[Anti]

DESIGN! BUILD! GROW!

This thread describes the design, construction and initial harvest of a STEALTH MICRO CABINET utilizing 125w of CFL per sq. ft.

In the following pages you will find pictures and detailed descriptions of the whole process, including the build of the cab, parts list, price tags and grow in progress.

This cabinet can be built according to the exact specs that I used, following detailed pictures through the whole thing, for about $500. This $500 covers everything from tools to parts to soil to nutes. Everything but your seeds, for $500 or less. Many items may already be in your home.

Directly beneath this edit is the first version of the design. The first version was modified based on the discussion on the first several pages. That modification process led to the creation of three different virtual prototypes, each building on the last. As a result there is a significant difference between the final cab and the one you see below. The third (hence "3000") virtual design actual got built and is currently drying its first harvest!

As of this edit, the first plants have been harvested and the buds are drying. The plants themselves are reverting back to veg and there's a batch of clones getting ready to go in!

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Ok. Welcome to the beginning phase of my stealth cab design!

I am posting the work in progress in order to get critiques from the community. I welcome your comments and insights.

Please understand from the get go that I have based the room sizes, heights and wattage on Dr. Bud.

I have deviated from him in that instead of achieving my wattage with (5) 42 watt CFLs as he would, I have elected to use (8) 27 watt CFLs instead. (approximately same wattage/lumens).

Additionally, I have attempted to make use of space I originally intended just as a heat buffer between mother/flower cabs, by converting it into a drying cab. The beauty of this design is:

If it works, I'll be able to grow, clone, flower and dry all in one 4'x2'x3' space!

Notice the airflow diagram on picture 2. Room Temp air comes in bottom, rises up (through drying buds) to vents on top of cabs, which then channel air back down the light-traps to 9" up in the two growing chambers. (Planning on using 8" pots and they're on a 1" shelf, so 9" will be right at soil level.) Air is then extracted through (5) 1" holes mounted above lights.

The pics pretty much say it all. I made this in Google SketchUp 7 (freeware) and I have to say, awesome program guys! Nice job!

Anyway... on with the show:

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The next picture is an attempt at explaining the ventilation setup.


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Notice above... the bottoms of the cabs are on arms so the shelves pull out for easy access to your ladies for watering, maintenance, or just re-arranging.

I intend to run this as a Dr. Bud style SOG so the ability to get to those rear plants easily seems worth the added expense of the drawer slides ($15 a pair at home depot for the 100 lbs. variety.)

Here's a side view:

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The bottom:

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Back Side:

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Here's the flowering room so you can get an idea of things. Pretend that the plants on the right are bigger and near ready to harvest. Plants on left are newly rooted clones:

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The base is framed 2x4s. The rest is 1/2" plywood (or whatever you please). I'm thinking the total cost on this thing will be less than $300, lights, fan & etc. included.

Love to hear your thoughts. This will be my first serious attempt at building an NGB style stealth cab.

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[Agent-Smith]

WOW! I really like your design and you put alot of thought into it, I hope it works out great for you. My only suggestion would be to use the 42 Watt CFLs instead of the 27Watt bulbs and just use 6 per side totaling 252 Watts over 216 Watts for the 8 others. The added intensity of the bulbs will increase light penetration and bud density/production which is always good of course

Or you could use 8 of the 42's on one side and 4-6 on the other.....or use 42's for flowering and the 27's for mom/clone chamber. So many options, but if it were me, I would use 8 42's for flower and 4-6 42's for mom/clones.

Good luck with whatever you choose, if you can grow half as good as you can design, I'd say you are in for a sweet life full of green!

[jamrockjay]

Very nice design u have there Anti, cant wait to see it when its all been put together and up and running.
I agree with agentsmith with regards to the light set up, but u have so many options im sure u will find what suits ur needs best.
Will u be doing a step by step account on the construction? as i for one would love to see it....Good luck with everythin

[catman]

Looking good Anti,

Do you have the details worked out for ventilation yet or no? Is sound going to be an issue with you? Would you be interested in the quietest possible fan or would you prefer one that is a little louder, but easier to install?

The number one priority of my cabinet was stealth and I optimized it be as silent as possible. The particular fan I use is not an inline fan, but I think it could possibly work for your design.

