Stealth Cabinet Build (78Hx48Wx24D)

Picked up the insulation and finished the exhaust port today. Worked out pretty well I think. Hope to get to mounting things later this week. Here's some pics.

Got the fan mounted. Ended up resting one end in the exhaust port, taped it w/ duct tape and used some of that strapping tape for support on top (bolted onto the back of the cab). Pretty sturdy.

Hopefully I can mount the ballast and cut the cable-hole tonight.

This evening I mounted the ballast (400-watt) on the back of the cabinet. I put a small steel spacer in to get some additional air movement behind it. It's on there very tight but it causes the back of the cabinet to pull out slightly due to the weight. Check the pics... do you think I need to worry about another set of screws? I'm tempted to leave it as is since it's not coming loose or anything.

Also was able to cut the hole for the fan and light cables to go through. I decided to go with a 2.5" hole saw and got one of those desk cable-organizer grommet things. The two cables (maybe three once I get side-lighting) will take up most of the hole and I can throw some tape over the rest to keep the light in/out. Took advantage of the cabinet screw ends and looped some strapping tape around the fan power to keep it up out of the way. That strapping tape stuff is great!

Tonight I got my filter mounted. I chose to use two L brackets to support the weight and then used some strapping tape to keep it attached to the cabinet. Worked out pretty well. It's SOOO stealth. I could barely hear it running when I was standing right next to it. Way better than having the fan exhaust openly. I'm going to have to reconfigure my tents like this too.

I've got some Nag Champa burning in there now to see how well it filters.

Tomorrow I'll get to work on the light, electrical strip, mylar & shelf (both cabinet & wire).

Note for those less familiar with tools (like me): Pick up some Black Oxide drill bits for cutting through metal. The first few holes took 10-15 minutes of pain in the ass drilling. With the new bits, 30 seconds tops!

So I smelled the Nag Champa after about 10 min. Took a look and the dryer vent attachment I used wasn't put together all that well. Took some tape to it and the smell decreased significantly. Now I only smell anything if I stick my nose to the filter, and even then it's a muted smell. Nag Champa is strong stuff, so I think I'll be ok now.

Got the 250 up along with it's fan (for some reason, it's super hot). This is actually the ballast for the tent which will sit next to this cabinet. Also ended up adding two more screws to support the 400 watt ballast and mounted the electrical strip/timer.

Should have some time to get the light up tonight. Stay tuned.

Made some more good progress this evening:

• Hung the lamp
• Hooked the ducting to the Cool Tube & fan (w/ 6"-4" reducer)
• Put wire shelf together
• Slid plastic tub to catch drainage under shelf.
• Ran the cabinet (along with veg & flower tents) with bedroom door closed for 90 min to get a sense of temps.

Something happened with the plastic tub while it sat in my garage for a few days after being delivered. It cracked on one end. My family swears no one did anything to it, so it must've been the heat or something. Going to place an order for another one and hope it doesn't happen again.

Also, I think I'll end up lowering the wire shelf one notch in addition to lowering the cabinet shelf one or two levels. As you can see from the pics, I do have room for the light to go up some, but the plant I threw in there to get a sense of the size of things is 18" or 24" w/ container (Avalanche, same as I plan to grow). I'd like to be able to have plants ~ 40 inches, so I'll need to make an adjustment there.

As for the temps, I'll need to make an adjustment there too, but it's not related to the cabinet itself really. I grow in an office/bedroom in my house and exhaust the tents/cabinet into the room to avoid a bunch of ducting across the room to the window. I'd rather not move my grow spaces to the window because then they'd be visible from the hallway when you open the door. We have family come stay with us from time to time so I'd prefer that you only see the desk/computer from the hallway.

Anyway, with the door closed, the room temp rose to like 90 F and the cabinet was 87 F. Of course this is way too hot. So I think what I'm going to do is pull the 6" fan/filter out of my flower tent and set it up next to the window. I'll use it to exhaust the room out the window and when we have certain people staying with us, I'll just remove it from the window and use only my T5 lights like I do when I go on overnight trips. It's usually only for a few days at a time and there's really only certain visitors that we even worry about, so it shouldn't be an issue but once or maybe twice a year. This should have the added benefit of sucking cool air in under the room's door from the rest of the house (which we keep @ 75F). Will also keep smells/smoke from wafting out to the rest of the house while we smoke. So I think it'll work out well.

Tomorrow I should be able to make some of the changes mentioned above as well as working on light proofing and putting up the mylar.

Hey man,

Things are coming together I see.
I am a little confused, It looked like you put both the 250w and the 400w ballast in there.
Do you plan on two growing chambers or one?

I have an idea for you in regards to ventilation. Obviously the best would be a fresh air intake constantly as well as exhaust but without ducting thats not possible. So the next option is to keep the air in the room fresh. I just picked up this dual fan that fits in the window at wall mart for like $20.00 on close out. They are out of season right now and the best time to buy one. It is reversible and has a thermostat built in.

Its made by Sunbeam. I can send you a pick if you dont know what I am talkin about.

cruzer101 said:

Hey man,

Things are coming together I see.
I am a little confused, It looked like you put both the 250w and the 400w ballast in there.
Do you plan on two growing chambers or one?

Click to expand...

