My secret winter garden

[ReikoX]

one for the light
one for the fan

I agree, two stage lighting is way easier to cool. It took my PC from an easy bake oven to a get me baked grow box. What I did was made a box out of aluminum and cut holes for the lights. The COBs were on one side with heatsink and fan on the other. This was air tight, so no carbon filter is needed. In your case the heat sink is the aluminum that's left from the bulb. You could even take apart the bulbs you have and put them on a better heatsink, but that is probably overkill.

 

[kasvi]

I agree, two stage lighting is way easier to cool. It took my PC from an easy bake oven to a get me baked grow box. What I did was made a box out of aluminum and cut holes for the lights. The COBs were on one side with heatsink and fan on the other. This was air tight, so no carbon filter is needed. In your case the heat sink is the aluminum that's left from the bulb. You could even take apart the bulbs you have and put them on a better heatsink, but that is probably overkill.

I will try this if Noctua fans are not powerful enough.

I made activated carbon layer about 1/2" thick instead of 1". Now temperature is 33.4C with 4 lights.

 

[kasvi]

I think I have figured it out! I did take 2 of the bulbs out and put one fan to pull air inside the cab. Now temperature is at 30.8C when the fans runs at 12V. I will run with this until I get air duct that cools lights done. I am now printing parts for this duct.

I have placed 1 Jack herer, 2 C99, 3 Bubblegummer, 1 Somango and 1 Walkabout seed in water for 24h. After that they will be placed between wet paper towel until they germinate.
When seeds germinate I will but them in 0,5l/16oz yogurt cups filled with organic soil that I have made. Soil is made according coots recipe but I will mix insect frass to it. It will be top dressed with homemade ewc, kelp and horse poo.

I am so happy to start growing again after long time of not growing.


Edit. Now temps are staying at 28.7C. I think this will work out just fine.

 

[kasvi]

I prepared 6 yogurt cups with soil. I found this fertilizer mix that I made some time ago.

It is made of neem, horse poo, bat guano, gypsum and kelp. I added some extra kelp.
I topdressed soil with it.

After that I top dressed with home made ewc.

Then I put them inside the pc case and watered them.


I have now retested case with all 6 10w bulbs and temps are at 29.5C. I will leave lights on over night and see in the morning max temp during night.
I will also eat more yogurt. lol

Edit. Temp are maxing at 30.6C. I will now retest case with only 5 bulbs.
Edit 2. With 5 bulbs temp stays at 29.3C. I think I will use only 5 bulbs until I get the duct done.

 

[Tbonegrower]

Lookin good!

 

[Scorp1on]

Hey kasvi, I love your build...mixing 3d printing and micro grow is very nice...1st time I see it.

Cant wait to see the result

 

[kasvi]

Lookin good!

Hey kasvi, I love your build...mixing 3d printing and micro grow is very nice...1st time I see it.

Cant wait to see the result

Thanks both. I have not seen 3d printing used to build micro grow box either but I cant be first one in world to try this out.

Here is pictures of seeds. 2 bubblegummer have already germinated. Cant see the other one open but it is right one.

Edit. Here is better picture.

 

[kasvi]

Got email from the company I ordered Noctua fans from. They are out of stock. Dont know when I will get them.
I will start to build second case today. I start with printing some parts and removing parts from case using hand drill.
I think I dont need duct for lights so I stop making it for now. I can run fans at 9V and temp is at 29.0C with 50w led lights.

Prepared last soil containers for case number 1.
There was worm inside worm castings. I left it in the container.

 

[kasvi]

Printed first part for case number 2.


Now I am printing second one. I will print one more tonight. Then I have to print only 4 more. I will print 3 of them tomorrow and last one day after that. I think I will make louver parts day after tomorrow. And paint them day after making them. I will paint printed parts on the same day. After that I will print activated carbon filter and light holder. I think I get case number 2 finished by end of this month.

Here is pics of bud I am smoking. It is not best I have had but does the job.




Things to do:

Print:
-covers for holes (1/7 printed)
-activated carbon filter
-light holder
Instal:
-covers for holes
-plastic for walls
-fan
-activated carbon filter
-lights

I forgot to add price of new Antec 300 case. It was 40€.

Money spent: 398,51€

edit. 3rd bubblegummer germinated! Now all bubblegummers have germinated.

 

[ReikoX]

Seems like you can lower the temperature enough with fewer bulbs. One thing to remember is the empty box will run much hotter without any plants in it. Once the plants start filling up the space, there is less volume of air, plus the humidity the plants put off. It can be as much a 2-3°C cooler.

