[FullMetalJacket]

FMJ here.

I am building a grow cabinet to grow for personal use and wanted to document the process so that I can get feedback on design flaws or ideas. Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, or questions.

I feel much more confident having all you knowledgeable people in my corner. I have never built anything in my life. I promise details on build, materials, and of course lots of pics.

Criteria-

1. Stealth -
a) Has to be able to blend in to room.
b) Has to be reasonably quiet
c) Has to be odorless
2. Must be a cabinet design. (like the idea, safety, and ingenuity of cabs)
3. Must be at or above par with the mass produced cabinets on available by the companies that procuce them for mass sale.
4. Reasonably priced
5. Must be fully contained (Flower, Veg, Mother, Clone) with no external hardware (such as fans, ballasts, filters, res, etc.)
6. ..and of course functional

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My opinions/problems i see with the cabinets on the market. Well I am not knocking people purchasing them as they are great products that I am sure deliver on their promises and have the security of help line and warranties. Also they save time in terms of design and build. Many are tried and true. After begining the build i do not know if it is worth doing it myself as the cost in time must also be considered. And time is one thing in this life you cannot buy..so there are better ways I could be spending it.

SuperCloset -
1) Poor Ventalation (in my opinion)
2) No veg/mother area (veg is really small)
3) Height of flower chamber too small
4) Monitors on external rear of cab (some models even have the filter on back of cab)
5) Poor Value
6) I am not sold on Ebb and Flow

Sunlight Sheds Cool Cab-
1) Only 18" Deep
2) Looks cheap
3) Some external components
4) Questionable ventalation
5) Poor Value
3) Separate Veg, Flower, Clone Devices or modules.

BC Bloom box
1) Has the "What the hell is that appliance look" -aka does not blend in
2) Value (these cost mad loot)
3) Read issues with heat which leads me to believe that they have ventalation issues.
4) Separate Veg, Flower, Clone Devices or modules.
5) I don't like the height restrictions and deep design of the flowering module.

Homegrown
1) External monitors
2) Heat issues which caused them to start selling them w/ external ACs
3) Separate Veg, Flower, Clone Devices or modules.
4) Value (have to upgrade everything to get what would be a great cabinet and that prices around 5,500 including upgrades)

[FullMetalJacket]

I have three ideas, each a different size. Designs are pretty simple, not over the top like some you may see. Still i manage to make use of all the space.
Sorry about the rough sketches but you get the idea... I will probably go SCROG but like having the height for the sativas. Wanted 4.5 feet of plant height min in the flower chamber. I would have went with a cab height of 7' or higher if i could have found cabinet taller than 6.5ft

Will be using C02 tank w/sentenial ppm/enviro controller so cooltube or sealed hood is a must...

1. Compact- Semi closed system
This one is 4Lx2Wx6.5H. Notice how i would not waste the space where the trunk system grows maximizing my canopy area. Over on the right for controls i was thinking of a keyboard tray mounted vertically on the back that slid out...


2. Midsize - Mostly closed system
This is 6Lx2Wx6.5H
This is mostly closed system. Adavantage over the smaller one is obviously less cramped and room for mothers in veg.


3. Large - Closed System
This is 9Lx2Wx6.5H
WC - water cooler
AC - Air conditioner
DH - Dehumidifier


now i need to decide

- any questions please ask

[FullMetalJacket]

I decided on the midsize model. I thought about it and i can go fully closed system with AC and Dehumidifier if i need to by buidling my own compact thermoelectric devices for AC and Dehumidification. It is also a good size and feel i can always go bigger later if i wanted to. If you notice in my scetches i bulit this 2 cab design basically is the same as the three with the exception of the 1st cab with the AC and dehumidifier and the extra 1x2 foot of flower area. I did that on purpose for ease of upgrade although i dont think i will need to. Since this is just personal use, i feel 3x2 foot canopy is far more than sufficient. Six feet wide can fit in a walk-in and look like a clothing cabinet or also go in my office and look like a server cabinet i already have....

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I wanted metal over wood for my cabinets. Really a personal preference and harder to work with. But here is my logic-
1) Cool factor
2) Look good in my office
3) Contain internal fires better



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I chose two of these cabinets in white. They are Sandusky Elite. They have 3 point locking handels(recessed), heavier guage steel, and measure 78h x 36w x 24d.

Cost $290 a piece at staples, so $580 total and included free delivery.

Note - SuperCloset uses these i think but use the cheaper version. they are also 72" inches tall; so these are 6" taller. If i remeber correctly they also charge an upgrade fee if you want white.

Here they are -(they will not be in this room, this is the basement for building them. They will be in room or closet w/10ft ceilings.)

[FullMetalJacket]

I started by mapping out my design on the insides with a Sharpie..(did some sealing ahead of time because i got inpatient).

[FullMetalJacket]

I now need to cut. I originally tried a Dremel rotary tool but burnt up the motor as the steel is too thick. That piece of shit..loud as hell too.

Tried a new $130 jigsaw with a carbide blade, but the cuts weren't real clean and took forever to make progress. Also loud as a MF...

I was forced to purchase a plasma cutter that i plan to sell after this on ebay. It is sweet though, cuts steel like butter...

[FullMetalJacket]

Did some fitting of the fans and ducts...more on them later..they are awesome...

[hoosierdaddy]

You need a fire extinguisher BAD.

[FullMetalJacket]

Originally Posted by hoosierdaddy

You need a fire extinguisher BAD.

LOL. Yea i just wet a towel for the hot metal pieces to fall on when they fell off. Went pretty smooth though. Cut everything in like 20 min right there...No smells or carpet burns or even missing fingers.

Bad thing is going around looking for shit to cut for the fun of it...

Damn, dude - that is one industrial stealth cab...

Good start - and good luck...

[FullMetalJacket]

So then i took out all the fans/ducting one i felt good about it and put some sound dampening material in...

I covered the entire cab in FatMat for sound insulation. I got 2 100ft rolls. Kind of costly at $260 including delivery. I put one layer all around and 3 layers around util area where fans and ducting are. The fatmat is a dense almost tar like material with a thin sheet of aluminum over it. Common uses are car audio and sound booths. I did alot of research and this was rated as good if not better than the Dynamat. It is a pain to hang, once this stuff is up, you cant move it or take it off. I tried to take my time to get it as close to perfect as possible.

I also created "pillows" in that util area by laying Fatmat and hanging dense memory foam with adhesive on top of the fatmat, then one additional later of the fatmat over that. Hard to explain check out the pics...works great though. Also wrapped the ducting with a layer of the fatmat..doubled up on the 90's. Added about 45 lbs to the unit so it will be a pain to move. I will be moving to Sin City in Nov so im not looking forward to that moving these but it shall be worth it.

Note: The Fat mat site says doubling up increases sound dampening by 3. I also wonder if it affectes the heat signature. My buddy is a nuclear engineer and has a heat gun used to look at reactors. I will borrow it and report back. Don't really need the heat signature security though as I am only using 1 600 HPS with a cooltube and some T5's for veg...





The "pillows" of memeory foam are in that top chamber on the back and side wall. Kind of hard to see with the low res pics and the layer of fatmat over top of them. They add about 1" of thickness. Density of memory foam is 4 lbs a sq foot.



Built a cool box around the intake ducting...here on the bottom. Used a metal shelve that came in the cabinet for this. The plasma cutter makes these little projects fun and easy...



sorry for the orientation of this pic. Notice the door over the util area. I have hinges on it so it swings up..Just an extra layer of metal and insulation between fan and doors. Probably unnecessairy but wanted this to be stealth.