Well this is my first grow, as well as my first tutorial. I wanted to share a bit of lighting info with other new CFL growers out there in a cheap method that really helped me.
(Credit to SeeMoreBuds for the concept.)

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This fixture is designed to veg and flower up to 3 healthy and dense buds. SeeMoreBuds uses a very similar fixture with 3 plants and yielded over 8oz with this style of lighting system. I recommend you buy a copy of his book, it is a fantastic read and very helpful to new growers.
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Materials Needed:
5x Porcelain Ceiling Lamp Holder (Porcelain does not melt in comparison to plastic: Safety First)
1x (2x4/2x6) Lumber
2x Extension Cord
12x Medeum Length Screws
4x Long Screws
1x Roll of Electrical Tape(Use it, if you don't, you risk fire and blowing up all of your light bulbs)
1x Roll of floral/hanging/thin wire
4x Screw Eyes
Various Tools

I had a lot of these around the house. So I only had to pay for the porcelain lamps which came to $6.
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Step One:
-Take your piece of lumber and cut it in to 3 parts. A middle section measuring 8" and 2 end sections measuring roughly 22"

-Cut one end of each "End Piece" off at a 45 degree angle

-Assemble the pieces as seen in picture with 2 long screws in each end. Use a pen or pencil to mark where you will drill to insure accuracy. Pre-drilling is not necessary, but will make it easier and reduce the chance that you split the wood. I reinforced each end with wood glue. You can choose to do the same if you wish.

[Note: Accuracy is key to a efficient fixture]



Step 2:
-Drill holes in the center of the mid piece and on each side piece. I recommend putting 2 holes in each side piece 1/4 of the way up each end of the wood. I used a 1/2 inch drill bit. Smaller or larger may be used, but 1/2" is just about perfect.
[Note: If you have knots in the wood (Like me) Be sure to drill from the side with the knot and to put minimal pressure on the drill. This will decrease your chances of splitting the wood.]

- Now it is time to wire up your lamps. This is the hardest part, and the most frustrating. I used the scissors off my swiss army knife for splicing the wires, I do not recommend this. Use the right tool, and if not available, scissors or a knife will do.

- Take your first extension cord and cut off the female end. You will use this wire to run a parallel circuit between the lamps. If you do not run a parallel circuit, you will not receive enough watts to run all of your bulbs and your extension cord will melt, burning down your home. Use Google if you are unsure. Run one line of circuit up each "End Piece" and give the middle one its on circuit.

- Cut off the female end of your second extension cord and splice all three lines to this wire. Seal all open wire with ELECTRICAL TAPE! Do not let the any wires touch each other.

-While you are wiring, you should be fixing each lamp over its hole (once wired) and securing it with medium screws. (Do not screw in too tight or you will crack the porcelain. Just tight enough to be secure)

[Note: Labeling the Hot and Neutral wires while working with them insure that you do not mix them up and will save you a lot of time that would be spent unscrewing and re-wiring each lamp.]







Step 3:
- Finally your fixture is put together. You are almost done. Now all you have to do is mount it. This is really simple. Take your four screw eyes and place 2 on each side of your "Center Piece". This insures stability. You don't want your fixture falling on your girls.

- Now take 2 cuts of your wire and loop one through each side of your center piece.

- Secure each top end individually and then together creating a pyramid. This will allow you to use a single hanging chain. You can leave each side of the center piece separate or each individual screw eye separate if you wish to achieve the most stability, but at some point it just becomes a pain.



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Congratulations, you have created a DIY, Cheap, Effective and relatively easy to make fixture.


Additional Content:

Just hung up my light:

First day under the light: WOW!



Later on the first day under the light: After height adjustments and LST on one that was getting too tall.

Special Note: For all of you who took the time to read the whole thing. I recommend using 42 watt 2700k CFLs right from the start. Your plants will not be vegging very long, and this amount/type of light is what got SeeMoreBuds his 8oz. Go to Walmart, they are 8 bucks per. The Y splitters are from Home Depot at 2 bucks per. Any more questions, feel free to contact me.

That's a lot(too much?) of light for them youngins, IMO.

Seems a lot of people don't realize the diminishing returns on adding more light than 'needed'.

Adding reflectors would make around half of your lights redundant.

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Why people believe strange things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_jw...eature=channel

If you look in the last two pictures. The large pot on the right has a plant that received the least amount of light and experienced the least amount of growth. The one on the left has a 42 watt right over it and received the most light, also grew the most. I know at some point there is such thing as too much light. But it just looks like more than it is. I'm using more light to compensate for the distance away from the plants while they are young. 6x26 watt 6500k 1x42 watt 2700k are my real lighting. 3x13 watt 2700k are supplementing the missing 42 watt that I had to return because it was faulty. Once all is said and done. 8x low wattage CFLs doesn't seem too bad to me.

I will be adding reflectors. When I get the chance.

Reflectors, man! Reflectors!

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Why people believe strange things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_jw...eature=channel