Check out this thread and let me know what you think.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.p...=carbon+screen

Now there are inline fans like the S&Ps that would be easier to install with your setup, but they are said to be not as quiet.

I figured you'd might be interested in ultimate stealth after reading seeing how you plan to make it look like a CD rack.

[Green Smoke]

Excellent design. I too am going with lower wattage cfl's and increasing the numbers. (10 23w for 230 watts) Check some of Thundurkle's threads, he has done experiments with lower wattage cfl's.

Your flower and mom chambers are the same size, maybe consider making the mom chamber less wide and adding that width to the flower chamber for increased yeild. Moms don't need much room, or light. I'm pulling up a chair...

[Agent-Smith]

Originally Posted by Green Smoke

Your flower and mom chambers are the same size, maybe consider making the mom chamber less wide and adding that width to the flower chamber for increased yeild. Moms don't need much room, or light.

+1 on that too

[strydr]

Really nice design Anti.
I second (or third) making your flower side bigger. Your girlz are going to double or triple in size during flower, and you will need all the space you can get there. Also, go with the 42w CFL's if you can, better penetration in my opinion.

The one thing I didn't see is how you are sealing it. I found this to be my most difficult issue. My cabinetry skills are not the greatest, and creating a tight seal around the door proved problematic. Ended up using weather stripping around both doors, and for a 007 touch, used magnetic locks to keep the seals tight. The door switches are hidden- one day I'll upgrade to a card swipe device, but for now it works pretty good.

I have the S&P (100 I think), and with a DIY carbon scrubber, I can barely hear it. Granted, I have a 6inch Vortex running in the closet next to it, so I might be a little biased..

Sketchup is awesome!

Here's a pic or two of my cab.

closed up


Lights on, flower side


Both sides

[Anti]

Originally Posted by Agent-Smith

My only suggestion would be to use the 42 Watt CFLs instead of the 27Watt bulbs and just use 6 per side totaling 252 Watts over 216 Watts for the 8 others. The added intensity of the bulbs will increase light penetration and bud density/production which is always good of course

I had designed an entirely different cabinet when I discovered Dr. Bud. After seeing what he achieved, and then seeing Thundurkel manage similar results, I decided I'd do it Dr. Bud style. Prior to that, my goal was to have a 150w MH for veg and a 150 MH + 250 HPS for flowering in a bigger box.

For those not aware, Dr. Bud had a 2.7 sq ft cab that was lit solely by 5 - 42 watt CFLs. There were two reasons I decided against doing exactly what Dr. Bud did in his grow.

#1 - His cab was about 1ft deep, 2.7ft wide... this meant that a light mounted to the rear wall of the cab with a penetration of 1 ft would be able to cover the entire floorspace beneath it. Since mine is closer to square (17.5" by 16.5") I wanted a way of making sure the bulbs filled the space in such a way as to minimize or eliminate hot and cold spots. I can't figure out a good way to place 5 bulbs horizontally in the cabinet. Placing 8 is very easy, and should allow for excellent coverage.

#2 - In my two months of daily reading on this site, I came across a few CFL growers who asserted that anything above 27w in a CFL will produce more heat than lumens. So it seems to me a smart idea to use an equivelent number of watts in 27w bulbs. That way, wattage is the same, coverage should be better and heat should be less of an issue.

Originally Posted by Agent-Smith

Or you could use 8 of the 42's on one side and 4-6 on the other.....or use 42's for flowering and the 27's for mom/clone chamber. So many options, but if it were me, I would use 8 42's for flower and 4-6 42's for mom/clones.

I'm a little afraid of using different wattage on different sides, unless I were to use two fans, two scrubbers. Maybe someone can tell me if I'm incorrect in my assumption, but my general fear is that if I have, say (8) 42w bulbs in one (336w) and (8) 27w in the other (216w), the temperatures between the two cabs may fluctuate if they're both using the same fan. If anyone can tell me different, I'd be happy to hear it!

Originally Posted by Agent-Smith

Good luck with whatever you choose, if you can grow half as good as you can design, I'd say you are in for a sweet life full of green!

Thanks a lot bro. Here's hopin'.

[Anti]

Originally Posted by JamrockJay

Will u be doing a step by step account on the construction? as i for one would love to see it....Good luck with everythin

Yeah. It may be a week or two before actual construction begins. Wanna make sure I've answered every potential design issue before I start spending money. But yeah, I'll totally document the build. Thanks.

