see these cabinets in action!
Firstly, a little breakdown of the materials and tools that you will need and the approximate price that these should set you back.
Parts:
•Ikea Rast cabinets x2 - £40
•MDF board x2 - £14
•90' conceal hinges x4 - £16
•120mm 12v PC fans x4 - £12
•12v phone charger - £5
•Carbon filter sheet 25cm x 25cm - £10
•Angle Bead - £7
•Old tights - free
•E40 400w reflector - £20
•55w 27k PL-L bulb x2 - £10
•55w 65k PL-L bulb x2 - £10
•2G11 socket x4 - £10
•PL-L support clip x4 - £3
•Philips HF-P 255 PL-L EIII 2 X 55W x2 - £54
•Solid core lighting wire x5m - £10
•Plugs x2 - £2
•Ikea timers x2 - £5
•Extension lead - £5
•Silicon Caulking - £10
•NoMoreNails - £10
•Polyfil - £2
•Matte white paint - £10
•Misc. nails, screws - £3
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Total: £274 - Higher end of the price of an ounce of high grade.
Tools:
•Power-drill
•Jigsaw
•Screwdrivers
•Stanley knife
•Duct-tape
•Electricians tape
•Sharpie
•Hammer
•Paint brush
•Metal shears
•Measuring tape
•Cling-film
•Elbow grease
•A basic knowledge of electronics
"""""""""""""""""""
I'll have to assume you have easy access to the above.
**Obviously most of these steps will need to be done twice for the 2 main cabinets. **
**Apologies again for losing many of my progress shots. This becomes evident towards the mid/end if this tutorial. Making do with completed shots isn't the same as in progress, but it's all I have**
Main Cabs:
•Put the 3 main walls together. Cut the back support beam down the middle in 2 and nail/screw them at the bottom of the walls to support the floor.
•Measure and cut the MDF to fit the floor and the back wall of the cabinet. Make sure there are no gaps between the back wall and the floor piece. Glue and screw down the floor but NOT the back. Dry fitting the back panel. DON'T glue yet!
•Place the 3 drawer fronts on to the floor with a little space between them and affix the original back piece of the cabinets onto the drawers with NoMoreNails. Leave to dry for 24 hours. Once dry use small screws/nails to strengthen. Trim off any overhang.
•Align the hinges on the door so that the gap between the drawers is under the hinge. This will give more strength to the door. Attach the hinges on the inside of the cabinets so the hinges aren't fully closed when the door is.
•Attach the drawer handles to the door.
•Add a nail/screw to the top-inside corner and lower inside edge of the cabinet.These will prevent the door from sagging down/being pushed in too far.
•Wrap the outside edge of the door in cling-film. Make it as wrinkle free as possible.
•Run your caulking around the inside edge of the doorframe. Make sure you get a nice, thick even layer all the way around. Smooth down for neatness with card. Let dry for 24 hours.
•Gently open the door making sure not to damage the newly formed seal. Trim away any mess and remove the cling film from the door. Leave to dry for longer if the caulking is still tacky after removing the cling-film.
•Mark up the backboard for PC fans. 2" from top/side is good. Mark up the intake. Twice the size of exhaust is best. Check measurements again, then cut!
•Attach back of cabinet with small nails provided. Use Polyfil/caulking to seal the back from the inside to walls/floor.
•Paint the inside! 2+ coats is best!
•This would be a good time to varnish the outside to help blend in with other furniture/improve the lifetime of the cabinets. I have yet to do this on mine.
Reflectors:
•Remove the cable and the E40 socket from the reflector. Drill out the rivets holding the spine to the reflector and discard. Cut the reflector down the middle along the fold and flatten the folds out carefully.
•Mark up reflector halves so that the middle point is ~1/2 the height of the outside wings. Make sure the shiny side will be facing the bulbs. Measure twice, fold once. Final shape should look like THIS and THIS.
•Screw/nail the reflector the ceiling making sure the reflector doesn't obstruct the door.
Lighting:
•Screw the ballasts to the backboard on the OUTSIDE of the cab. Be sure to position it above the intake. This will prevent warm air from the ballast being sucked into the cabinets.
•Screw the 2G11 sockets to the inside top of the cabinets. Use the bulbs and reflector as a reference guide. Make sure the bulbs will sit straight through the reflector.
•Attach the bulb brackets as well.
•Drill a hole in the back of the cab on the same side as the sockets to allow the wires to pass through from ballast to sockets.
•Cut wires longer than you think to allow for bends etc. and wire up to sockets. Circuit diagram.
•Wire other end of ballast to a plug. The top cabinet needs a longer cable from ballast-to-plug than the bottom one.
•Make sure to have 1 65k and 1 27k light per cab. I found that mixed spectrum lighting throughout veg/flowering produced the best final nugs!
Exhaust:
•Screw the PC fans to the outside of the cabinet. Position the fans so the wires are facing towards each other.
•Trim the 4 pin connectors on the fans to look like THIS and THIS.
•Cut the end off the phone charger and attach 2 of the pins from the remainder of the PC fan connector.
•My phone charger came with a connector type thing. I glued one end to the top cab to let me split the cabinets for maintenance/moving.
