stealth cabinet plan - ongoing plan!

untamed · Apr 16, 2007

EDIT: PLAN CHANGED MEMORYS, GO TO POST 13 IN THIS THREAD FOR UPDATED DESIGN.

hi all :wave:

I'm totally new to this forum, been lurking aorund other forums and posting up cabinet ideas, but from what I have seen, this is the best forum to get info from.

based on the NGB cabient design, I have come up with something similar, although a little taller and wider and looking for some feedback on my plans sof ar.

This thread will be an ongoing thread updated daily with new thoughts and plans. I hope to plan this out thoroughly before I start this venture and hope to have as much feedback as possible. A wise man once said to me "if you failed to plan, you planned to fail" :chin:

THE CABINET PLAN SO FAR:
I am going to construct my cabinet using 3/4" MDF or similar lumber.

Overall cabinet dimensions will be: 44.25" W x 40" H x 21.5" D
Internal cabinet dimensions will be: 42" W x 38.5" H x 20" D

the flower area will be 4 square feet (29" W x 20" D) and have a cubic capacity of 12.8 square feet. (29" W x 20" D x 38.5" H) [I hope my maths is correct, I'm a bit stoned :sasmokin:

]

I am thinking of whacking a sealed 250W HPS in a cool tube which will draw fresh cold air from outside the cabin and exhaust it straight back out, the reason I want to do this is so I can keep my lighting and cabinet air at different temperatures (we get some abnormal temperatures down under).

My first question of many, will 250W HPS in a sealed cool tube be too extreme for this size cabinet?

Guest · Apr 16, 2007

250 will work with a decent fan and well placed intakes.

hidhut.com has good deals on digis.

imnotcrazy · Apr 16, 2007

I'd suggest a different material than MDF/Fiberboard/Melamine because any water that contacts these materials destroys them. If you want the cab to have any longevity build from one or two side laminated plywood. I had access to some nice 1 1/8" plywood laminated w/ birch and would take a coat of stain/paint nicely. I wouldn't use that heavy of a wood, maybe 3/4". It may cost a bit more, but could be finished nicely and will last a LONG time.

Guest · Apr 17, 2007

based on my exp 400 would work but youd have to work it out perfectly. Maybe a cooltube or seperate the light area with glass adn vent it seperate from the rest of the cab. Pushing the the light limits in cabs work if you have the right fans etc.

KUSHEATER1 · Apr 19, 2007

If you use a cooltube go with a 400 in that cab and enjoy a big harvest.

untamed · Apr 20, 2007

Thanks for stopping by KUSHHEATER :wave:

I've been playing with the google sketch program, and have come up with some pretty amazing things which I will post up in the next few days.

I have decided to run 2 x CFL's in my veg chamber. Have bought some CFL's and ordered some lamp holders from ebay (waiting for them to arrive). :woohoo:

I'm going to start building the cabinet tomorrow with my dad who loves woodworking. He doesn't know what its for, except for 'storage'

Jerry Maine · Apr 28, 2007

I like that your planning things thoroughly, I'm sure you'll come up with a good unit once it's all said and done. My only criticism would be about the power box, I don't see how you could squeeze your ballast, plug, cables, etc in there and have any room left for an effective scrubber. I like that you've got a lot of space for mothers and clones, you'll be able to keep some good strains. Post your ideas for the scrubber.

I have a 250W in a space about 18"W x 22"D x 34"H, got some glass cut to fit and vent that area seperately, it's definitely the way to go, and in Australia you have to have good ventilation. A cooltube should be about as effective. I also suggest, if stealth is a big factor, that you look into using some PC fans to ventilate. I'm using 4 120mm 33cfm Scythe fans and they are near inaudible, while my temps are only a few degrees C above ambient. Two of them cool the light, the other two the growbox, and I'm running them at half speed, making them completely inaudible. I sleep with my head 1 or 2 feet from my box. However, if you're in the garage noise may not be as critical, in which case you could just go for an elicient fan or equivilent.

Lastly, choose your strains wisely, like me you're limited for headroom.

Jerry

NOKUY · Apr 28, 2007

just copy mine from the link in my sig.....your on the right track

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

Jerry Maine said:
I like that your planning things thoroughly, I'm sure you'll come up with a good unit once it's all said and done. My only criticism would be about the power box, I don't see how you could squeeze your ballast, plug, cables, etc in there and have any room left for an effective scrubber. I like that you've got a lot of space for mothers and clones, you'll be able to keep some good strains. Post your ideas for the scrubber.

I have a 250W in a space about 18"W x 22"D x 34"H, got some glass cut to fit and vent that area seperately, it's definitely the way to go, and in Australia you have to have good ventilation. A cooltube should be about as effective. I also suggest, if stealth is a big factor, that you look into using some PC fans to ventilate. I'm using 4 120mm 33cfm Scythe fans and they are near inaudible, while my temps are only a few degrees C above ambient. Two of them cool the light, the other two the growbox, and I'm running them at half speed, making them completely inaudible. I sleep with my head 1 or 2 feet from my box. However, if you're in the garage noise may not be as critical, in which case you could just go for an elicient fan or equivilent.

Lastly, choose your strains wisely, like me you're limited for headroom.

Jerry

Hi Jerry, thanks for stopping in and offering feedback :wave:

With the power room, I may have to make it a bit bigger and lose some room to the cure area/storage room. With the scrubber, I might just design one like durban poison has.

With the fans, I wanted to do exactly that (pc fans), however I have been reading that they are not good enough extracting air through a scrubber, so its doing my head in quite a bit.

Plan was to have a cool tube originally pull cold air from outside and vent straight into the control box (seperate air intake), which will then be vented out. How many more degrees cooler would my bud area be with this setup? If its only a few, I think I will pass on that idea.