 

[kasvi]

Seems like you can lower the temperature enough with fewer bulbs. One thing to remember is the empty box will run much hotter without any plants in it. Once the plants start filling up the space, there is less volume of air, plus the humidity the plants put off. It can be as much a 2-3°C cooler.

This is exelent news. I should not have any problems with temperature then.

I have good news! Everyone seed except Jack herer have cracked open and Bubblegummers are growing nice root. I think I can put Bubblegummers to soil tomorrow.

I am now printing 3rd part for case number 2.


Here is picture of Bubblegummers.

 

[doams]

germinating seeds at room temps outside the box gave me much higher % of success lost a few seeds when the seeds were germinated inside the box due to higher temps.

Looks like you are starting the journey
awesome
Good luck with the grow!

subbed

 

[kasvi]

germinating seeds at room temps outside the box gave me much higher % of success lost a few seeds when the seeds were germinated inside the box due to higher temps.

Looks like you are starting the journey
awesome
Good luck with the grow!

subbed

I am germinating out side at room temp. It is working great.
Thank you for subbing!

Here is pictures of germinated seeds.
First one is C99. It looks like twins. I now have enough seedlings to fill the grow box. 4rd picture is bubblegummers, 4th picture is Somango, 5th picture is Walkabout



Not long and they will be in soil.

 

[kasvi]

Printed some parts.

And top dressed soil with malted barley.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Nice build Kasvi. Just wondering where I can get a 3d printer from and what supplys are needed to run it.

 

[kasvi]

Nice build Kasvi. Just wondering where I can get a 3d printer from and what supplys are needed to run it.

Thanks.
You can get parts for 3d printer in hardware store and online if you want to build one your self. Here is site that I used when I was building my 3d printer. http://reprap.org/

I bought my parts from ebay and harware store. You can find full machines in ebay very cheaply. I bet those work just fine. Mine is not super accurate or fast but gets the job done. If I had lot of money I would buy Makerbot.
I recomend to read some reviews and then google where to buy model you want.

You need fillament so you can print parts. Fillament can be bought from ebay or from some online shop maybe even from hardware store.

I use computer to control the printer, pliers to cut plastic when it makes blobs on top of the print, screwdriver to remove print from heated bed, tweezers to remove plastic from the nozzle and allen key to thingten screws that hold fillament in place. So only tools you need to run similar printer to mine is computer, pliers, screwdriwer, tweezers and allen key. To build one you need to add 2 wrenches.

My printer model is Prusa mendel i2. I dont recommend it. There is better ones out there. For example Prusa mendel i3.

 

[kasvi]

Printed 5th piece for the case number 2.

I am feeling lazy so I think I will not make louver parts today. I will just print as much as posible. Maybe every part. If I get to printing light holder I will finish it today as much as posible. I have relaised that I have ordered 1 socet to little. So I must order it at begining of next month when I get money. I will also order some ona gell.
Fans will be on stock 31.1. and probably send to me then.

Things to do:

Print:
-covers for holes (5/7 printed)
-activated carbon filter
-light holder
Instal:
-covers for holes
-plastic for walls
-fan
-activated carbon filter
-lights

I placed first Bubblegummer in soil.

 

[NWNR]

Interesting project. I will keep an eye on it. One thought: with the limited space inside why not keep the timer outside the case? Maybe even disguise it as an external hard drive or something.

 

[kasvi]

Interesting project. I will keep an eye on it. One thought: with the limited space inside why not keep the timer outside the case? Maybe even disguise it as an external hard drive or something.

I dont know how I could make it look stealthy enough. It should look like usb cable only is connected to case and that would be hard as I need 2 cables going to timer, one from wall and one from timer to lamp.

Ewc layer on top of the soil had become too dry and seed looks wilted. I watered soil more and burrowed seed little bit deeper.
I placed every seed exept Jack herer in soil. This time deeper than first Bubblegummer and I made sure that ewc on top is wet.
I placed every container out of pc case on top of table until seedlings can be seen on top of the soil.

I have printed 6th piece for case number 2.

 

[kasvi]

I have now printed all 7 parts that cover holes in the case and carbon filter.


I tried printing light holder but it failed due to clogged nozzle.
I am now trying again.


Things to do:

Buy:
-e27 socket
-Ona block
Print:
-light holder
Build:
-louver parts
Paint:
-printed parts
-louver parts
Instal:
-covers for holes
-plastic for walls
-fan
-activated carbon filter
-lights

Edit. Light holder failed second time. It was brittle for some reason. Maybe because that steps per unit I changed. I need to investigate this.