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Non-Carpenter's take on a grow cab

S

sm0k4

I measured the space my cabinet was going to go (3' W x 2' L x 5.5' H) and made a quick sketch in CAD to see what I would need for materials, then headed to the store.

$175 later I had a lot of wood, paint, 8 packs of weather stripping, some tools I didn't have(can't resist buying toys), and some cabinet hardware. I had the hardware store make my plywood cuts in the dimensions I needed. The huge cutter they have is as accurate as you would want for carpentry. The worst was 1/8" off, so that was my back panel.

First step was painting the panels. Insides white, outside brown(had paint left over). I painted the bottom of the floor as well as the "vent chamber" panel sides flat black for light trap purposes. The vent chamber will be a 1.5 inch layer between the flower and veg rooms. I plan to vent the flower room to the veg room above it, then from there up to the electrical room, then out of the cabinet. Still not decided on the top or the back for the exhaust hole.

I bought 1x2 treated pine boards for the frame work. I started on the bottom and top frame pieces. They were to be 3 feet long by 2 feet wide. Once I had those pieces cut and assembled, I cut my corner posts. I should have went with 2x2s for these, but its too late now. I made due by adding supporting corner braces with left-over 1x2 lengths.

Once the frame was on I tipped it on its side and added a panel. After squaring up the panel I fastened two corners with screws. Then I took a small drill bit and drilled all my pilot holes. I spaced them about a foot apart to minimize warp or leak air/light. I also tried to keep them on the outside edge as much as I could so I could mount the weather stripping inside of the screws for a good seal. After my pilot holes were drilled I laid out the weather stripping on the inside of the holes. A 17 foot roll of weather stripping is needed per side with a cab these dimensions. Once all stripping was down, I then screwed the panel onto the frame.

After all sides were up I attached the bottom panel and painted it black since my intakes will be down there. I also made a couple runner boards for the bottom to act as legs. I mounted another set of boards perpendicular to these which made the structure more rigid. They are located where the screws are on the floor in the second pic. I have a set on each side. They bolt to the runner boards also. These will be good for floor support also when I get weight in there.

I decided I wanted more framing for my door, so I took two 1x2s and attached them to the left and right side of the front with the 1.5 inch side facing out. This will hold weather stripping to provide a nice seal. No air should leak in this cab. Every joint is weather stripped. Caulk gets messy if you have to take things apart. This is why I went weather stripping.

After I made the door frame I painted all the new additions brown to match the panels. After two coats of paint and dry time, I started on my flower-to-veg chamber framing. I had enough wood left to cut out two sides. My flower chamber is going to be below the two framing boards I have in there. The door framing ate my wood that was supposed to be used for the room dividing frames or I would have them all in already. Once I get more wood today I can finish up the rest of the framing in the cab and think about my venting system.

Here is my progress so far. Any thoughts or criticisms welcome. Its hard to see where I am going with it just yet, but after I get back to work on it and update, it will be more clear. This has been a fun project.

 

Trev

Active member
nice!

nice!

its looking good bro.

ive always loved building the cabinets as much as growin the smoke!
 
S

sm0k4

Been terribly busy with work, but I got the cab 90% finished and started up the veg. chamber to get some cuttings going. Wire routing channels and flowering lights have to be finalized yet.

The LEDs will take a while to buy/build so I will throw a 250 Watt HPS in the flower chamber to get things going ASAP. I will be purchasing that in the next week or so. I am debating on whether to cool tube exhaust the HPS or not. I guess I will hook it up and see how hot it gets. As I build the LED bars, I will add them to the HPS. Maybe I can use all of them :) I doubt it unless I vent the HPS separately.

Here are some more updated pics of the cab. Not really a tutorial kind of thread due to the multiple changes in design as I went along. I might have to reinforce the doors to keep them from warping, but other than that I am happy. This thing is well sealed with weather stripping on every frame edge that has a plywood wall on it.

The flowering chamber is totally light proof. I sat inside for 5 minutes and it was still pitch black. Here are the light trap pics.

Bottom intakes:



Veg to Flower light trap:

The middle section is 1.5" wide. The outer 6 wood slats are .75" high, they just trap light, not air. The inner two are 1.5" but they don't go all the way from front to back. They only run along the holes. My secondary light trap.


Final Build:

I added Styrofoam insulation to the electrical chamber to maybe dampen some exhaust noise. Not sure if it will help. The lid is on hinges in back and props up with a folding arm for making electrical work easier on me since access will be from above and not in the skinny front slot. The scrubber will hang down inside the veg room where the current 6" booster fan is at now. I may have to replace that booster exhaust unit for a vortex once I get the scrubber. Time will tell.

Mothers and cuttings:




The two lights are 2 ft. fluorescent plant lights that I picked up from Wal-Mart for $10 each. I also have a small LED array in between those to give it some red(not shown in this pic, its installed in the above "Final Build" pic though). The floro plant lights are blue in color.

Flowering will start when some clones show new growth.
 

kcbudz31

Member
Pot doesn't lead to harder drugs. It leads to gardening...and carpentry.


Excellent construction and great example. A nice change from the desk lamp + cardboard boxes we see a lot.
 
S

sm0k4

its looking good bro.

ive always loved building the cabinets as much as growin the smoke!

Thanks. Some things got a little shoddy along he way, but it turned out alright in the end. It will serve its purpose and not fall apart. I learned a lot for next time also, so that's all that matters.
 
S

sm0k4

Pot doesn't lead to harder drugs. It leads to gardening...and carpentry.


