Help me design my new grow cab

[Dawn Patrol]

Base is complete

Base is complete

5/8" plywood laid down, caulk all around along with screws every 6" or so. Since this will be an airtight cab (hopefully!!) there can be no voids or vectors for air, pests, light or anything else so I caulked all surfaces and seams.

Laid down a couple coats of white paint as well, if nothing else it smooths out the plywood.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

And now the uprights

And now the uprights

I did not spend as much time planning and engineering this project as I normally would, I have a fairly urgent need to get his up and running ASAP. When I build things on the fly there's usually at least one part I'm not happy with but I think construction will not be one of those things.

I thought briefly about going with a much smaller (2x2 instead of 2x4 )framing for this project but then I looked at cost vs space gained and decided against it. Besides, has anybody seen any construction lumber that is straight and true for more than 18" of it's length lately???

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Top cap attached

Top cap attached

All in all the whole structure is less than 1/4" out of square and level so I'm pretty happy with that. Oh and I forgot to mention that the base is on 6 casters for easy movement.

If I ever have to move this, I'm pretty sure 2 strong guys could lift this into the back of a standard pickup truck and it would travel fairly well.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

For the A/C

For the A/C

Ordered the A/C unit today, should have it by the middle of the week. Just a small mechanical controlled cheapie from Wally World, but the best energy efficiency for the buck and the greatest CFM circulation of all the cheap units I shopped.

This is the cross brace that will support the unit. I will begin sheathing the other end and then the back of the cabinet while I work out the details of the wall insulation, the wiring layout and designing the doors/front of the unit.

 

[Catatafish]

Looking good DP!

 

[Mikell]

Looks prime so far. It's nice to see something that isn't jerry rigged to the nines

Roxul makes a good 1 1/2-2" sheet insulation. It's dense but should sandwich.

Hehe I love cutting opening a flat of 2x2. There's always a big pile of bananas to one side when I'm done.

Stoked to see how this finishes out.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

So here's what got done today...

So here's what got done today...

Sheathed 3 sides and used ALL the caulk. this thing may not be sealed but it wont be for lack of trying!

And on this end the cut out for the A/C unit

All in all, very happy with the construction so far. Everything is square and plumb as you can get with construction lumber, I didn't have to make any crazy cuts to the plywood sheathing and I caulked the hell out of all surfaces.

Next step is to install the 2" insulation and figure out the wiring plan. If anybody has any great ideas for a wire pass through that is light proof, smell proof and can be altered down the road I'd love to hear it.

Right now thinking of a 2" hole saw to pass all outbound wiring and plugging that with scrap Styrofoam on the inside and metal duct tape on the outside.

Better ideas? The clock is ticking.........

 

[LakeEffect]

I am about to experiment with using soft plumbers putty to fill my wire holes. I'm hoping it will stay soft enough to be removed to add/remove cables.

I got the idea working with fire stop putty to fill cable sleeves in walls. http://www.stifirestop.com/products/product-selector/ssp/

 

[Coba]

DP I'm going to have to make one of those.

 

[aridbud]

Excellent job- great post w/ pics!

 

[thesloppy]

Looks real slick, mang. Well done!

 

[Dawn Patrol]

I am about to experiment with using soft plumbers putty to fill my wire holes. I'm hoping it will stay soft enough to be removed to add/remove cables.

I got the idea working with fire stop putty to fill cable sleeves in walls. http://www.stifirestop.com/products/product-selector/ssp/

Plumbers putty will probably work well, but I would still use a quality duct tape (the metal kind) on the outside to really seal it up.

I haven't worked out all the wiring details yet but at this point I'm planning (1) 1/2" hole for two lines of power into the cab that will be permanent and sealed with caulk and tape and one larger port for light wiring (all drivers, ballasts etc will be mounted on the outside) that will just be sealed with metal duct tape on the outside and the hole will be stuffed with plumbers putty or foam or whatever seems to work.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

DP I'm going to have to make one of those.

Well it certainly wasn't my first choice and I'm not gonna be happy if it doesn't work right but for an un-airconditioned space I couldn't think of a better design or something that wouldn't look totally out of place in a garage (like a grow tent). Not sure how I'm gonna hide the sound of the A/C, but it's not often that anyone is in this garage and I should be alerted well in advance if someone is coming in so I can shutoff the A/C and camouflage it up some.

As long as the Blumats work right hopefully I'll be able to get by with only checking in on it a couple times a week.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Excellent job- great post w/ pics!

Looks real slick, mang. Well done!

Thanks! Progress will be slower now that the holidays are over but I need to get this up and running ASAP. Clones are rooting so I gotta keep moving on this.

 

[Coba]

I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd have my sticky fingers in there everyday... two to three times a day. Hopefully you won't have to do that often. way better than a grow tent sticking out especially when the fans are on sucking the whole thing into itself. I just threw mine in the garbage a few weeks ago... it had squirrel damage.

Camouflage/subterfuge ideas... stacked fly weight boxes. keeps the eyes away. put something interesting on the opposite side that will draw attention to that instead of the empty boxes over there.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

I won't post pictures, but there's a ton of shit on the other side of the garage that will go back around and on top of the box when it's finished. It was a cluttered mess to begin with and while it will be cleaner when I'm done, there will still be a ton of crap in there to help it blend in.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Got a lot done today

Got a lot done today

A/C arrived Wednesday so today I pulled it out and tested it, confirmed measurements and did a rough install. I probably won't do the full tape seal until I know I won't have a reason to pull it out again, but so far, it's all good.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Next, the insulation

Next, the insulation

2" thick and covered with a shiny reflective side, this should insulate well in addition to negating the need for mylar. Going to HD in the AM to look for 1/2" insulation to cover the 2x4 surfaces - it won't be perfectly smooth but it should be more than adequate.

If I find the right insulation tomorrow I'll start wiring the A/C power and the inside outlet boxes. Not sure what will be next after that, I still need to build the 4 COB LED lights and I may haul the very first light I ever built (MH & HPS) out of storage and see if that still works. Should help fill the space with light until I can figure out what else I want to do.

 

[BCSticky]

Ac ideas

Ac ideas

Just wanted to drop a line its all looking nice in here, what are your plans for the condensation that your unit is most definitely going produce? And in your pic the "fins" on the back of the ac be very carful with them if you bend to many of them over you will loose cooling capacity for sure. Keep up the excellent work your doing its quite the mid size grow box and looking great

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Wellllll those are all things that will have to be experienced to be dealt with. This is is Florida in an un-airconditioned garage so for the vast majority of the year it is hot as the crack of the devil's ass in there. For example, while you were freezing your balls off today, I had the whole building open and it was 70 in there.

Just yankin your chain BC, I have no idea how this will work out - one of the reasons I built it as big as it is. I have no plans to run a dehumidifier but if it's necessary there is room in there for one and I've planned plenty of electrical supply so I doubt that will be a limiting factor.