•Configure the the wiring in THIS way so all the fans blow out. If they suck in then flip the wires going from the adapter to the fans. It's hard to explain but the fans are in 2 sets of parallel. Even when you unplug the top fans the bottom ones keep blowing.
**The reason for using the 4 pin connectors rather than just soldering/taping the connections is because the cheap fans only last ~6 months before they need to be replaced. Having to unravel old tape is a pain in the ass. This takes a bit longer initially but future-proofs the design.**
•Duct-tape around the edge of the fans to aid light-proofing and smell.
•Cut your carbon filter sheet to size (120mm x 120mm) and NoMoreNails to the inside making sure to not have any gaps. Be sure to remove the white filter material as it obstructs airflow!
**I've not yet work out a better way to attach these yet that doesn't involve glue**
Intake:
**100% credit goes to ScrubNinja for his design of this light-trap. Give his thread a read for an idea of what I'm outlining**
•Cut your angle bead down into lengths the same size as the intake vents.
•Use duct-tape to cover the strips to make them light proof.
•Fold up bits of card to use as spacers and tape the between the angle bead strips to create gaps for airflow.
•Once you have enough angle bead stacked to fill the intake gape, wedge/tape it in place.
•Cut your tights into a strip big enough to cover the intake and tape/staple in place. This will need weekly hoovering!
Finishing Touches:
•Attach the extension cord to the bottom cab. Mine has holes on the back to allow wall mounting.
•Add a nail/screw on the top on the bottom cabinet on either side. This will stop the top cab from slipping off!
•Add a flap of duct-tape along the inner edge of the door. Make sure the flap folds under the door frame towards the outside. This helps create a light tight seal around the front.
•Turn the cabinet lights on whilst the room is dark, ideally at night, to check for light leaks. Polyfil, caulk and duct-tape are your friends here!
•Put the timers on 20/4 for veg and 12/12 for flowering and you're all set!
•If you want to run hydro, drill a small hole in the bottom corner of each cab to allow an air pump to be fitted inside the cabs.
•For soil/coco dtw, you can use either pond liner or other thick plastic to waterproof the inside of the cabinets. Plastic trays can be used but aren't ideal.
That actually took less time that I anticipated! Hopefully it helps some of you in the quest for free medicine! It sure has helped me!
To build a self sustaining twin cabinet system for around the price of an ounce. Your first harvest will more than pay for the build.
The potential for these is huge. If you waterproof the inside you can run a perpetual SoG of around 10+ plants or SCRoG out one big plant for larger yields.
You can even double up the build and have 4 cabinets which would give you a little more room to play around with different strains.
Click here to see these cabinets in action!
Firstly, a little breakdown of the materials and tools that you will need and the approximate price that these should set you back.
Parts:
•Ikea Rast cabinets x2 - £40
•MDF board x2 - £14
•90' conceal hinges x4 - £16
•120mm 12v PC fans x4 - £12
•12v phone charger - £5
•Carbon filter sheet 25cm x 25cm - £10
•Angle Bead - £7
•Old tights - free
•E40 400w reflector - £20
•55w 27k PL-L bulb x2 - £10
•55w 65k PL-L bulb x2 - £10
•2G11 socket x4 - £10
•PL-L support clip x4 - £3
•Philips HF-P 255 PL-L EIII 2 X 55W x2 - £54
•Solid core lighting wire x5m - £10
•Plugs x2 - £2
•Ikea timers x2 - £5
•Extension lead - £5
•Silicon Caulking - £10
•NoMoreNails - £10
•Polyfil - £2
•Matte white paint - £10
•Misc. nails, screws - £3
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Total: £274 - Higher end of the price of an ounce of high grade.
Tools:
•Power-drill
•Jigsaw
•Screwdrivers
•Stanley knife
•Duct-tape
•Electricians tape
•Sharpie
•Hammer
•Paint brush
•Metal shears
•Measuring tape
•Cling-film
•Elbow grease
•A basic knowledge of electronics
"""""""""""""""""""
I'll have to assume you have easy access to the above.
**Obviously most of these steps will need to be done twice for the 2 main cabinets. **
**Apologies again for losing many of my progress shots. This becomes evident towards the mid/end if this tutorial. Making do with completed shots isn't the same as in progress, but it's all I have**
Main Cabs:
•Put the 3 main walls together. Cut the back support beam down the middle in 2 and nail/screw them at the bottom of the walls to support the floor.
•Measure and cut the MDF to fit the floor and the back wall of the cabinet. Make sure there are no gaps between the back wall and the floor piece. Glue and screw down the floor but NOT the back. Dry fitting the back panel. DON'T glue yet!
•Place the 3 drawer fronts on to the floor with a little space between them and affix the original back piece of the cabinets onto the drawers with NoMoreNails. Leave to dry for 24 hours. Once dry use small screws/nails to strengthen. Trim off any overhang.
•Align the hinges on the door so that the gap between the drawers is under the hinge. This will give more strength to the door. Attach the hinges on the inside of the cabinets so the hinges aren't fully closed when the door is.
•Attach the drawer handles to the door.
