My first grow cabinet (handmade, sort of)

An IKEA convert, for a good cause. ;)

Whatcha think?

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/3538/cabfv8.jpg

(tried to post that as an inline image, just won't do it. Maybe it's on account of my n00bness)

Anyway, the cabinet is 2 metres tall, 1 metre wide, and I'm quite proud of it. That was hard work!

There's a 250w HPS and carbon filter w/ extractor fan. Passive air intakes. The taped on white sheeting stuff is more for the purpose of catching spills/dirt.
If you can believe it I took that photo with bright lights on, that HPS being on makes it all look dark. Bizarre result with cameras, I guess.

There are a few light leaks in the doors, have to sort those out. (the quickie "hey, lets duct tape it" thing works but not greatly) If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I'm hoping that's enough room under there for clones and a very trimmed mother, but if not I'll work around it somehow. This is just a hobby sort of thang for a few plants for personal use, nothing outrageous. I'm thinking this should work out fine for that purpose.

It's such a shame I can't share this splendid achievement with more people but I have cannabis.com for that. :jointsmile:

Your resovoir is going underneath that shelf I take it?

How are you going to control res temps if they get out of hand? Put something filled with ice on the outside on the floor so the res can cool off through convection?

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Originally Posted by SunnyD

Your resovoir is going underneath that shelf I take it?

How are you going to control res temps if they get out of hand? Put something filled with ice on the outside on the floor so the res can cool off through convection?

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I'm not doing hydroponics, just plain old soil growth.

I am hoping the temps don't get too out of hand, this is England and all and our summer has been utterly pathetic and cold. Right now with it empty it's 28ºc (82ºf) in there, which is on the warm side. Damn, now you have me worried.

Do you have your fans running 24/7? if not that will help a lot

And you said you have passive intake? I'm only seeing ventillation...if you add an intake that will help as well

Gotta make sure she's light sealed though!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SunnyD

Do you have your fans running 24/7? if not that will help a lot

And you said you have passive intake? I'm only seeing ventillation...if you add an intake that will help as well

Gotta make sure she's light sealed though!

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Yes, I will run fans on all the time. Suppose I'll wait and see if that is enough. If it gets really hot I suppose I'll have to get an intake fan. Maybe I have my terminology wrong (I thought having holes with no intake fan was called a passive intake (?)) but what I've done there is cut two holes (about 2" around) and attached some insect screening to those elbow PVC pipes and stuck them in. There is quite a lot of air moving through there. That white plastic got sucked upward when the doors were shut until I put something on top of it. I was thankful it was well taped down at the edges.

Yeah, not sure what I'm going to do about the light round the edges. I think I need to find weather sealant stuff because the duct tape quick job didn't quite do it. It took care of 98% of it but I could still see a tiny bit of light and I know that's a no-no.

This is a photo of it closed:

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/7134/cab2nx6.jpg

I like the idea of no handles. Like a subconscious thing to look uninviting to open. I can barely reach the top to open it though, which is somewhat amusing. </short girly> :hippy:

Oh I see them now, can you get your hands back there to feel the pressure of the suction those are allowing into your cab?

You know, squeeze yourself back there when the thing is closed and running and slap your palms on both of those 2" holes and see how much air is really moving INTO the cab, your exhaust looks A ok to me

And like I said, your temp reading of around 82º F will go down when you have your fans on 24/7

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SunnyD

Oh I see them now, can you get your hands back there to feel the pressure of the suction those are allowing into your cab?

You know, squeeze yourself back there when the thing is closed and running and slap your palms on both of those 2" holes and see how much air is really moving INTO the cab, your exhaust looks A ok to me

And like I said, your temp reading of around 82º F will go down when you have your fans on 24/7

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I can only reach one (without moving the cabinet) I can feel light suction. Then I put a piece a paper over it and it pulled towards it. It didn't hold it there but the paper sort of slowly slid down. There is an insect screen there though which might sacrifice a bit of air flow but I didn't want any junk getting in there since it won't be so easy to dust back there on a frequent basis.
I think there's good air movement though, I couldn't believe that plastic sheeting got sucked upward like that.

The fans are on and it's actually gone up to 31ºc but oddly it doesn't feel hot in there. I wondered if it was hotter because it's empty.
Crap, didn't think heat would be as much of an issue. I can see now that making the cabinet was probably the easy part. haha

Where is your thermometer located?

And how close do you plan your plants to be to the light?

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Originally Posted by PlainJane

I can only reach one (without moving the cabinet) I can feel light suction. Then I put a piece a paper over it and it pulled towards it. It didn't hold it there but the paper sort of slowly slid down. There is an insect screen there though which might sacrifice a bit of air flow but I didn't want any junk getting in there since it won't be so easy to dust back there on a frequent basis.
I think there's good air movement though, I couldn't believe that plastic sheeting got sucked upward like that.

