homemade lift for plants

[Pebbles]

I was wondering if anyone had ideas for a lift for my 2' x 3' approx. tub with about 3 plants in it, in 5 gallon smartpots. My light is stationary, due to the design and its aircooled ducting.

So I want devise a way to bring the plants closer to the light, and steadily lower them as they grow out. Useful information such as recommending rope or chain or cable, using pulleys or simple rings, rope tie downs, etc. I can hook on to the tub itself, so don't need a platform that goes up and down. Just a foolproof means of lifting or lowering the tub. I have two tubs so I would likely make two lifts.

I was spending time at the hardware stores and felt like I could make up something, but knew that it might be a good idea to check here first in case someone had a better idea for a system.

Thanks!

 

[Anti]

SuperPedro has a cool lift that works like a car jack but just raises and lowers a platform. Not super expensive, but more than what you're looking for, I think. ($50)

If I were going to do what you're attempting, I'd probably use a rope and pulley system. The rope might have to be replaced more than a chain would but it will move much smoother through the pulleys (or even eye-screws).

Or you could just get a bunch of scrap wood and build stackable 1" or 2" tall segments that are about the same size of your containers. And then add or subtract them as needed.

Let us know what you do.... and post some pics if you have any you feel comfortable sharing.

Good luck!

 

[kannubis]

think playschool and get out the blocks

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

well more info on cab would be needed.wooden dows.string ona platform.string tp ur pots there is a million ways.peace

 

[Pebbles]

I feel a picture will certainly help. It is a 4' 2" by about 4' 10" room. There is about five feet of space between the floor and the glass of the Magnum XXXL hood (with a 1000 watt HPS and a 400 watt CMH in it). The walls and ceiling have 3/4" plywood under the painted sheetrock so I can use any point in the room as an attachment point except where already utilized by other things in the room. The corners have T8 shoplights for an additional 256 watts of light.

So even though I have 1656 watts of lights in the room, the light output is visible on the walls of the room and the plants could be two feet up to be in what looks like the sweet spot zone of the lights. I had a closet system thing in there with adjustable shelves but it proved too cumbersome... I took it out. It did work for veg but now that I transplanted into 5 gallon smartpots the weight proved too much for me to manage using that system.

The plants look great, and are on the floor now but I do think I could have happier plants. Once I flip and they get taller the smart pots probably will end up resting at floor level. So for the next month I might as well as figure out this part of my grow.

These are SOL's Blubonic, 4 females and one unsexed runt. I started 10 from seed on 11-11-10. These are what are left.

 

[Anti]

In a similar situation I have gotten some milk crates and used them as long as possible before switching to cardboard boxes, books, cds etc.

I still would go with rope if you're intent on hanging those baskets. I once used chain and hooks to raise and lower a relatively heavy lighting platform and having to count links on a chain to get everything to hang levelly was a real bitch. Much simpler to use rope & pulleys and eyeball everything, in my opinion.

 

[Anti]

Is there a way to detach your hood from the top of the cab? If you just added some accordion fold vent hose would you be able to raise and lower your lights without significantly altering your ventilation?

What kind of fan do you have for all of those lights and what are your temps like?

 

[Pebbles]

The hood is affixed to the ceiling as close as possible to give the most headroom. And the ducting run for the exhaust is so short, that I could only lower the hood 6" or so before it started going out of level due to being hung up by the duct. All that up there is a pretty tight fit.

The temps coming out the register with the 1000 watt HPS and the 400 watt CMH on is about 95 degrees. There is a hood jacket on the hood to help keep the room cool. I am using an Elicent 8" centrifugal fan, the 200 AB model I believe. It is pushing the air into the intake on the hood. I added a cooling thermostat to push cool outdoor air into the room. It is set at about 76. Without it the temps get into the upper 80's/lower 90's with all lights on. I give credit to The Dopest for the thermostatic controlled fan idea. I don't need to run AC in the winter

 

[Pebbles]

So yah, am still thinking of a good way to do this. Rope and pulleys would work, and I would make a wood frame to lift the tubs up with. And the rope can be tied off to wall cleats. I would have to be careful to not let a knot slip loose...

I would love to have a wall mount shelf that could electronically raise the tub. One on each side of the room. But I can't find anything on Google. There is about 80 pounds of water and dirt and plant in each tub.

 

[Pebbles]

Came up with something

Came up with something

I remembered having some bar clamps. I modified them to hold wire shelving. I used various nuts and bolts and steel plates and simpson ties stuff to get it all together. It is now installed and working as it should. I think this is an permanent type of jig. Now there's five of them in there.

Hope this helps someone! I can answer any questions if needed. The premise is simple though, once the lever is released, it lets go of the steel bar and slides downward until the lever is engaged again. It can be raised up or down individually. The plants are now in the sweet spot of the light it seems

 

[ThePizzaMan]

I use 5 gallon buckets. I am running small pots 5X5 I think, so like 4 of them fit snuggly on top of an upside down bucket. It's getto..so in the future I will be getting an ebb and flow tray to set them in.

 

[!!!]

Nice solution!

I like how you have the 1kW and 400w together in the Magnum. Makes me consider getting one.

 

[Stress_test]

Check out Craigs list for camper jacks.
You might even find a cheap transmission lift there.

 

[Pebbles]

If I upgrade I might place another socket on the other side of the 1000 HPS and run two 250 CMH in the Magnum instead of one 400 CMH. I don't think I would run two 400 CMH in there with the 1000 HPS unless it was one of those 8" vented Magnums.

Thanks! It is good to have this place to bounce ideas around on

 

[ecsd]

your elicit needs to be pulling the hot air away from your hood, not blowing fresh air into it

 

[trichrider]

slightly elegant solution...
question? are all four smartpots being held up by those clamps and how hard is it to adjust the height (by lifting a couple hundred lbs.)?

never mind...i really should have examined the pics more closely before shoving my foot into mouth...
peace

 

[Pebbles]

your elicit needs to be pulling the hot air away from your hood, not blowing fresh air into it

Hi! Thanks for reading this thread. I had the Elicent push air into the hood so the motor itself is not passing hot air through it. That was my logic. What are the pross of having it pull the air away?

trichrider... it is ok! I know how these things can go. To answer one of the questions, it is easier to adjust the height downward than upward because of the weight of the smartpots. It is still a muscular solution but stable.

 

[whodare]

its significantly more efficient to pull air than push. if you switched it i bet you lower your temps a few degrees

 

[palmero]

Think I got an idea for raising and lowering the aero buckets

I'll return with some build stuff soon.

Pebbles, view Superpedro´s construction at
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=143628&page=13
and the following pages, hth.

Saludos

 

[Pebbles]

whodare - I am looking into it. It is pretty much built in at this point but won't hesitate if a better design can be implemented.

palmero - I saw that! That is really cool. I couldn't find where to get them, thanks for the link. Anti mentioned SuperPedro's use early too in this thread. It seems they come from a lab supply store? And on the same page you linked another poster mentioned DryLin verticle linear guide systems. Good ideas!