•Add a nail/screw to the top-inside corner and lower inside edge of the cabinet.These will prevent the door from sagging down/being pushed in too far.
•Wrap the outside edge of the door in cling-film. Make it as wrinkle free as possible.
•Run your caulking around the inside edge of the doorframe. Make sure you get a nice, thick even layer all the way around. Smooth down for neatness with card. Let dry for 24 hours.
•Gently open the door making sure not to damage the newly formed seal. Trim away any mess and remove the cling film from the door. Leave to dry for longer if the caulking is still tacky after removing the cling-film.
•Mark up the backboard for PC fans. 2" from top/side is good. Mark up the intake. Twice the size of exhaust is best. Check measurements again, then cut!
•Attach back of cabinet with small nails provided. Use Polyfil/caulking to seal the back from the inside to walls/floor.
•Paint the inside! 2+ coats is best!
•This would be a good time to varnish the outside to help blend in with other furniture/improve the lifetime of the cabinets. I have yet to do this on mine.
Reflectors:
•Remove the cable and the E40 socket from the reflector. Drill out the rivets holding the spine to the reflector and discard. Cut the reflector down the middle along the fold and flatten the folds out carefully.
•Mark up reflector halves so that the middle point is ~1/2 the height of the outside wings. Make sure the shiny side will be facing the bulbs. Measure twice, fold once. Final shape should look like THIS and THIS.
•Screw/nail the reflector the ceiling making sure the reflector doesn't obstruct the door.
Lighting:
•Screw the ballasts to the backboard on the OUTSIDE of the cab. Be sure to position it above the intake. This will prevent warm air from the ballast being sucked into the cabinets.
•Screw the 2G11 sockets to the inside top of the cabinets. Use the bulbs and reflector as a reference guide. Make sure the bulbs will sit straight through the reflector.
•Attach the bulb brackets as well.
•Drill a hole in the back of the cab on the same side as the sockets to allow the wires to pass through from ballast to sockets.
•Cut wires longer than you think to allow for bends etc. and wire up to sockets. Circuit diagram.
•Wire other end of ballast to a plug. The top cabinet needs a longer cable from ballast-to-plug than the bottom one.
•Make sure to have 1 65k and 1 27k light per cab. I found that mixed spectrum lighting throughout veg/flowering produced the best final nugs!
Exhaust:
•Screw the PC fans to the outside of the cabinet. Position the fans so the wires are facing towards each other.
•Trim the 4 pin connectors on the fans to look like THIS and THIS.
•Cut the end off the phone charger and attach 2 of the pins from the remainder of the PC fan connector.
•My phone charger came with a connector type thing. I glued one end to the top cab to let me split the cabinets for maintenance/moving.
•Configure the the wiring in THIS way so all the fans blow out. If they suck in then flip the wires going from the adapter to the fans. It's hard to explain but the fans are in 2 sets of parallel. Even when you unplug the top fans the bottom ones keep blowing.
**The reason for using the 4 pin connectors rather than just soldering/taping the connections is because the cheap fans only last ~6 months before they need to be replaced. Having to unravel old tape is a pain in the ass. This takes a bit longer initially but future-proofs the design.**
•Duct-tape around the edge of the fans to aid light-proofing and smell.
•Cut your carbon filter sheet to size (120mm x 120mm) and NoMoreNails to the inside making sure to not have any gaps. Be sure to remove the white filter material as it obstructs airflow!
**I've not yet work out a better way to attach these yet that doesn't involve glue**
Intake:
**100% credit goes to ScrubNinja for his design of this light-trap. Give his thread a read for an idea of what I'm outlining**
•Cut your angle bead down into lengths the same size as the intake vents.
•Use duct-tape to cover the strips to make them light proof.
•Fold up bits of card to use as spacers and tape the between the angle bead strips to create gaps for airflow.
•Once you have enough angle bead stacked to fill the intake gape, wedge/tape it in place.
•Cut your tights into a strip big enough to cover the intake and tape/staple in place. This will need weekly hoovering!
Finishing Touches:
•Attach the extension cord to the bottom cab. Mine has holes on the back to allow wall mounting.
•Add a nail/screw on the top on the bottom cabinet on either side. This will stop the top cab from slipping off!
•Add a flap of duct-tape along the inner edge of the door. Make sure the flap folds under the door frame towards the outside. This helps create a light tight seal around the front.
•Turn the cabinet lights on whilst the room is dark, ideally at night, to check for light leaks. Polyfil, caulk and duct-tape are your friends here!
•Put the timers on 20/4 for veg and 12/12 for flowering and you're all set!
•If you want to run hydro, drill a small hole in the bottom corner of each cab to allow an air pump to be fitted inside the cabs.
•For soil/coco dtw, you can use either pond liner or other thick plastic to waterproof the inside of the cabinets. Plastic trays can be used but aren't ideal.
That actually took less time that I anticipated! Hopefully it helps some of you in the quest for free medicine! It sure has helped me!
Just kidding! Thank you for all the work you put into documenting this for us! I'm in the process of designing my own homebrew SuperCloset and there are some ideas here that are totally inspiring! 
