T
Truu
Guest
Whats up dudes? In this thread I will go into detail how I build my own grow box with, PC fans, Light traps, and CFLs.
It all started when I convinced the wife to grow some PJ's and Dragons. Decided I would do a PC grow box for her. After taking apart my PC case and cutting metal, worring about my fans not being in the right spot, way to much customization going on. So after I got extremely peesed off at 1 am and commenced to beating the crap out of my PC case in my back yard after a 12 pack, my wife asked me to please build her one from scratch because she really wants to try this.
Heres a little info on the box. Prices are after detail.
Dimensions - 26"x26"x10"
200w of CFL's (mixed spectrum) ~ 30$
2x 120mm pc fans. (the brand name is shark, they are the only fan in the world with 12 blades. very impressed with the air movement on these guys for 8$ off newegg.) ~16$
Custom built light traps. ~ Free
4 channel fan speed controller. ~8$
Mylar off amazon (4'x25' roll for 12$ how could you say no to that). ~12$
Black caulk. ~6$
4x 2"x2"x8' for framing. ~ 8$
1 Sheet (4'x8") 1/4" plywood/panel board.
4x wall mounted cheapo sockets. 12$
Alright started off framing her up. Simple framing here, not much to explain. Heres a pic of her with all sides up except for door and 4.5" holes drilled for intake and exhaust.
Now for light traps. I beat my brain over this one for a while. But the idea finally came to me. I wanted to get a 90 degree bend in there while keeping airflow to a maximum. So as an electrician I thought about a sine wave.
I took some card board and cut 5 peices the demension of my fans (5"x5"). I made 3 walls using a hot glue gun and glueing the cardboard together.
Then I took 2 peices of the 5" cardboard cut outs, and commenced to making my sign wave. Then I took 2 peices of my breathable light trap material (the mesch off the front of my old guitar amp) and connected the end of the wave with the side wall. You can already see how much light it traps.
Then I glued the fan on the other side. I will then spray paint everything on the insdie of the trap black, and then glue the top peice on, sealing it up. This will be an intake fan, so the fan will be facing the inside of the box. I will glue the other side of the box, matching up with the hole I cut out. The fan will draw air through my sign wave while not allowing any light to leak through. On the outside of the box I will mount a speaker grill over the hole so It wont be visible. These traps worked perfectly, absolutely no light leaking through and didnt compromise to much air flow. I couldnt be happier. Next I wired my fans to a 4 channel fan speed controller. And the Power for the speed controller comes from a 12v cell phone transformer charger. Easy right?
Here you can see the fans and light traps mounted.
Next I installed my mylar on the walls. If I could go back in time I would have done this BEFORE I mounted my fans lol. This would just make it look nicer. I then wired in the lighting by screwing the sockets to the walls and daisey chained my sockets.
Still have a couple more things to do. Going to mount Speaker covers on the outside of the box for extra "oh thats a subwoofer box" security. Still working on the door. Damn doors are the death of me!
If you have any questions or want links to my purchases please let me know.
It all started when I convinced the wife to grow some PJ's and Dragons. Decided I would do a PC grow box for her. After taking apart my PC case and cutting metal, worring about my fans not being in the right spot, way to much customization going on. So after I got extremely peesed off at 1 am and commenced to beating the crap out of my PC case in my back yard after a 12 pack, my wife asked me to please build her one from scratch because she really wants to try this.
Heres a little info on the box. Prices are after detail.
Dimensions - 26"x26"x10"
200w of CFL's (mixed spectrum) ~ 30$
2x 120mm pc fans. (the brand name is shark, they are the only fan in the world with 12 blades. very impressed with the air movement on these guys for 8$ off newegg.) ~16$
Custom built light traps. ~ Free
4 channel fan speed controller. ~8$
Mylar off amazon (4'x25' roll for 12$ how could you say no to that). ~12$
Black caulk. ~6$
4x 2"x2"x8' for framing. ~ 8$
1 Sheet (4'x8") 1/4" plywood/panel board.
4x wall mounted cheapo sockets. 12$
Alright started off framing her up. Simple framing here, not much to explain. Heres a pic of her with all sides up except for door and 4.5" holes drilled for intake and exhaust.
Now for light traps. I beat my brain over this one for a while. But the idea finally came to me. I wanted to get a 90 degree bend in there while keeping airflow to a maximum. So as an electrician I thought about a sine wave.
I took some card board and cut 5 peices the demension of my fans (5"x5"). I made 3 walls using a hot glue gun and glueing the cardboard together.
Then I took 2 peices of the 5" cardboard cut outs, and commenced to making my sign wave. Then I took 2 peices of my breathable light trap material (the mesch off the front of my old guitar amp) and connected the end of the wave with the side wall. You can already see how much light it traps.
Then I glued the fan on the other side. I will then spray paint everything on the insdie of the trap black, and then glue the top peice on, sealing it up. This will be an intake fan, so the fan will be facing the inside of the box. I will glue the other side of the box, matching up with the hole I cut out. The fan will draw air through my sign wave while not allowing any light to leak through. On the outside of the box I will mount a speaker grill over the hole so It wont be visible. These traps worked perfectly, absolutely no light leaking through and didnt compromise to much air flow. I couldnt be happier. Next I wired my fans to a 4 channel fan speed controller. And the Power for the speed controller comes from a 12v cell phone transformer charger. Easy right?
Here you can see the fans and light traps mounted.
Next I installed my mylar on the walls. If I could go back in time I would have done this BEFORE I mounted my fans lol. This would just make it look nicer. I then wired in the lighting by screwing the sockets to the walls and daisey chained my sockets.
Still have a couple more things to do. Going to mount Speaker covers on the outside of the box for extra "oh thats a subwoofer box" security. Still working on the door. Damn doors are the death of me!
If you have any questions or want links to my purchases please let me know.
