Rough plans for my new cab

[BubbleBoi]

Alright, so as I've said in a few other threads... I've recently moved and about to build a completely new setup for growing. My old setup was a 150w HPS in a closet, mostly soil grows and a few ebb and flow grows most recently. Basically, I think its time to step it up and get a little more serious with my hobby : ) So, after brain storming a few weeks and getting an idea of what I'm wanting to do... I've finally came up with a rough mental image and thrown it down in photoshop. Basically, I'll be setting up a cab for DWC and scrog, using either a 250w or 400w HPS with inline cooling and a scrubber. I've decided to make a small utility room up top to keep a power strip, timers, pumps, and the likes in. I had been trying to come up with a good idea to help ensure silence coming from the exhaust and one finally clicked. I plan on building a seperate air tight chamber for the scrubber, the air will be pushed through the scrubber into this chamber with an exhaust hole in the back. I plan on lining the chamber with studio foam(sound proofing material you use in recording studios) to serve the purpose of a muffler, not lined over the exhaust hole of course, lol. Optionally, if I find my fan does a better job pulling through the scrubber I will just run the ducting to this chamber and turn it into a muffler/light trap. As for dimensions of the whole cab... not certain yet, gonna start looking around now that I've got a general idea of what I plan to do. If its a larger cab I go with, definately going the 400w route... smaller cab, will stick to the 250w. Only plan on having 2 or 3 plants going at a time. I'm the type of person that has to have things planned out before commiting time and money to them : )~ I need to ask around and find out if a 172 cfm fan pushing through an appropriate size scrubber (Can 9000) would be suffecient at cooling a 250w. Don't imagine a 250 is gonna be getting TOO hot to begin with.

My thoughts as to going the 400w route, I'll be growing scrog style and the light is gonna be air cooled... so I'm thinking a 250w will be perfect for 2 or 3 plants scrogged. Shouldn't have the least amount of trouble with heat and be able to keep it about 8" off the cannopy should give around 50w/sqft intensity off a 250. Suprisingly, I can get a 400w with the same air cooled reflector for less than 10 bucks more... just not sure I'll be needing it. (my original plan was to have a 3x3x4ft MAX cab)...

I know this looks ghetto, I'm not davinci with photoshop, lol

Gonna go ahead and start ordering my new light, fan, and scrubber and get to constructing the scrog/dwc container. Probably be a few paychecks down the road before I have everything, but I'll be sure to start a diary as soon as I start playing bob villa. Any ideas, suggestions, or opinions are welcome : )

 

[ChaoticEntity]

save the vertical height and put the fan and the scrubber in the same space, less duct owrk will save you static pressure loss and will make the airflow more efficent while allowing a larger vertical height.

Light--->Scrubber---->Inline fan (you can just attach the fan to the end of the scrubber sucking or blowing into the scrubber, it doesn't matter much)

for the 400 you'll want the 6inch fan, for the 250 the 4inch will be plenty. If you're thinking that you'll upgrade to a 400 later get the 6 inch now. Get a speed controller (about 30$) there so very worth the money.

It's all in the details, what are you going to make the cabinet out of? I would personally recommed 3/4inch plywood, you'll need bracing if it's over 4ft to keep the box ridgid, how are you going to attach the door to make it light proof?

Is the cabinet going to lock? How? Paint the inside?(use outdoor laytex paint), if you construct the cabinet out of 3/4 inch ply use 2 inch wood screws just be sure to drill pilot holes first.


How are you going to isolate any noise? A secret I learned is to attach the fan to a board and have that board rest on weather stripping, it reduces noise(I use a 4in elicent)

How are you going to run power to the box? Make damn sure you have a GFCI somewhere in there.

how will you deal with a water leak? how is the air going to get in while being light tight?

