SixthEddie
New Member
Micro Stealth Grow Cabinet
Cheap, Efficient, and Made to Your Style
My research, put into an object. Just sharing, feedback, comments, questions, and suggestions all welcomed and accepted!
Index
- More will be added as I continue new builds.
I. Background
II. Mark I Build
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I. Background
I started to have a huge interest in Micro Growing and cabinets the second I started growing. I'm still on my first grow and I balled out and got the Gorilla Grow Tent 2x4x5'11 with a nice Phresh Filter and the whole deal. It's awesome, I love it. I have no complaints and it's been an awesome experience. My only tiff is that I like stability, I like being able to hang something where ever I want and I wanted something smaller then a massive tent. In case I move and am in a situation where a tent is not plausible I would like to still be able to continuing my growing without worrying. Micro Growing. Using methods like LST and Scrog I've read and seen some really impressive grows in very small and confined spaces.
My first problem, I'm in college living in an apartment and have no Power Tools! My first idea was to go right to drywall. Get a cheap power drill some 2x2's and slap up some drywall and mylar. Well I'm somewhat of a picky perfectionist. Then I couldn't find the right drywall that would be water resistant without having to buy primer, and I wanted something more sturdy. Along with lots of research that turned me away from drywall.
OSB Board, you ugly, painful, annoying, flaky, stupid looking wood. This was what I came too after all my research. I don't recall the website, and I should have saved it, but they had about 10 reasons to use OSB Board. Correct me if I'm wrong but OSB is pressed boards of wood. Almost like hundreds of small pieces pressed together. It handles extremely well in high humidity and heat. It's used an alternative to plywood in building houses. Again this is me just spitballing off the top of my head, so please correct me if i'm wrong! All in all it looked good, and I went with it getting 5/8th's thickness. Used just over 1 sheet and had Home Depot cut it to the exact lengths I needed which was PERFECT since I was w/o power tools. !! They actually cut one of the boards on the wrong line and it caused my box to be a tad off a certain places, will show and explain in Mark I build section. !!
Light Trap's are used for both the roof and floor (Passive Air Intake). Just a rectangle allowing a 90 degree angle to stop light from going in and or out.
Passive Air Intake was basically what I built my whole Mark I box around. The outside measurements of my box are 19 1/2 in. x 24 in x 36in. The inside of the grow box is 18 in x 24in x 28 1/2. What I did was make 2 panels for the floor and 2 for the roof. Then between these panels I used my 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 planks to create 2 boxes, the floor and the roof. For the floor I then created my passive air intake, making 5 holes in the center. On the top of the floor box I made 4 more holes in the corners. This creates a light trap when I can pull fresh air in from the bottom, recycling my air inside the box and allowing fresh CO2 to be brought up through the leaves and pulled out of the box. I used a (labeled as 171CFM, lets assume 120 CFM) to create almost a wind tunnel inside my box. ALSO, before gluing and screwing the floor box together I glued and sealed a filter to the floor to stop dust, pollen, and bugs, etc.
CFL's being used currently. Just using this box for vegging before moving to flowering tent. If I were confined to just this box, it could easily be used for flower and veg. W/o humidifier the box sits right on 30% humidity. If I used this for both flower and veg I would get a LED halo accompanied by CFL's. CFL's in this confined space are perfect, even using CFL's for flowering currently I'm getting great results.
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II. Mark I Build
Material List / Price Run Down:
$12.57 1x OSB Sheet 5/8th's or 19/32
$_5.91 1x Stud Wood Plank (1 1/2 x 2 1/2)
$_4.47 1x Gorrila Glue
$_8.91 1x Screws (2 1/2") Building Frame / Through Studs
$_4.98 1x Screws (1 3/4") Attaching Walls
$_3.65 1x Weather Seal Strip
Tool's Needed:
$29.97 1x Ryobi Variable Speed Wired Drill
$_5.69 1x Hole Saw Attatchment (1", USE a bigger size to increase air flow and make it easier to drill hole for your CPU fan)
$_4.96 1x HackSaw
The Build:
!! READ: Since I was w/o a power saw of any kind and was not looking to spend more money buying one, I had the whole OSB board cut to my measurements at Home Depot. They charge 50 cents after two cuts and were really nice about it. Sad part is one of the cuts (for the outside paneling and the roof) was cut on the wrong line. Didn't notice this till actually putting the whole thing together, this is why the side panels don't sit completely flush and also why theres a small gap between the wall and the support stud from the floor to ceiling. Just wanted to clear this up before. !!
Yeah it's not that appealing to the eyes but a little paint and some love and it could look just like another piece of furniture. Sturdy enough to hold a 50" TV on top of it, or even someone standing on the roof.
Because of the wood not being cut exactly right i'm not able to run the really thick weather strip all along the outside, so I had to do it on the inside of the stud and have it hang off a tad. Obviously this doesn't hold too well being half on so that's why the weather strip is hanging off. Work in progress still, learning as I go.