The fans are on and it's actually gone up to 31ºc but oddly it doesn't feel hot in there. I wondered if it was hotter because it's empty.
Crap, didn't think heat would be as much of an issue. I can see now that making the cabinet was probably the easy part. haha

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Now I could be wrong, but I believe your temps will go up when you have plants in there.
The plastic was sucked up because you don't have a big enough intake, it should be bigger than the exhaust. 2-2" holes do not equal 1 4" hole(math, lol)
What is the temp outside the cab?
Looks good otherwise, good job:D:thumbsup:

1 more thing, foam weatherstrip should work good around the doors for the light leaks, but you may need to add a latch to hold the doors shut.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SunnyD

Where is your thermometer located?

And how close do you plan your plants to be to the light?

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I've moved it all around in there, no permanent home yet as this thing is only in its first few hours of use. Trying to sort everything out before putting anything in there. ;)

As close as they need to be, which I imagine I'll figure out as a go along but I'm under the impression the light and plants are pretty close. That light is adjustable.

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Originally Posted by McDanger

Now I could be wrong, but I believe your temps will go up when you have plants in there.
The plastic was sucked up because you don't have a big enough intake, it should be bigger than the exhaust. 2-2" holes do not equal 1 4" hole(math, lol)
What is the temp outside the cab?
Looks good otherwise, good job:D:thumbsup:

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Damn, I was afraid of that. All of that makes sense. Probably explains why it's so effing hot in there too. (it's hanging around 30ºc/86ºf)

I can't think of many things I want to do LESS than cutting more holes into that bloody thing. Sounds like you're right though and it needs to be done.

How many more holes should I do? I have two 2" holes currently. Would one more 2" suffice or should I do two more? (totalling 8" of passive intake in 4 holes for one 4" exhaust) I am not sure of the appropriate ratio here. :o (I could kick myself for not finding out for sure beforehand. I thought this was correct, matching inch for inch.)

It's about 70ºf outside the cabinet.

Thank you, by the way. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McDanger

1 more thing, foam weatherstrip should work good around the doors for the light leaks, but you may need to add a latch to hold the doors shut.

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Thanks, will check it out. I'd hate to have to put anything on the front of it (latch or handles) I dig the whole minimalistic/uninviting to open thing it's got going on right now. ah, sacrifices.

Looks like I'm in for another trip to the hardware store.

Well, two more holes for intake cut out. They weren't quite 2" (more like 1.5" or 1.75") so I think that poor exhaust was gasping for air. So it's got roughly 6-7 inches of intake for the 4" exhaust. It seems to be working better. That white plastic did not get sucked up again like before and so far the temp is a couple degrees lower. :thumbsup:

Took the doors off and put on a soft rubber sealer and used magnetic latches. This has helped the light leaks quite a lot. Still the tiniest bit but it's very unlikely that light will get IN, just the massive brightness of the HPS gets out in a couple minuscule slivers.

Here are a couple photos:

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/6498/cab3kt6.jpg <- front view

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/766/cab4oc8.jpg <- back view of intakes.

Whew!

If the temperatures still aren't what you want you can try to mount another oscillating fan on the other side too...just another thought.

I'm not sure if theres a way you can use an air conditioner to help with the temperature on the outside of your cab. Might want to look into that if it becomes a HUGE problem

^ Good idea. That fan isn't all that strong of a breeze.

In the summertime (if the UK ever gets warm again :rolleyes: ) if it gets really hot I might need to A/C the room... I'd like that anyway and now there a great excuse.

Thanks for the input guys. :)

Let us know what you decide to do

do your ac vents come from the ground or ceileing? if the come from the ground just put the back of the cab by that soo the passive intakes suck nice ac cold air in.... just a thought :hippy:

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Originally Posted by bickeybammer

do your ac vents come from the ground or ceileing? if the come from the ground just put the back of the cab by that soo the passive intakes suck nice ac cold air in.... just a thought :hippy:

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This is England, mate, AC is a rarity. :p If it gets VERY hot in the "summer" (hahahahaha) I would buy a lousy portable AC to cool the whole room. Sure, ideally cool air through the intake would be fab but it's not always so simple. The cabinet is not moving from its spot for any reason anyway. Not enough room, and under no circumstances can its little secret be given away, it needs to be completely stealth. I think it's pretty good in that regard. :thumbsup:




By the way, the new intakes seemed to do the trick. It runs a lot cooler (around 27ºc) and that plastic sucking upward thing has stopped.