You've got some more planning to do but your design is solid and usable(I would recommend my additions though) Good job so far, keep it up. Some things you'll learn as you go.

depending on your budget you could start with a Mills Pride cabinet, it makes it a bit easier.

for locking the cabinet may I recomment Tot Locks(hidden magnetic locks) I use them for my cabinet and they rock, there's nothing on the outside of the cabinet, all the hinges and locks are on the inside

 

[BubbleBoi]

I had planned on buying a cab (probably mills pride), was gonna line the inside with latex paint mixed with the fire retardent powder you can buy, but I'm lining the cab with mylar over that... only painting it cause of the fire retardent just as an extra precaution. With the fan, I've heard vortex fans (as well as most other inline centrifugial fans) are better pushing air through filters, thats the only reason I had designed around pushing through the scrubber (guy said he had called vortex and asked, simple enough to do). However, I figured it'd do fine pulling as well. To light proof the intake I had planned on using pvc pipe with a few elbows and some black spray paint spewed down the pipe if need be. Weather stripping to light/air proof the door(s). And as for silencincing the fan I had planned on hanging it (possibly mounting it to a board first) using bungee coords or the little rubber hangers like you use for mufflers and such on a car, not sure what they're called). I don't want anything electrical being near the water and also plan on mounting loose chains to the light and fan just in case they ever break loose and go to fall. I've thought it out quiet a bit, just didn't want to string out that first post any more than it was already. Thanks for the advice and I'm glad you asked all the questions, lets me know I'm barking up the right trees at least : ) I like the idea with the weather stripping under the boards also. I'm sure I'll make use of that concept for something, I know from using fish pumps from another hobby that they can actually make noticable vibration noise. I usually hang them with rubber bands but I think putting them on a board with the weather stripping under them would work well. I don't think there's a such thing as overkill when it comes to safety and stealth... eliminating the smallest noises adds up in the long run and if the cab is completely silent that would be awesome. The ballest I'm getting actually has eyes in the handle so you can mount it to a ceiling or wall, so while I still think I'll have the ballast outside of the cab I've considered hanging it inside of the cab and might still do so... just have to see when the time comes.

Oh ya, in that little rough sketch it kind of looks like the fan is a hole, its not a hole though, just a blob to represent the fan's location in the cab. I think it'd be a good idea to keep the fan (or scrubber if I go to pull the air instead of push) above the light to be more effecient with removing any hot air comeing off the reflector. If the height of the cab won't allow this, it will be moved but still kept at the top of the cab somewhere.

Btw man, thanks a ton for the Tot Lock recommendation... designing a hidden locking system is something I had been brain storming about and not had any ideas that would work too well. Those tot locks look PERFECT for stealth : )

 

[ChaoticEntity]

I love using tot locks, a bit of a bitch to install but worthwhile, combine them with hinges that are inside the cabinet and make sure all outside screws are covered and hidden makes the cabinet very difficult to break into.

I found the fan to be pretty quiet regardless, the inline fans are balanced(they have to be) because of this they don't let off annying hums, I personally mounted the fan to a piece of 3/4inch plywood and it's sitting on regular weather stripping, works very well.

The fan itself if going to be VERY quiet, what you will hear is the air rushing through the ducting, duct mufflers will do more to lower the overall noise than most anything else.

I personally stay away from hydro in cabs because of how things can go wrong, my experience is that an organic soil/soiless grow tastes better than the same crop on hydro. Hydro is also a lot more money to setup and I'm of a KISS nature(keep it simple stupid) not much to go wrong with dirt in a container. I also find soil to be more forgiving as well as less maintainence. just premix bloodmeal, bonemeal, lime, worm castings and an enzyme mix. That's it, just feed the girls tap water every couple of days, easy as could be imho.

I recommend getting max vertical space, thus putting the filter with the scrubber in it's own space. I'll see if I can take pics of my setup this evening and show you how I do it, maybe it'll give you more ideas, feel free to check my gallery for picks of the tot locks

I'll post pics this evening

 

[NorCalRx]

Im glad I found someone else who is going to push air through a filter too.. I have a very similar setup im building a C24 with a 400w aircooled light, 170 inline fan and carbon filter mounted in a passive exhaust chamber. I have previous success using botanicare's soiless mix quick draining solution only this time I'm adding bcuzz soiless oganic coco mix to reduce the amount of watering I will have to do. I'm also using botanicares pure blend pro organic line of nutes (also liquid karma and bat guano for flowering). The only issues I have left to resolve is making an intake that doesnt leak light. I just bouhgt some particale board from home depot today for the back of the cab and need ideas... Whats the cheapest simplest stealthiest way to achieve this?

 

[NorCalRx]

Oh yeah and I like the idea of stealth locks My cab is in a bedroom so I put a keye'd lock on the door to the room and put alarms/locks on the windows so hopefully that should be enough and I can leave the cab unlocked and totally stock-looking