Bought the industrial hinges to fit that gap I had. As you can see the 2 inner holes would be half on the stud and half off. The gap between the wall and the Stud is due to the wood being cut incorrectly. Will eventually fill with a sealer and be covered by Mylar.
So I guess i'll start the explanation from here. So how I built this was first by building the passive air intake floor and the light trap roof. I make the box to the dimensions I had the wood cut too. I then added 1 side to the box, screwed and glued. For the floor I then drilled the holes for the intake and then glued and sealed a filter on top of that. For the roof I just added the top (the piece visible from the outside) and drilled the exit hole for the cords. Made it a diamond cause the 1" wouldn't fit the cords and funds were low so buying a bigger one was a waste. I then built the inside.
If someone needs a better explanation of this I can expand on this, but for now ill carry on. I then got the top of the floor and the bottom of the roof panel and screwed my Stud Planks into it to create a box. I then screwed the top of the floor to the floor box and then flipped it over and screwed the bottom of the roof to the light trap roof box. This way I avoided having the screw in at an angle for the studs. Maybe this was unnecessary but it worked for me.
Then once the box was built I just grabbed my pre-cut walls and screwed them into the STUDS that made the box for the top and the bottom. This box is rock solid, not moving a cm in any direction. Again, the wood was cut wrong which led to the walls not being completely flush to the roof. This is barely though, not noticeable unless closely inspected.. but I couldn't complain I didn't have to buy a saw.
Passive Air Intake hole 1 of 4. Would make these slightly bigger or add 1 or 2 more holes.
With the 5 CFL's running in there, and my 172 CFM fan (actually around 120 CFM) I have not gone past 75 degrees, unless if I turned off the fan to mess with Humidity.
Sits right around 55-60% humidity with my humidifier running. Will ramp up to 90+% with fan off.
My next problem to solve would be how to maintain around 70% humidity while also maintaining a high level of fresh CO2 or fresh air intake.
Used the wood that was Drilled out when making the intake holes as stoppers to be able to screw in my CPU fan right into the wall. Would use a cushion next time around border to really seal it even though I think it's completely fine as is.
With the weather strip on, closing the door almost is like a suction cup. Just wish the wood was cut right. It's almost air tight as is, just need some more sealing in some areas. Completely light proof though.
This is just the start. I hope to expand with more models and perfect what I have going. Seeing great results so far even though it's just the start. I hope that this helps someone with their builds and hopefully we can have some good conversations about Micro Growing and Stealth Cabinets!
Cheap, Efficient, and Made to Your Style
My research, put into an object. Just sharing, feedback, comments, questions, and suggestions all welcomed and accepted!
Index
- More will be added as I continue new builds.
I. Background
II. Mark I Build
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Background
I started to have a huge interest in Micro Growing and cabinets the second I started growing. I'm still on my first grow and I balled out and got the Gorilla Grow Tent 2x4x5'11 with a nice Phresh Filter and the whole deal. It's awesome, I love it. I have no complaints and it's been an awesome experience. My only tiff is that I like stability, I like being able to hang something where ever I want and I wanted something smaller then a massive tent. In case I move and am in a situation where a tent is not plausible I would like to still be able to continuing my growing without worrying. Micro Growing. Using methods like LST and Scrog I've read and seen some really impressive grows in very small and confined spaces.
My first problem, I'm in college living in an apartment and have no Power Tools! My first idea was to go right to drywall. Get a cheap power drill some 2x2's and slap up some drywall and mylar. Well I'm somewhat of a picky perfectionist. Then I couldn't find the right drywall that would be water resistant without having to buy primer, and I wanted something more sturdy. Along with lots of research that turned me away from drywall.
OSB Board, you ugly, painful, annoying, flaky, stupid looking wood. This was what I came too after all my research. I don't recall the website, and I should have saved it, but they had about 10 reasons to use OSB Board. Correct me if I'm wrong but OSB is pressed boards of wood. Almost like hundreds of small pieces pressed together. It handles extremely well in high humidity and heat. It's used an alternative to plywood in building houses. Again this is me just spitballing off the top of my head, so please correct me if i'm wrong! All in all it looked good, and I went with it getting 5/8th's thickness. Used just over 1 sheet and had Home Depot cut it to the exact lengths I needed which was PERFECT since I was w/o power tools. !! They actually cut one of the boards on the wrong line and it caused my box to be a tad off a certain places, will show and explain in Mark I build section. !!
Light Trap's are used for both the roof and floor (Passive Air Intake). Just a rectangle allowing a 90 degree angle to stop light from going in and or out.