Excellent construction and great example. A nice change from the desk lamp + cardboard boxes we see a lot.


Thanks. I wanted something I could rely on and will serve my needs for quite a while. Plus I love working with my hands, I just don't use wood too often.
 

anonnoats

Member
Wow, beats the cab I built for myself. I really like it. The hardware store actually cut my wood wrong and by the time I was done putting things together I realized I'd built a trapezoid. The door doesn't like to stay shut due to the funky shape and light leaks are everywhere...ghetttttooooo. Looking good though, can't wait to see what comes out!
 
S

sm0k4

Thanks Anon, the only thing I let the store cut was the plywood. They did pretty good, 1/16th to 1/8th off. I was able to bring the plywood chunks to work and shim them up with a proper saw. The rest was cut by me with a hand saw.

I tried to build it semi-professionally. I used a level and proper tools to make sure I was staying square and even. I still wound up being almost 1/4" shorter on the right than the left. Had to shim up all my floor and ceiling panels with a wood rasp and sand paper to make that side fit. Wasn't too fun but it fits snug and no light leaks from one compartment to the other.

The weather stripping was a good investment. I have very few light leaks to fix. Any piece of plywood that touched frame got weather stripped. I used about 7 rolls of 3/8" thick X 1/4" wide stripping around the outer panels floors, and ceilings along with 2-3 rolls of 1/4" thick X 1/2" wide stripping for the doors. That plus the internal light trap keeps things very dark between rooms and outside. I can see a few minor cracks between my door framing to the outer frame. It needs some silicone sealant in a few spots but that's easier and cleaner than silicone sealing the entire perimeter.

Hopefully the first plants will go into the flower cab in a week. Ordering the light Monday or Tues.
 

TommytheCat

Member
As a cab grower myself, I really really like this build. It's more complex than my flower cabinet, and your giving me a lot to think about.

Good work bro, very impressive!
 

johnnybsmokin

Active member
Hi there smok4, nice build you got going, hope all goes well!!!!

A quick question on your fan and venting. What size fan and m3/min flow rate??? and do you have big enough vents??? I ask as I can only see 4 inlet and am wondering if that will be enough for sufficeint flow. Passive intake needs to be about 1 1/2 to 2 times the out take.

other than that looks gooooooood
 
S

sm0k4

Hi there smok4, nice build you got going, hope all goes well!!!!

A quick question on your fan and venting. What size fan and m3/min flow rate??? and do you have big enough vents??? I ask as I can only see 4 inlet and am wondering if that will be enough for sufficeint flow. Passive intake needs to be about 1 1/2 to 2 times the out take.

other than that looks gooooooood

I have four 4 intakes on the bottom at 4 inches each and the fan is 6". The holes from Veg to Flower chambers are 4 inches also. The fan is just a 160 CFM booster fan for improving air flow in ducts with lots of bends. I will probably change it for a centrifugal blower eventually. Its performance will hurt when I attach a scrubber.

If my calcs are right, the intake area is: 4*(3.14*2^2) = 50.24" (4 cutouts with a radius of 2")

Exhaust area: 3.14*3^2 = 28.26" (1 cutout with a radius of 3")

Should be A OK.

The 6" fan pulls from the bottom intakes and exhausts into the electrical chamber. Then in the electrical chamber I have 4 holes in the rear that are 3 inches each. The air flow is plentiful and neg. pressure is strong. I sat in the flower chamber with all doors shut and felt the breeze. You can also feel good suction at the intakes on full speed. Right now its turned way down since I'm only using the veg chamber.

If I need more intake, I have more PVC and cement, I think this will be ok though. Thanks for looking out! :)
 
S

sm0k4

I added a DIY carbon filter unit to the exhaust pipe the other night. I used wire screen wrapped around a 6" connector piece and a 6" cap at the other end. The screen is the base for the carbon to lay on. I wrapped two layers of carbon sheeting around the screen and then the blue pre-filter around that. Now I get no more smells. I was surprised at how much stink these vegging plants give off. The AK-48 is kinda skunky smelling.

Here are the latest pics.

You can see the filter in the back.


Updated veg shots. Looks like two of the cuttings in the small red planters are showing new growth. I took those three about 6 days before the other nine.

 
S

sm0k4

Day 27 Flower

Day 27 Flower

About a month into flower and I had to move the PC case plants into the bigger cab. They were getting too tall.

I also started up the clones a couple days ago. I plan to rotate new clones in every three weeks with a chop every three weeks. Keeping short plants in smaller containers is my preference since I will be incorporating my DIY LED panels as I build them. Unfortunately money is tight at the moment so I have to make due with a 250W HPS. I will slowly buy the LEDs over the next few months, no rush there.

Both chambers are up and running with a perpetual grow started. I have roughly one month old flowering plants along with 5 day old clones in flower. In another three weeks more clones will be going in. Shortly after the two plants from the PC case should be finished. Then it will be straight clone to flower every three weeks. I only want 1-2 foot tall plants since my height is limited.

Thats about it on the setup. Oh, the temps are 81 in the flower room and 85 in the clone chamber. I need to purchase a new carbon filter/fan setup next. This should get me under 80 in the flower chamber. The DIY filter is ok for now. I can tell it won't hold up to the AK-48 and it's skunky smell later in flower though.

Here are the pics:

Shot of the setup so far.


The month long flowering plants. 1 Blackberry, 1 AK-48


Older clones, 5 days flower. 2 Blackberry, 1 AK-48


Young clones, ~1 week veg, 5 days flower, Blackberry
 

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