[DocCrow]

I have been wanting to get back into growing my own bud for a while now, and finally decided to take the plunge. I had grown outdoor in my youth with much success, and after visiting here and seeing the amazing work you all have been putting in I have decided to build my own Medicine Cabinet to supply my wife and I, as the cost of quality meds here is through the roof. None of my ideas are original, and I want to throw a shout out to all f you who have inspired me in this. Anti, Dr Bud, Blynx, TexMex, VerdantGreen, RedGreenery, ScrubNinja, and Thundurkel have provided most of my inspiration. Thank You.

I have a storage cabinet that will suffice to turn into V1.0. I will be growing as organically as possible, in a soil less mix. I am using LC's to start, but may move to coco. My method will be a perpetual SOG, we will see how many I can cram in there before I figure out #s.

I am using this thread to document my design and build. Please Please put up any ideas, questions, criticism, etc. That is why I am here. Well that, and I like to "pay it forward" and hopefully someone else can benefit from this as much as I have benefited from all of yours.

DocCrow

[MEGA956]

//I'll be keepin' an eye on this thread.

[DocCrow]

Ok Here is the goods



Overall design is shown with no doors. This will give me a little less than 3sq' for flowering on the bottom. The middle section is for mothers/ clones. The top is divided into 3 parts, drying chamber on the left, the middle will accept a carbon filter insert I am trying to figure out(more later on that I need some input) and utility on the right.

Lighting
CFLs 42w nothing groundbreaking here. If I can fit 10 into the flower chamber (possible but will be tight) that will give me ~9000 lumens/sq'. The flower chamber will have fewer bulbs in it, probably 6-8.
Ventilation
I think this is the key to a successful cab. I think I have it figured out here to successfully vent this thing without sacrificing too much interior volume to maximize my bud space. My lights will be sealed off from my flower and mother chambers with glass (not shown on design). Each growing chamber will have it's own lightproof vent (as designed by scrubninja), and will allow for 13sq" of airflow through it. If you look on the left side of the mother chamber you will see the duct work that I am going to build out of some sheet metal. It will draw the air from the growing chambers into the drying chamber upper left. The duct work will be 13"x1", and the upper chamber will have a light trap in it to prevent light leaks into the flower chamber. the air from the grow chambers will flow though the carbon insert and there will be a cpu fan. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186079 over the single exhaust hole, vented into the utility room. The light chambers will each get their own intakes and will flow through the right side duct into the utility chamber and out the exhaust holes in the back. each hole will have its own fan. All inlets and exhausts will have prefilter material on the inside to help with light leaks and keep bugs, dust etc out.
In addition the veg room will have its own interior door to seal it off to prevent light leaks into the flower chamber.
MY QUESTIONS
Carbon filter insert
This is shown in the last pic. it will simply be a frame prefilter material covering the ends, and chickenwire or some other screen material over that for structural integrity, and filled with activated charcoal. there will be about a 1.5" airgap between the charcoal and the fan so the fan can draw from the entire surface area. HOW THICK SHOULD THIS BE? I am thinking 3" of charcoal will suffice and need only to be changed every 6 months or so.
IS my ventilation adequate? Especially for the drying chamber?
What ever you have for questions, suggestions, advice, criticism, ideas, etc PLEASE PLEASE post em up. That is why I am here. Don't worry about offending me or something like that I have thick skin (i used to be a Drill Sergeant and can take as much as I can give).

Thank You all in advance for your help.

DocCrow

[DocCrow]

Space reserved for Build pics Etc

[oldone]

Hi DocCrow and welcome to ICMag!

I have a much smaller cab and blow into a flat 376 square inch homemade filter and didnt have any smell issues at all. This might have more to do with my genetics more than anything. You can see it here:

The cab is designed to fit under some stairs.

I think you will have to experiment to get the correct thickness of charcoal. The more you have the harder the fans have to work = more noise, etc. Mine is about 1" thick. I had to install a baffle right over top of the fans so the wouldnt blast a layer of charcoal off.

Good Luck,
OO

[DocCrow]

Thanks Oldone. I think I will make the opening 2" that way I can make 2 1" filter cartridges and one extra frame. Than way if one doesn't do the trick I can take the empty "spacer" frame out and put the 2nd one in. It should work better that way to, since the extra space between the fan and the filter will allow the fan to draw more evenly across the entire surface area, which should help with airflow.

[oldone]

I tried to answer your PM with this:

Pick away, lol, but do so in the thread so I can invite my ppk buddies to help. I think your initial feelings are correct...it is so very simple.

I think you need more posts before the PM system will work.

Anyway, so you're going to "pull" through the filter instead of "push"?

[12ver]

Great looking cab!
I think your venting is going to only want to suck from the mom section. (least resistance).
if you look at Oldone's design it comes into his lower left, flows into the right, then out. one way flow. You have it sucking form both at the same time from one vent. I think you need to go from your flower to the mom, then out or you will only get air from the mom section mostly, especially with intakes in both chambers.I will be watching this I really like your overall design.

[oldone]

Just to clarify 12ver, you are quite right that my original design vented as you say.

I modified the cab so that both chambers have intakes but I can vary the openings (cleverly placed cardboard) and balance airflow by watching the temps.

I found that since its not often I have both sides working at the same time it was better for me to open/close intakes as needed.

OO

[DocCrow]

Originally Posted by oldone

Anyway, so you're going to "pull" through the filter instead of "push"?

yes It should be easier on the CPU fan to pull instead of push through the filter, and should pull through the filter easier with the airgap between the fan and filter. here is a rough not at all to scale model

does this make sense? If the fan is right against the filter it will only draw through the small part right behind it. If there is a space it should draw across the entire face of the filter, allowing for more airflow.