DIY CFL light hoods

I have made 2 of these now, the big one is my old 125watt CFL from my grow, I got a 400W HPS and a cool tube so I made this hood and started using the 125CFL on my aeroponic lettuce. The other one is a single 65 Watt one I made for my little sister for christmas, I talked her into a single plant soil grow to see if she wante to try a larger grow next time. I'm going to give her a clone just in soon as its finished rooting so I went over and setup up her grow area in her closet today.
WTF is up with how its impossible to find a 65 watt 6500K CFL locally, the lighting store only stock the 2700 and 4100 and lowes only stocks the 2700, I had to special order it. I think when it gets here I will just make another one and have both on it at all times.

Cool shit man! I dig! I just finished my own DIY CFL light hood and NEW grow room build. I wish I could get my sister into this..... She would NEVER tho! lol

where can i get the reflective material on the inside of the hood? whats it called? can all tihs stuff be bought at lowes or homedepot?

No you'll need a metal supply place for the sheet metal, lowes doesnt sell flat sheets that big. Can you weld, you realize thats welded together right? The reflectice stuff is just insulation, should be with the rest if it, like the pink fiberglass insulation isle. At lowes' and home depot's around here its $15 a roll for 18"X25' or $30 for 36"X25' rolls. Also if you want to use a mogul base bulb you'll have to get the base / medium base adapter off the internet or an electrical supply store. I kid you not, when I asked for a mogul base seperate from a ballast at home depot she said they didnt sell them cause the only people that needed them were people that wanted to grow weed. I told them I needed it for a mercury light on my barn.

I love the D.I.Y. spirit! thats genious man good job. looks good too

Thats an awsome hood congrats on your diy skills

FYI....Lowes does sell the 65w CFL in 6500K. At both Lowe's near me they are kept near the worklights while the 2700K bulbs are kept with all the other light bulbs. The brand is Utilitech. They are $17 each. Just so that you know though, the base is mogul so you'll either need a mogul socket or an adapter to fit in a regular light socket.

Regards,
Rollin

StickyFingerDude said:

FYI....Lowes does sell the 65w CFL in 6500K. At both Lowe's near me they are kept near the worklights while the 2700K bulbs are kept with all the other light bulbs. The brand is Utilitech. They are $17 each. Just so that you know though, the base is mogul so you'll either need a mogul socket or an adapter to fit in a regular light socket.

Regards,
Rollin

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I'd just like to point out to avert people from going and buying this bulb thinking it will work. I thought it was a good deal cause its actually only $10 but I found out that unlike ALL other CFL's this bulb is Un-ballasted, just plugging it into a regular "medium" base with an adapter, or even a mogul base WILL NOT work, it requires a ballast like the kind you find in shop lights.

Nice im planing on making a 6 x 85 watt { 3 x 2700k 3 x 6500k}clf hood im going to have in a 2x2x3 grow cabinet.this helped a lot.

+rep. Thanks for this

gnarrr. i wish i could weld

dank nug said:

gnarrr. i wish i could weld

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You don't need to know how to weld to make one of these. I weld but do not keep any equipment at the house due to space. I would suggest to anyone that would like to make one similar to this (which looks pretty nice by the way) to modify the design a little to have extensions or flaps on the angled sections. You could fold the flaps over the section it meets up with and connect it using screws or rivets.
I would recommend rivets but you'd need to get a small hand rivet gun from Home Depot, Lowes or an auto parts store (they're cheap and easy to use).
I have been planning on making one for my setup using welded material but like most everyone else on here I'm lazy when I'm stoned, haha. I'll make one using rivets and either post in here if dude doesn't mind or I'll make another thread. I think it would be better in here though.

As an update, I had to run through Home Depot for a job I'm doing and while there I figured I'd see what the sell their rivet guns for and they have 1 for $20. In the plumbing section they sell sheetmetal in a 36"x48" sheet for $15 and change too which is big enough to make a hood.