Alright so i already have a diy cooltube for my HPS and i needed some reflection. I decided to make a reflector with a sealed box so i could just hook my fan up to it.... Heres what i came up with Materials: Snips Foam Sealant Silicon 7in" x 3' AC ducting (type that is half circle and you snap it together to make a circle) 12x16 Sheet of glass dimensions are 12x16x11 First cut the duct to 16inches Then bend the edges that are supposed to hook together on the AC duct at a 90 degree angle so the glass can sit on it. Next tape the glass to the ducting to make your basic structure (picture 2) Now take your spare duct and flatten it out so you can cut some end pieces...your going to just set the piece you have on the spare ducting and trace the end so you can get a perfect cut . (pic 3 shows piece already cut) This step will differ depending on your fan...but your going to cut your intake and exhaust holes into the end pieces you just cut....i did a 4" hole for my cooltube to go through and a 6" hole for my fan to adapt to. After that take one end and seal it to the hood with the foam. Your going to want to have the hood on its side because its going to need to dry. Once its nice and dry flip it over and seal the other end. Now that your done with the foam your hood should hold itself together...grab that silicon and seal the ends that you just put on to the glass and you now have an airtight reflective hood. All you have to figure out is how to mount your particular light inside....this hood cost me $20 and about 2 hours labor and it works great so far! Im actually thinking about making another and mounting my metal halide in it and then having them both hook up to my fan since its more than enough for my light anyways haha
Haha thanks alot man....I actually hit my tsunami with the bud that i just finished curing and made a 3d model of this in my head and immediatly put it on paper haha...may not look as pretty as the one you can buy for $100 but hell it sure gets the job done at a fraction of the cost :]
yeah.. seriously pretty epic... i would have switched out the foam for duct sealant.. its cheaper and would last longer... and its for ducting... but other than that... seriously sweet.. i saved your thread for future use for others... did you end up putting a cool tube inside of your hood? thats what it looks like you did and i would consider removing your pink string for some 20 dollar light hangers... if your string fails all your hard work will hit the floor and get some larger ducting... you have a super nice fan and your reducing it like that does not make the most of it A++ on stoner riffic!!!!
hahahah yeah i had the foam laying around so i just used it...ill keep that duct sealent in mind though....and yep just put the cooltube right into it and have the other end inside the reflector propped up...it leaves a 2 inch gap between the cooltube and the fan allowing air to circulate in the hood as well and its red string! lol but it works pretty good i have it doubled up on the fan bc its heavier....this is all temporary bc im constantly rearranging my setup im planning on doubling up the hood with a MH right next to it and if i do that ill get some 6" ducting but the 4" works for now posted a pic of everything up and running too... I have the 400watt HPS 2 27watt blue cfls 4 24watt red cfls 2 40watt tube flouros 630 total watts also i have a 50watt led panel but im using that to root some clones right now (in a pretty much sealed box it produces just the perfect amount of heat to keep them warm
yeah it holds up to heat pretty good....havent had much heat at all though...this thing actually helped keep my room at a more constant 77-78 where it was bouncing between 78-80 before
got everything at home depot for $18 ...was going to do plexiglass but they didnt have the right size....the glass they had was perfect and only $4 hahaha thanks alot mcinnc...ive been thinking of a way to do this for a bit and just figured it out the other day haha...thing works fuckin perfect the reflector doesnt even get warm lol Im thinking of doing a rectangular hood also but it would be much harder to design bc it wouldnt hold itself together as well as the cylinder
dude my manufactured reflector gets a LITTLE warm atleast! i run a 1k bulb though, damn, i forgot, whats your wattage again? (cough cough) GC should reformat the site , where you can read the post while replying to it... k... edit* u gots a 400hundy in there.. not too effin bad at all bro. sheesh, i wish i was just half as crafty as you man..
Ahahah yeah man just a 400watter for now....but even the air coming out the end of the tube is only slightly warm...i keep my ac at 75-78 and i have soo much air moving in that room heat just doesnt exist lol.. and a photographic memory makes a huge differnce how i came up with this thing...i literally peiced it together in my head then wrote it on paper....i pictured a real one then the parts i could get from home depot then just started assembling them till they fit what i was trying to get at...damn i could make these and sell them to GC members for a small fee ...id make it a lil prettier of course but haha i should look into that....if anyone wants one let me know ill let you know how much itd be....also im no jew im here to help you guys as much as youve all helped me so id only be looking to make a few bucks for my time :] Edit: also my fan is a 450cfm 6" narrowed to a 4" dryer duct thats 20feet long
ahaha im for real though if someone actually wants one but doesnt want to make it just send me a PM and ill see how much itd be to ship and ill let you know how much i could make it for Im about to be making another one for a friendly neighborhood grower i know as well so ill prob post the pics of the slightly modified and prob better looking one when i do so
I'm going to try to make one for four cfls with two one either side...it may be more of a cool box than a tube
id mount a regular socket right in the middle on the top then put a splitter in that then two splitters on that and bam you have 4 cfls hanging perfectly....its better if you throw two of those side by side in it itll work perfect
no problem...let me know how it turns out....with cfls you may not even nees sides...you could just put a fan next to it to carry the air through it
The main problem with my design is I'm using a mini fridge and don't want the intake/exhaust on the sides. Do you think if I cut and exhaust area out the back and put a fan on the front anyway without an intake hole that it would work? I'm just trying to make it as stealth as possible.