I2KanGrow
Active member
Hi!
Hi!
Well, it's been a while, for sure - hasn't it?
I've been collecting parts, and "noodling" my hood and box design, I've decided to pick-up where I left this.
I'll first be focusing on my hood (Please refer to pg. 1 of this thread to learn about the beginnings of my hood!).
Here's what I've modified since my last posting:
I FINALLY figured how I wanted to mount my socket, I decided on a piece of flat, springy steel, attached to the ventpipe far enough back not to interfere with the Bake-a-Round tube. As it turns-out, a hacksaw blade really does the trick. I cut the blade in half, and screwed the pieces onto the socket (there's threads on the socket for this purpose, and the 2 holes on either end of the blade were perfect). I then very carefully bent the blade to it's desired shape - kinda shaped like a hockey stick!. Once screwed together, I put my lamp on the socket and centered everything... lamp filament in the center of the hood, entire lamp in the center of the Bake-a-Round tube. I marked where the blade would be attached to the hood, drilled & used 2 pop-rivets/side to attach it all to the inside of the 4" pipe.
I plan on swapping between MH (for veg.) and HPS (for flowering), so I wanted an easy way to do this - it's just a matter of sliding the Bake-a-Round out of the hood to gain access to the lamp & socket (2nd pic.).
The wires come out of the pipe thru a rubber grommet - I intend to use a twist-lock connector to attach to the ballast - and I intend to have a 3rd wire as a hood ground... safety first!! I'll be using 2 different ballasts, for the 2 lamps - the HPS ballast I bought was very inexpensive ($34.), but won't allow conversion to a MH ballast
Still - $70. total for both MH/HPS ballasts isn't too shabby!
I had some extra 4" pipe from the hood ends, I cut a piece of that up to use as a reflector over top of the Bake-a-round. 2 screws, some nuts and washers - and a couple of dabs of locktite round-out this assembly. I'm hoping for opinions here: I plan on painting the inside of the hood white, but was considering covering this reflector with mylar - any thoughts on this idea??
Finally - I'm thinking of putting a 4" pipe flange on the very top of the hood, to exhaust into my yet-to-be-made carbon scrubber. I'm thinking that this will also aid in cooling, even though I'm going to be drawing air thru the bake-a-round, also. I wanted to get opinions before I hack-up the hood - what do you guys think - is this a good idea????
Thanks, folks - it's really great to be back, working on this project!!!!!!
Hi!
Well, it's been a while, for sure - hasn't it?
I've been collecting parts, and "noodling" my hood and box design, I've decided to pick-up where I left this.
I'll first be focusing on my hood (Please refer to pg. 1 of this thread to learn about the beginnings of my hood!).
Here's what I've modified since my last posting:
I FINALLY figured how I wanted to mount my socket, I decided on a piece of flat, springy steel, attached to the ventpipe far enough back not to interfere with the Bake-a-Round tube. As it turns-out, a hacksaw blade really does the trick. I cut the blade in half, and screwed the pieces onto the socket (there's threads on the socket for this purpose, and the 2 holes on either end of the blade were perfect). I then very carefully bent the blade to it's desired shape - kinda shaped like a hockey stick!. Once screwed together, I put my lamp on the socket and centered everything... lamp filament in the center of the hood, entire lamp in the center of the Bake-a-Round tube. I marked where the blade would be attached to the hood, drilled & used 2 pop-rivets/side to attach it all to the inside of the 4" pipe.
I plan on swapping between MH (for veg.) and HPS (for flowering), so I wanted an easy way to do this - it's just a matter of sliding the Bake-a-Round out of the hood to gain access to the lamp & socket (2nd pic.).
The wires come out of the pipe thru a rubber grommet - I intend to use a twist-lock connector to attach to the ballast - and I intend to have a 3rd wire as a hood ground... safety first!! I'll be using 2 different ballasts, for the 2 lamps - the HPS ballast I bought was very inexpensive ($34.), but won't allow conversion to a MH ballast
Still - $70. total for both MH/HPS ballasts isn't too shabby!
I had some extra 4" pipe from the hood ends, I cut a piece of that up to use as a reflector over top of the Bake-a-round. 2 screws, some nuts and washers - and a couple of dabs of locktite round-out this assembly. I'm hoping for opinions here: I plan on painting the inside of the hood white, but was considering covering this reflector with mylar - any thoughts on this idea??
Finally - I'm thinking of putting a 4" pipe flange on the very top of the hood, to exhaust into my yet-to-be-made carbon scrubber. I'm thinking that this will also aid in cooling, even though I'm going to be drawing air thru the bake-a-round, also. I wanted to get opinions before I hack-up the hood - what do you guys think - is this a good idea????
Thanks, folks - it's really great to be back, working on this project!!!!!!