Passive Air Intake was basically what I built my whole Mark I box around. The outside measurements of my box are 19 1/2 in. x 24 in x 36in. The inside of the grow box is 18 in x 24in x 28 1/2. What I did was make 2 panels for the floor and 2 for the roof. Then between these panels I used my 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 planks to create 2 boxes, the floor and the roof. For the floor I then created my passive air intake, making 5 holes in the center. On the top of the floor box I made 4 more holes in the corners. This creates a light trap when I can pull fresh air in from the bottom, recycling my air inside the box and allowing fresh CO2 to be brought up through the leaves and pulled out of the box. I used a (labeled as 171CFM, lets assume 120 CFM) to create almost a wind tunnel inside my box. ALSO, before gluing and screwing the floor box together I glued and sealed a filter to the floor to stop dust, pollen, and bugs, etc.
CFL's being used currently. Just using this box for vegging before moving to flowering tent. If I were confined to just this box, it could easily be used for flower and veg. W/o humidifier the box sits right on 30% humidity. If I used this for both flower and veg I would get a LED halo accompanied by CFL's. CFL's in this confined space are perfect, even using CFL's for flowering currently I'm getting great results.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Mark I Build
Material List / Price Run Down:
$12.57 1x OSB Sheet 5/8th's or 19/32
$_5.91 1x Stud Wood Plank (1 1/2 x 2 1/2)
$_4.47 1x Gorrila Glue
$_8.91 1x Screws (2 1/2") Building Frame / Through Studs
$_4.98 1x Screws (1 3/4") Attaching Walls
$_3.65 1x Weather Seal Strip
Tool's Needed:
$29.97 1x Ryobi Variable Speed Wired Drill
$_5.69 1x Hole Saw Attatchment (1", USE a bigger size to increase air flow and make it easier to drill hole for your CPU fan)
$_4.96 1x HackSaw
The Build:
!! READ: Since I was w/o a power saw of any kind and was not looking to spend more money buying one, I had the whole OSB board cut to my measurements at Home Depot. They charge 50 cents after two cuts and were really nice about it. Sad part is one of the cuts (for the outside paneling and the roof) was cut on the wrong line. Didn't notice this till actually putting the whole thing together, this is why the side panels don't sit completely flush and also why theres a small gap between the wall and the support stud from the floor to ceiling. Just wanted to clear this up before. !!
Yeah it's not that appealing to the eyes but a little paint and some love and it could look just like another piece of furniture. Sturdy enough to hold a 50" TV on top of it, or even someone standing on the roof.
Because of the wood not being cut exactly right i'm not able to run the really thick weather strip all along the outside, so I had to do it on the inside of the stud and have it hang off a tad. Obviously this doesn't hold too well being half on so that's why the weather strip is hanging off. Work in progress still, learning as I go.
Bought the industrial hinges to fit that gap I had. As you can see the 2 inner holes would be half on the stud and half off. The gap between the wall and the Stud is due to the wood being cut incorrectly. Will eventually fill with a sealer and be covered by Mylar.
So I guess i'll start the explanation from here. So how I built this was first by building the passive air intake floor and the light trap roof. I make the box to the dimensions I had the wood cut too. I then added 1 side to the box, screwed and glued. For the floor I then drilled the holes for the intake and then glued and sealed a filter on top of that. For the roof I just added the top (the piece visible from the outside) and drilled the exit hole for the cords. Made it a diamond cause the 1" wouldn't fit the cords and funds were low so buying a bigger one was a waste. I then built the inside.
If someone needs a better explanation of this I can expand on this, but for now ill carry on. I then got the top of the floor and the bottom of the roof panel and screwed my Stud Planks into it to create a box. I then screwed the top of the floor to the floor box and then flipped it over and screwed the bottom of the roof to the light trap roof box. This way I avoided having the screw in at an angle for the studs. Maybe this was unnecessary but it worked for me.
Then once the box was built I just grabbed my pre-cut walls and screwed them into the STUDS that made the box for the top and the bottom. This box is rock solid, not moving a cm in any direction. Again, the wood was cut wrong which led to the walls not being completely flush to the roof. This is barely though, not noticeable unless closely inspected.. but I couldn't complain I didn't have to buy a saw.
Passive Air Intake hole 1 of 4. Would make these slightly bigger or add 1 or 2 more holes.
With the 5 CFL's running in there, and my 172 CFM fan (actually around 120 CFM) I have not gone past 75 degrees, unless if I turned off the fan to mess with Humidity.
Sits right around 55-60% humidity with my humidifier running. Will ramp up to 90+% with fan off.
My next problem to solve would be how to maintain around 70% humidity while also maintaining a high level of fresh CO2 or fresh air intake.
Used the wood that was Drilled out when making the intake holes as stoppers to be able to screw in my CPU fan right into the wall. Would use a cushion next time around border to really seal it even though I think it's completely fine as is.
With the weather strip on, closing the door almost is like a suction cup. Just wish the wood was cut right. It's almost air tight as is, just need some more sealing in some areas. Completely light proof though.
This is just the start. I hope to expand with more models and perfect what I have going. Seeing great results so far even though it's just the start. I hope that this helps someone with their builds and hopefully we can have some good conversations about Micro Growing and Stealth Cabinets!
