Next project is underway, down side is I lost the camera instead of the cable this time so actual construction pics will be delayed. The cabinet is being constructed from a modified server rack. A couple days ago I got my hands on 2 APC NetShelter SX 48U 750mm wide server racks (model 3157 if one is inclined to look them up). They have a mounting width of 750MM (29.5") mounting depth 1070mm (42.1") and a height of 2258 (89.9"). It has doors on the front and back side one are a double set the other a single, the doors are made of a wire screen. The sides have 2 panels which can be removed there is a bar halfway up the case so there is a small impedance to side access. I really do not plan on doing much work from the side but it will allow me to get in there if I need too. Also all panels and doors are lockable and have a common key. At this point I have already stripped out the parts of the rack I will not be needing and have removed the sides of the 2 racks that are next to each other. If some one else ever attempts to do something similar, at least with the racks I got the panels and middle bar are easy to take out and you can still maintain the ability to put the rack brackets in (eventually will have pictures to show what I mean). Next I have attached the two rack together with the brackets included with the rack, later on I will add some bolts to lock it together and provide additional support. The goal is to try and avoid any permanent modification to the rack itself which so far seems like it will not be hard of a task. Right not looks like I will have a flower space of 36" D 60" W and 48" H ( from the top of the containers). On the side with the double doors I have cut a piece of 1/2" CDX. This will complete fill up the back opening of the cabinet and also has an overlap to act as a light trap. These panels are drilled with holes matching the rack and are bolted into place. There is about a 2.5" gap between the door and panel on backside which will be used for mounting all electrical wiring and T5HO ballasts. I would also like to Lumatek on the backside but will need to make an area that steps in on the panel. I will also be doing my intake from the lower area of back side and will incorporate a light trap and filter. For lighting have a 600W lumatek on order and will be trying out the Sun Pulse 3K MH. Additionally will either use some PL-L lights or T5HO to provide additional lighting. The 600w is getting mounted vertically in the center of the 2 racks and is getting wrapped in a 6" cool tube. I have a 6" Soler Palua fan to move air for the main light. As for the side lights if i go with my PL-L lamps they do no have to be vented but could pull air from around the bases to help keep them cool, because that is a warmest part of the whole lamp ( it is a lot warmer then the actual tube since that is where the lamp is started at, but still can be handled even after weeks of straight operation). Although PL-L actinic lights cost a lot more so may just use T5HO instead. All the inside surfaces are getting lined in Orca Grow Film, and all wood materials will get painted to protect them from damage from humidity. Next step as of right now is figuring out how I will be mounting in the shelves and how I will places panels over the corners of the rack. I have a decent selection of stuff here to work with and can trail and error until I find what works best. Looking to house 4 DWC buckets and at least 20 gallon central res. Have a 45 LPM air pump for aeration and looking at getting a 12v pump for circulating the nute solution. Will edit in pics in near future to help display stuff. Had to pull them off internet, still no camera but same model.
Still can not find camera, been asking family/friends if it got left at there house and no luck. Have tried phone pics but come out to dark. Beyond that have worked out how I will be mounting a lot of the stuff in there. Made the back panels and painted them. Also have made the braces that go in between the 2 racks for mounting the light hope to have them in tomorrow. Still waiting on my Orca Film to cover the panels, the sun pulse bulb in my order was on back order so they just sent my stuff out today. I talked to them on the phone and said I can still get the sun pulse light later at same price and free shipping. Once I have the basic frame built and panels cut will be waiting on stuff I have ordered until I can put it together much further. Still looking for some small oscillating fans to move air around the cabinet and also looking into 12v pumps to circulate my res and buckets. My goal is to keep everything below the water line in DC to completely negate electrocution risks additionally many of the 12v pumps have a sensor wire which will allow me to monitor the pumps for operation. My arduino controller is going to be re-purposed to solely control this cabinet. Current features I am working on for the controller. Humidity/Temp Grow area Humidity/Temp Ambient Res Temp Light Monitoring (to make sure lights actually come on) Pump Monitoring Status Reporting via Ethernet Relays Main Light Control Far Red Control Supplemental Light Control Later Features (not adding now due to cost estimate first 3 will add another $400) PH monitoring EC monitoring Co2 monitoring Co2 Control Fan Control What ever else I think off
Got some of my stuff today. Now that I got my Orca film need to go pick up some spray adhesive and begin lining the inside of the cab. Have a feeling that going to be a long process with all little surfaces. But it should pay off when finished. Have started working the layout for my electrical. Will have it set up so I will have relays on my 600w and supplemental lighting. Also will be wiring 2 switches one to shut off circulation pumps, for when I have to work on buckets. Then the other for killing power to main light, that way I can shut it off for working inside. Thought about making a switch for my supplemental lights but they are not really an issue, the 600 though is right at eye level and I like being able to see. Have also relocated the Lumatek ballast to the top of the cabinet, originally I was going to put it behind the rear doors but there is not enough room for it to fit. Will try getting some pictures with a junk digital camera I have maybe if hang a light inside they will come out.
Junk camera did not work but was able to get something with I phone. Has to hang a light in there to even get the pictures to sort of come out. But at least I got something up.
Got my fan today Soler Palau TD-150. The company I bought it from beside being the cheapest also threw a speed control switch in with the box. Going to throw a cord and so how quiet it is.