Thanks man... I finally feel like I'm close. One chamber. The 250w is for my current flower tent which sits right next to where the 400w cabinet is going. The wire rack the 250w ballast was mounted on is moving out of the room to make space for the cabinet. I don't really have another good place to mount it.

cruzer101 said:

I have an idea for you in regards to ventilation. Obviously the best would be a fresh air intake constantly as well as exhaust but without ducting thats not possible. So the next option is to keep the air in the room fresh. I just picked up this dual fan that fits in the window at wall mart for like $20.00 on close out. They are out of season right now and the best time to buy one. It is reversible and has a thermostat built in.

Its made by Sunbeam. I can send you a pick if you dont know what I am talkin about.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into them. As long as it's a pretty powerful fan it might work. It gets to like 115/120 here in summer.

OK, I got ya now.

Yea, that fan has two six inch fans moving a lot of air. It has two speeds.
Sounds to me like running your lights at night is the only way to go.

cruzer101 said:

OK, I got ya now.

Yea, that fan has two six inch fans moving a lot of air. It has two speeds.
Sounds to me like running your lights at night is the only way to go.

Click to expand...

Ya.. we do run our flower tent @ night. It's insane here.. in the summer it frequently doesn't drop below 90F all night! . I need to move to N. Cali.

Gonna go out later today to see if I can find that fan.

Hey Dencebuds, I have been following your thread for a couple days and i think im going to buy the same cabinet as you but i have a couple of questions maybe you could answer for me. 1 is it nessecary to buy the shelves or could i go without them? also are you complety satisfied with the shelving unit, have you ran into any problems with it thus far in your build?
Your thread is vary informative. I have wanted to do a stealth grow for some time now and trying to figure it out myself. your thread has given me a visual, thanx.

bringnthenoise said:

Hey Dencebuds, I have been following your thread for a couple days and i think im going to buy the same cabinet as you but i have a couple of questions maybe you could answer for me. 1 is it nessecary to buy the shelves or could i go without them? also are you complety satisfied with the shelving unit, have you ran into any problems with it thus far in your build?
Your thread is vary informative. I have wanted to do a stealth grow for some time now and trying to figure it out myself. your thread has given me a visual, thanx.

Click to expand...

Hey BringTheNoise, glad to have you - You need the two pieces. One is the shelves and the top (bottom is one of the shelves) and the second is the sides and back of the unit. Without both, you wouldn't have a complete unit. So far I have been pleased with the cabinet. It's relatively sturdy, yet still you can modify it with normal tools. No real issues with it so far that I can see.

If your not planning to vent outside, you may want to consider that. I had a 250watt before this 400 and the heat difference is significant. I'm going to try to get away with exhausting through my filter like I have it now and then using a bigger fan to exhaust the room out the window. If that doesn't work though, I may need to run some ducting from my cabinets exhaust, behind my desk and out the window. Trying to avoid ducting stretching across the room at all costs.

You might also want to check out Cruzer's thread. His was my inspiration.

/You Mentioned you where useing a cool tube.... is it the water cooled model or a diffrent one. I live in a cold climate my house temp is about 65f in the winter. Do you think i will still have a problem?

bringnthenoise said:

/You Mentioned you where useing a cool tube.... is it the water cooled model or a diffrent one. I live in a cold climate my house temp is about 65f in the winter. Do you think i will still have a problem?

Click to expand...

This is the model I bought:
http://cheaphydroponics.com/store/view-all/hf-19-air-cylinder/prod_20.html

I assume you're asking if you'd need to exhaust outside even though your house is 65F? Not sure how hot it'd make a 65 degree room. It brought my avg size room up 5-10 degrees over a few hours. The air coming out is like a warm hair dryer. You could point it at your face and it wouldn't hurt or anything. But it is definitely warm. If you have good circulation between the room and the rest of the house, or if it's a very big room, you might be ok.

water cooled??? i have never heard of a hood that gets cooled off by using water lol

greenearth5 said:

water cooled??? i have never heard of a hood that gets cooled off by using water lol

Click to expand...

Check em out. Pretty wild.

http://www.growlightexpress.com/water-cooled-lights-8/

So as I mentioned, I have a minor heat issue in my room with the new cabinet running. To remedy, I'm going to split off the exhaust port I had already in place for my A/C and hook up a whole-room exhaust (with the possibility of chaining tent/cabinet exhaust off the same duct down the road if needed).

I set out to complete this tonight, but encountered one significant oversight. I need dampers! When I run the A/C and nothing else, the exhaust comes right back in the room. Pretty stupid huh?? Thankfully it's only supposed to be in the mid 80s tomorrow and low 60s tonight.

Anyway, I'm looking to see if Home Depot/Lowes sells dampers that I can pick up tomorrow and if not, I'll be ordering them.

No such luck. Ordered from HVACQuick.com. They've always done right by me. Should be here in a few days. Will work on lightproofing until they arrive.

Order details item description each QTY total FY 664 Fantech "Y" Sheet Metal Adapter. 6" x 6" x 4" Y-connection. $16.75 1 $16.75 RSK 4 Fantech Spring Loaded Backdraft Damper. For 4" Round Duct $16.80 1 $16.80 RSK 5 Fantech Spring Loaded Backdraft Damper. For 5" Round Duct $21.60 1 $21.60 RSK 6 Fantech Spring Loaded Backdraft Damper. For 6" Round Duct $22.40 2 $44.80
Order sub-total $99.95

You said you where growing in soil, I was wondering how many plants you think you can grow inside the cabnit and about how tall do you think they will grow... considering how much room your light and pots will take up?