My first grow, custom box, step by step build. Let me know what you think!

Alright folks, still waiting on seeds/lights to arrive, but in the mean time I decided to build myself a "terrarium cabinet" to grow in. I say this because when I went to borrow my dad's tools at his place, I needed a cover story :D

Anyway, the main idea I had in mind when I was planning the build was to create a box that was about 2' deep by 4' wide by 4' tall. I wanted to build it so that I could split it into two separate rooms using a divider to enable me to do both a veg and a flower schedule in the same box.

I also had planned on only having one exhaust vent, so I built the top part of the box hollow with the one large air vent on top, and 3 holes on each half of the underside.

The actual build took about 9 hours once I got the lumber home. This was partly because I had only blueprinted in my head, and because I didn't sleep last night and I kept leaving a tool in the backyard, then having to go get it, then having to go back to the garage, and so on, so I think that with a more solid plan, and a little more sleep you could build this in about 4 hours.

So, enough talk, here's pics.

First, the outside of the top piece, ceiling and roof.
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There's a 1 inch space between the two parts, with 2 supports to make for a more stable piece, while not blocking airflow.

Then I fit both the underside of the top piece and the top of the base with a channel to hold the sectioning board.

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Once those were finished I went on to build the back of the cabinet. This piece is the most stable, and provides support for the rest of the cabinet when assembled. (although I fucked up the caulk job on the sides ><)

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At this point I began assembling the whole cabinet in order to fit the doors and narrow down the final dimensions.

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Next came hanging the doors, this part was a major pain in the ass, and I think that if I ever do another project like this again, I'll spring the extra 12 bucks for 1/4 inch plywood instead of this reconstituted wobbly shit I ended up buying ><

Protip: Do not have the guy at homedepot rip your plywood down for you (cut it into sections of the size you'll need) unless you don't have a table saw or circular saw to do it yourself, or you can't transport a full 4x8 sheet. I say this because they are never careful enough with the measurements, and they only come off square (all edges form right, 90 degree, angles). Doing it yourself, while more of a pain, tends to provide better results.

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I had to monkey around with the right hand door, since this wasn't where I was going to finally place the box, I wasn't very careful when I screwed the bottom of the right sidewall in, and that cause my door to go out of alignment until I figured out what I'd done wrong.

Anyway, I attached a strip of wood to the outside of the left door, and one to the inside of the right door, so that when the doors close, they overlap and form a good seal.

Here's the walk around.

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Here's a picture of the box with the separator in, creating to rooms.

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Once I had everything in place, I took the mother fucker apart ><.
Surprisingly enough, I can pack it all down into an IKEA style 4'x4'x8" pile:hump:

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And then...

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Anyway, I haven't brought it back to my place, for obvious reasons lol, however, in making this realization I found out that I had forgotten holes for power and such.
Problem solved.

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And here's the layout of the hooks on the ceiling of the box

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Anyway, the total cost for this box was about 50 bucks, 65 if you can't find some old 2x4's lying around.

Materials:

6 1x2x8 Furring Strip $5.52 (used to reinforce joints and particle board)
2 1/4x4x8 Worthless particle board $23.74 (seriously fuck this stuff)
1 1/2x4x8 Layered plywood $16.97 (Base, back, strong underside of top piece)
2 2x4x8 Stud lumber Free ~$15 (strong supports for the for corners)

Add in the costs of screws/hinges/caulk if you don't have a friend/relative that does woodwork. Probably another 10-30 bucks. Of course, unless you do woodwork or have the tools available, you probably aren't that interested lol.

Right now I'm waiting on 12 44 Watt 6500K CFL bulbs from Amazon (thank you great deals thread!) and my seeds. I'm getting some autoflower stuff from Attitude, cause I hear it's basically a fire and forget style seed. Minimal care and such. Sure, will it have crap yield and probably won't be great quality, I think it's a good place to start as a new guy on the scene.

After I make it through this grow, I'm going to mess with a blueberry strain that I ordered from http://www.marijuana-seeds.nl/ if they arrive, according to some, that place is legit, others say not so much... I had ordered them before I found rollitup, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, that's it for now, but I'll keep this updated as things develop. I'm sore and tired, going to bed.

Daveytrees
 
Finished building the box, and putting it in my closet. Now I just have to seal up the joints and run the venting and it's done :D

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And here's the close-ups of the inside.

First, here's the ceiling:
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And the two sides with light on the left.
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I'm working on a fix to seal up the back part, but so far so good!
 

CFLbc

Well-Known Member
you should get some duct tape or something and seal up those gaps in your flowering compartment because that sides only gonna be on for 12 hours and the other sides gonna be on for 16-24 hours
 

Bagseeder

Active Member
Shit, Looks alot better then mine, I mite look into building something along these lines next summer in my shed, Gets a little to warm in the house, cant wait to see what you grow in there
 
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