Originally Posted by catman

Looking good Anti,

Do you have the details worked out for ventilation yet or no? Is sound going to be an issue with you? Would you be interested in the quietest possible fan or would you prefer one that is a little louder, but easier to install?

The number one priority of my cabinet was stealth and I optimized it be as silent as possible. The particular fan I use is not an inline fan, but I think it could possibly work for your design.

Check out this thread and let me know what you think.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.p...=carbon+screen

Looks pretty awesome! I was looking at fart fans at Home Depot. They had something that was close to 80 CFM. I think it might work just fine, honestly. Here's my fan math:

mother room
23" tall x 17.5" deep x 16.5" wide
1.91' t x 1.46' d x 1.38' w = 3.85 cubic ft

flower room
23" tall x 17.5" deep x 16.5" wide
1.91' t x 1.46' d x 1.38' w = 3.85 cubic ft

intake/drying room
23" tall x 17.5" deep x 11" wide
1.91' t x 1.46' d x 0.92' w = 2.57 cubic ft
___________
10.27 cubic feet total

With all three chambers totalling only 10.27 cubic feet, it seems to me that even a 80 CFM fan ought to easily do the job. If I'm shooting for 5 complete air-changes per minute, that's 10.27 x 5 = 51.35 CFM. Once you figure in the scrubber, 80 should be able to handle that comfortably, right?

Thoughts?

Now there are inline fans like the S&Ps that would be easier to install with your setup, but they are said to be not as quiet.

I figured you'd might be interested in ultimate stealth after reading seeing how you plan to make it look like a CD rack.

You figured right, my friend. Your Panasonic Whisper Fan looks like it could be just the thing I need. Stealth is the #1 goal of this project. It's going to be in a room with two computers and a ton of multimedia gear, so if it's as quiet as a computer fan, I don't think anyone'll ever notice.

I appreciate the suggestion.

[Anti]

Originally Posted by Green Smoke

Excellent design. I too am going with lower wattage cfl's and increasing the numbers. (10 23w for 230 watts) Check some of Thundurkle's threads, he has done experiments with lower wattage cfl's.

Oh yes. I'm all over Thundurkle's grow. He's the one who convinced me, honestly. I read the Dr. Bud stuff. I mean, I read every post in those old Dr. Bud threads... and took notes. And in there, Thund shows up and says "here's some pics of what I'm doing" and I was like, "Ok... If the horticultural PhD guy can achieve something that's one thing, but here's this other guy using the method on a low budget and getting gorgeous looking colas on his first try? I'M DOING THAT!!!!" (So Thund.... whereever you are at the moment... kudos to you, buddy.)

Originally Posted by Green Smoke

Your flower and mom chambers are the same size, maybe consider making the mom chamber less wide and adding that width to the flower chamber for increased yeild. Moms don't need much room, or light. I'm pulling up a chair...

Thought about that. Here's why I'm not doing it:

Dr Bud's grow was 36 plants in a 2.7 sq ft space. Avg plant density of 16 per foot.

I'm working with slightly less real estate. (2.015) sq ft.
I'm planning on using a soil container that is slightly less than 3" square. (It's a 32 ounce wax paper half & half container, with the top cut off so it'll be roughly 2.75" l x 2.75" w x 8" t. I can fit approximately 25-30 of them in a 15" x 15" square.

If I put 5 clones in the box every week and harvest 5 plantlets at an average of 5g each, dried and cured (Dr. Bud was around 8.5g each) that'd leave me with 25 g a week. Almost an ounce a week? That'll hold me fine, just fine. Why go bigger? Of course, it will take a little longer the first round, since I'll have to grow some plants from seed. Got some Serious AK47 beans I've been holding for a while. Gonna throw 'em in (with random "good" bag seeds) as soon as it's ready to roll.

No point in growing more than I need. Not gonna sell it. Not gonna talk about it. Just gonna smoke it and smile and stop paying for it.

I want a decent sized mother cab because I'm gonna be cutting at least 12 clones a week and I'll need room to veg them til they hit their "sweet spot". (anybody happen to know the sweet spot for ak47? save me a lil effort?

Ideally, I'll eventually have 6 or more mothers in the mom cab so I can harvest a different strain each week. Variety being the spice of life.

Much love! Thank you for your support!