With the limit in head room, LST and SCROG has to be used, I have no other option.

I will re-config the cabinet and post up a new pic today.

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

NOKUY: I really love your design and my first drawing was similar to yours.. however with the increased area available, I'm going to use it to the full capacity.

thanks for stopping by :wave:

NOKUY · Apr 29, 2007

right on man!...and yeah u should def. use every square inch that ya can.

one thing to consider w/ your lighting is that if your height restricted at all you may wanna consider splitting up your wattage.

so instead of a single 400 watt HPS you could probably get better overall coverage w/ (3) 150's for instance....and u can keep the lights closer w/ the multiple lower wattage setups.

just a thought, but def. do whatever u think is best.

I have no clue if it costs more to run multiple lights like that or not...that might be a seperate consideration

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

I might just try go with a single 250 in the flower room.

its approx 2.1 foot * 2.1 foot... 4.41 sq foot.

250 / 4.41 = 56W per SQ Foot.
400 / 4.41 = 90W per SQ Foot.

Although 400W would be the ultimate light in that area, it will just get too hot! In the long run, I would be happy with 1/2 a pound every cycle.

224g / 250W = 0.89 Gram Per Watt (is my long term goal).

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

NOKUY: How do you find pulling air from your cabin through your lights? What are your temp's kept at?

If you were to do it again, would you keep the air in cabin seperate from cool air for lights?

NOKUY · Apr 29, 2007

untamed said:
NOKUY: How do you find pulling air from your cabin through your lights? What are your temp's kept at?

If you were to do it again, would you keep the air in cabin seperate from cool air for lights?

my temps inside the cab almost never reach 80 F (usually 75 to 78)

ambient temps are usually low 70's ish

I def. think u should throw (2) 150's in there...that would let u get the lights closer than the single 250....and push your watt per sq. foot up....and have a better light spread. (you would probably need about 4-6 more inches of ceiling to put the 400 in there.) it could work tho.

pullin the air thru the cab the way I have it works perfect...I woulden't do it any different...the heat from the bulbs is pulled out the cab immediatly, and never reaches the room at all...thats the key.

stevr59 · Apr 29, 2007

hey NGB box grower here , man you cant go wrong if you follow nokuy lead his box rules man, was going to post a pic of my box but his puts mine to shame

NOKUY · Apr 29, 2007

stevr59 said:
hey NGB box grower here , man you cant go wrong if you follow nokuy lead his box rules man, was going to post a pic of my box but his puts mine to shame

no way "stevr59"...there is NO shame in your cab or anyone's cab that does it's intended purpose.... (produce smokeable weed).

all our cabs and grow styles are slightly different, but we get the job done.

I like to borrow ideas from everyone...(every situation is different too)

It's def. fun to help, and to see everyones creations tho.

thanks for the props on my cab tho :wave:

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

hi stevr, thanks for stopping by :wave:

the original plan was to have something like NOYUK's, but now the wife has allowed me to make something bigger, I have decided to use all the space I have under my garage bench.

that being said, there are ideas of everyones i'm putting into this, NOYUK's intake system for example, but I will slightly modify it.

NOYUK: I am going to consider the 2 x 150 HPS bulbs, it may just be more suitable!

Here is a pic from the back of the cabinet, from the front, its got lower panels (100mm / 4" tall). from the back, that space is empty to allow my air to be drawn through (and to be stealthy!).

stevr59 · Apr 29, 2007

well my cab is a working copy of the ngb and it does work well but my main problem is still heat even with a air cool hood right now the ambient room temp is 87 and fixing to be in the 90s any day now. and i am having a hard time keeping my rez cool today the rez hit 79 which is not good yeah my ac no longer work and my trailer is fixing to turn into a oven. i am trying to hold out 2 more week till harvest then i am shutting it down till i can get my ac fixed. nokuy there not a thing wrong with borrowing some one ideas. but your version of the box so far has been the best i seen. but me i would do a way with the pipes my self and vent each cab speratedly and install dark room vents and copy minds idea of a adjustable vent , but i am curious nokuy how many grams you pulling from ur box so far best i have done was 200 grams with 2 plants.

here is last year crop the one i pulled the 200 grams its a ak47 by bubble berry

NOKUY · Apr 29, 2007

stevr59 said:
but i am curious nokuy how many grams you pulling from ur box so far best i have done was 200 grams with 2 plants.

thats a good question stevr

this is my first run in this cab...so it'll be a cpl. week til I know for sure...I'll def. post results and harvest pics!

from the looks of it I'm guessing a bit more than 4ozs total off 4 plants ...but I'm def. not used to growing scrog, so I really am sort of blindly guessing.

my ultimate intentions w/ this cab is to pull 1 gram per watt of VERY bomb bud using hydro ...and I wanna harvest every 45 days (i'm still in dirt for the moment, but have all the hydro gear ready to roll)

so that would be:

10 ozs every 45 days...and I have quite a few different phenos goin' that have the ability to produce what I want.

untamed · Apr 29, 2007

NOKUY: sounds like a good plan, hence the reason for me to have a nice big veg chamber.. I want to pump out some good numbers and not have a "dead cab" waiting for my next plants to be ready to be put into flower.

stevr: what wattage HPS are you using in your cab to get the temps that high? also, what ventilation system have you got going?

I'm currently working on planning out my ventilation, I want to do it once and once only. As you can probably see from the above pic in post 24, I will have 2 x 80mm computer fans in my veg chamber to keep the air moving. In my control area, there will be a big ass fan in there sucking the stale/smelly air out the cab through the carbon filter I design/create.

stealth cabinet plan - ongoing plan!

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