PICs Some of the inside panels getting a coat of flat black The fan speed control I got for free, the low end is adjustable to prevent the fan stalling. The fans data plate Nice thing about this fan is it can be pulled apart without having to mess with the ducting. Down side is no ground, all there smaller models do not have a ground. It is easy to hook up white to white, then black to either black for high speed or brown for low speed. Had a cord laying about to wired it up to try it out and sent dust flying every where (been cutting a lot of wood lately). You can feel the air from it over 10 feet away. Motor noise is not to bad but the air is pretty loud. I hope once it is installed I will be able to muffle it some.
Got my reflector today, the company I went through accidentally left it out of the box when they shipped my order but I called them up and the rushed me one. Not sure if I can really advertise supply companys but ...annex is great probably will order everything through them from now on. I talked to the owner the other day and they will price match any other price, and I asked if they can get things that they normally do not stock and they said it should not be a problem as long as what I want is with in reason. I love how they shipped the original box just took it apart and turned it inside out lol.
Well cut some film and put it on to one of the rack side panels. Not as easy as I thought it was going to be, glue states tack range at 10sec to 15min more like instant. As long as you do not press it down you can peel it back up but it does stick instantly on contact. The hard part was getting it under the spots on bottom where there is a small over hang of metal. The first time I put it down had a ton of wrinkles so pulled it back up and did it again. It is a lot like acetate for anyone who has ever had to work with that. The Orca Film is 11 mil so the stuff is pretty heavy duty and could easily use it to make a quick grow room with a few 1x2, so those inclined for large grow ops this may be something worth looking at. I got this for a steal with annex for $55, but usually like $120 Some spray adhesive, set up super quick Cut out a rough size then went through with a razor to make it fit. Made sure both parts fit. Glue them down, hard to see but there is a couple wrinkles. For my set up going to need 2 only do one more of the side panels. The back panel is just a piece of CDX so should be easy. The rails though may be a PIA.
Wired up that fan speed controller and like the minimum speed adjustment. I got it so that the fan at lowest setting gives a slight breeze but still is able to start from a power loss without stalling. I may have to adjust it more once I have more air restriction but it is easy to do, just pull off the cover plate and there is a small hole with a potentiometer inside for adjusting the low end. My goal is to get most my Orca up today and the tops and bottoms cut and painted. I wanted to do a wedge shape on the front side and back side of light to try and cast light to where pants will be but the complexity of mounting it and yet allow it to be dissembled my prevent this. I will also probably be pushing air instead of pulling it, I know it is not as effective but this fan will be overkill for the 600W I will probabily never need to run it full speed except for the hottest days in summer.
Got some of the Orca up today, The first rear panel came out wrinkled, the next one was a little better but I changed the way I hung it the second time. The front and rear of light have a V shaped wall to cast the light back into the area which will have plants. I decide to put the fan for cool tube right underneath. I hooked up some flexible duct just to cool things off when I lit it up, it will be getting replaced with a hard duct up from fan. I do not plan on using this setup until March so got time work things out.
whoa... how did i miss this??? very cool, i so wanna have a server rack like that... very cool design... promise not to miss the rest of this build... cant wait
Had a minor pause on the build but will get back to it this weekend. Have completed the top panels and cut out some of the light blocking panels. Also have a big surprise coming up, which I have not seen done on any grow box. Still need to figure out my front panels for behind the door, may do something like the tear away panels on my grow cubes. Hope to have the electric wired up and ORCA finished over the weekend.
This project got pushed to side awhile back but going to be moving ahead on it soon. Originally I was going to go with DWC for the plants in this cab but due to summer temps I will be running my organic coco half the year. So that means I have had to have a second look at my design. I want to be able to switch out system into cabinet between cycles without having it be a major undertaking. So I have been working on a PVC frame which can either hold my smart pots or 3 gallon Geo Pots. Made a mock up of it and think I have figured out the design for it, it will require I make some changes to the overall frame of my cabinet to be able to incorporate the the new PVC frames. The new frames are 18" x 18" foot print and will hold one plant each so 2 frames per side of cabinet. They are made to be able to pull the plants from cabinet for maintenance and for harvest. The frames will also include a removable vertical screen with a 14" radius and either a 36" or 48" height (dependent on if I can squeeze the larger size in place). This gives me about 5 or 7 square feet of surface area exposed to light per plant. For the time being I will veg in my cubes but eventually will build a cabinet for veg that will take the PVC racks, the goal being that the plants will move through it stages of life in the same frame to allow me to train in veg without having to worry about breaking stuff when I transition into flower.
This is the Frame mock up I made. There will be 4 of these inside the cabinet. I went with the 18" vertical spacing that way I can have the base and one section installed in veg. If i was to go to the 24" spacing i would not be able to fit this into my cubes. The bottom is just a heavier 12" planter tray that fits down inside the frame. I am also able to swap it out for a 5 gallon bubble bucket for the cooler winter months. Still debating if i want to use a cord for the screen or if I want to use something heavier.
For temp reasons. I do not want to have to deal with a hot res. My ambient temps in my room for my cabs is about 60 f in winter then about 85 f in summer. I will already be running ac for cab but do not want to also have to run a chiller for my water temps on top of that. For the energy spent keeping things cool I could use more light instead and make easily offset decreased yield in coco. My other option would be to have a large enough res so the thermal mass could offset day time temps in summer but I really do not feel like having that much solution mixed up. In the future when I have a better location I may run my DWC year round.