Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

My fan was pretty dirty.











I vacuumed it and wiped it down.

 

[PCBuds]

I oiled it too...





The circled part in the middle holds a piece of felt that is full of oil.

There is an oil-filled piece of felt on both sides of the armature.


When dust covers the shaft, it sucks the oil out of the felt then the shaft overheats and seizes.

My fan was still spinning so I just dripped oil on the shaft and it worked its way into the felt.

To do a thorough job, I would remove the nuts holding the armature and completely remove it, but then I would have to pull the fan blade off the shaft too.

That would expose the felt to fill it up with oil.

I use this oil, ...

It is really thin and designed for electric motors and sewing machines.

 

[PCBuds]

My exhaust fan in my kitchen has been blowing since 1942 when my house was built.

I just had to oil it through the fill hole.

(I've got it plugged for the winter.)





Most electric motors/blowers have an oil filler hole.






Don't overfill it or the oil will run everywhere and dust will collect, blocking the air vent holes in the housing and the motor will overheat.

 

[q3corn]

I learned a lot about how to *really* clean and revive a fan from this post. I'll try to do that with my fans, and maybe if I don't need them I can donate them somewhere

 

[PCBuds]

The sad thing is that my fan shouldn't be that dirty.

That's the output of my closet and all kinds of crap got stuck to my plant before it ever got stuck on the fan.





Some of my buds are ~2% cat hair. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I learned a lot about how to *really* clean and revive a fan from this post. I'll try to do that with my fans, and maybe if I don't need them I can donate them somewhere

If you remove the Armature and find dark brown burnt stuff stuck to the shaft you can remove it with 1200 to 1600 Grit sandpaper.

 

[PCBuds]

My fan is dual purpose.

Most of the air blows out of the closet but some of it blows down inside.

So the plant gets some airflow with the same fan.






I miss the old days with no fan and just a CO2 generator, but I ended up with mold. Lol

 

[q3corn]

Some of my buds are ~2% cat hair. Lol

You and me both, lol. Even though I have a fabric filter on the intake, cat hair finds it's way...

 

[PCBuds]

I'm measuring up some wall spacers out of PEX pipe.

 

[PCBuds]

Check it out!!

I've still got a happy healthy worm doing its thing at the bottom of my cooler.






I thought I killed them off with nutes or drowning years ago.

It's a Canadian Night Crawler.

 

[PCBuds]

I may make another attempt at an underwater light...












That light was kinda cool...

I've just got to seal it up better.

 

[PCBuds]

I've been working on my cooler/planter.

I put in about 2 1/2" more clay pellets.





Then I put the fiberglass weave back on top.





Then I poured water in until it reached the weave and marked that point on my float.





I mixed up about 1 part rinsed coco coir, 1 part worm castings and 1 part perlite.
(I put in a bit extra perlite because of my tendency to overwater.)





My plant is really taking off too.
She's just about 3 1/2" tall now.

 

[ReikoX]

Dont forget your air gap, so you don't get a soggy mess.

 

[PCBuds]

Dont forget your air gap, so you don't get a soggy mess.

I siphoned off all the water before I put the soil in the cooler.

I only intend to have about an inch of water at the bottom.

I just wanted to make a mark on my float to know where the soil started.

I was a bit difficult to measure because the pellets started to float. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I'm making some progress with my lights.

I decided to switch all my lights to the strips and skip the SILs, so I can do all the wiring of both drivers, the timer and the contactor all in one shot.


I made a frame for my four 2' strips and tied them up with fishing line to bend them so they fit.








I'm going to remove the milk crate that the cooler was sitting on to give me more headroom for my lights and fan.


I've decided to solder wires right to the strips.
The stranded wires need to be soldered anyway because they don't clip into the strips securely so I'll just solder them right to the board.







I've got all the panda film installed, now it's just the 1' strips and all the wires.

 

[PCBuds]

I hot glued a bunch of big nuts to the bottom of the drivers so I can feed the wires underneath to keep them neat and out of the way.

 

[ReikoX]

I would suggest a second piece if fishing line on the lights, in case one breaks.

 

[q3corn]

Ok bending the light strips with fishing line is super clever, not gonna lie.

 

[PCBuds]

I would suggest a second piece if fishing line on the lights, in case one breaks.

Yea that's a good idea.
It'll be easier to tie on a second one.

It was hard to hold the curves all the same and tie the knot with one hand without it slipping.

 

[PCBuds]

Ok bending the light strips with fishing line is super clever, not gonna lie.

Thanks, ... I was kinda stumped for a while.

I was originally going to install them vertically then changed my mind and bought 26 one footers.

I just kept playing with them and realized they would bend enough to fit horizontally.

It kinda beams the light towards the middle too.


I was turning this project into a huge ordeal inside my head, so I kept putting it off.
I just needed to get started, now it's coming along smoothly.