Old Farts Grow Cab

Hey all I recently had to tear down my closet grow. Due to an unforeseen short term future, I decided to build a grow cabinet. There were a few goals in mind when starting the build. 1) I wanted to use as much equipment from my closet grow as possible to keep costs low. 2) I wanted the cabinet to be as QUIET as possible 3) I built the cabinet to be able to ad CO2 in the future. So I am using my 290 Watt LED and my 200cfm mixed flow fan (just a bit of overkill ) When I was growing in the closet I had a 2ft X 2ft X 7ft white particle board cabinet that I converted into a wardrobe for my clothes, this was my starting point. After a few changes from being a wardrobe I ended up with this


About a foot at the top and close to the same at the bottom. Ended up with just a hair under four and a half ft. in the grow space. After everything was built I took it all apart for painting and then took pics of the re-assembly so you can see the assembly process.

I used some automotive firewall insulation (jute) to line the busines section of the cabinet. The area where the light sits was painted with a rubberized paint about 1mm thick, for sound deadening.


Cab prepped for paint


Big difference


The utility section insulated


This is the bottom section of the cabinet. The 2 ducts are exhausts from the top that exit out the bottom and are directed out the back of the cabinet. The screen on the bottom is the main inlet


Ducts in place


This fan exhausts hot air from the utility area


Ventilation fan for the grow area with carbon filter installed


Next comes the light


This light uses 6 muffin fans pulling air in from the top and exhausting out the sides, so I built this hood to supply fresh cold air from the bottom

Insulation on the front panel ready to be closed up


Utility area sealed


Electrical and evronmental on the back wall. At the front are louvered dryer vents with elbows attached to keep any light from shining out the bottom of the cabinet (the louvers are for future CO2 retention)


And the last one for this post, a moveable shelf to adjust plant height


Should have this finished up tomorrow

 

Thanks

I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat white interior paint. Nah didnt prime it, just scuffed it a bit with some sandpaper. I did use some drywall mud to fill holes and a quick skim coat (more for practice LOL)

I am using a Spectra 290 from Grow LED Hydro . I dont think he is making these any more, but works great.

Thanks Jake

Well Thank you man, its one of them deals where Im a bit proud of my work and want to show it off, but hope by showing it off others can be insprired

Hey Chicken, thanks fer lookin in man. This fan exhausts air out of the utility area and the duct on the right with the crimped end up supplies the air to the top through VVV this hood I made for the light.


Will try to get it finished up today and get pics posted tonite.

 

Well, started out the day applying foam door seal to all the front edges of the cabinet


I had 2 pieces of 3/32 inch glass cut to fit inside the 1/4 inch aluminum channel to further seal the grow space from heat. I took some 1/16 inch double sided tape and made the 2 pieces one, kind of hoping for a double pane effect. The tape made the glass fit nice and snug.

Then took some 1/16 X 1 1/2 inch aluminum and used it to make the 2 doors on each side one door each side, also used a strip up the center to block light.




Spent a good bit of time aligning the doors to fit nice and snug to each other


A bit difficult to see, but painted the door edges and the front side of the aluminum strip with flat black primer to help kill light escaping


And here it is finally finished. Still a couple of small detail items to take care of but will have plants in it tomorrow night when their lights come on.

 

Thank you Interior dimensions before the ducts were put in place were 22 1/2 x 23 ends up about 18'' X 23'' X 4'6'' for the grow space.

Thanks, the goal was to have it look like any other storage cabinet on the outside, but be completely functional on the inside

Thanks much, hopefully I gave you some ideas

 

I know its bee a while, but you mean kinda like this


Here is a link to my new journal if anyone is interested