Stealth Cabinet Design Questions

[ReactiveLlama]

Hi,

I have several design questions about a grow cabinet I intend to build. It's going to be a stealth cab so space, heat, sound, ect are all issues. My cab is a wardrobe, 21" Deep, 48" wide and 72" tall. It's cheap so first thing I'm going to do is reinforce it with a interior frame of 2x2's. My light will be an 400 Watt HPS driven by a Lumatek Digital Ballast, the light will also be in a aircooled hood with I think it's a 240 CFM 6" Axial fan. The cabinet will have further ventilation in the form of a Vortex 4" Fan mounted to a Can Filter 33/38. The Vortex fan will be hooked to a speed controller since the fan is rated at 172 CFM and the cabinet is only 42 CF of space.

So here's what I'd like opinions on:

1) For stealth I'm hoping the Carbon filter and glade plug-ins, open windows, one of those ionizer air filter things ect keep the smell in check?

2) For sound I was thinking first of putting a layer of 1/4" drywall on the walls, bottom and top (inside), putty tape and painting, but will all the extra weight actually translate into a quieter cab?

3) Also since my Vortex fan is a 4" I was thinking of expanding first to a 6 then finally to a 8" for the actual exhaust opening hoping this will reduce wind noise?

4) Lastly I was thinking of mounting the axial fan right to the hood to blow air through it and out, is this how it's normally done?

Thanks!!!

 

[Aristotle420]

sound is absorbed by soft surfaces and drywall can absorb some sound but wont do the same job as acoustic panneling... which is very expensive and not at all a worthy consideration. another thing that helps sound is if there is a dead space between the wall and another surface which works as a damper... all in all it depends on how much noise your actually going to have. I would suggest insulating anything that you can from having 2 non-fixed hard surfaces touching. That will reduce vibrations which usually cuts sound down alot...

 

[ReactiveLlama]

Hi,

Yeah, I've scrapped the drywall idea.. All in all though I think I got the design finalised, next pay day I can start..spending.

 

[McBudz]

A single carbon filter and an appropriate sized fan will do amazing things for smell. Maybe an ONA block for extra protection against that stray sent. But seriously the carbon filter will do wonders for smell.

As far as noise your biggest noise producers are the fans (or air pumps if doing hydro) If you could somehow build a nice insulated foot locker style box to mount the fans in you can help supress noise that way. Also fan speed controllers will allow you to turn the fans down to the minimum CFM output the get the job done while dropping the sound a bit too. stay away for adding more drywall etc. Look into lining the area containing the fans or noise making equipment with a sound deadening material like B-Quiet Ultimate. This particular stuff also has a shiny backing so it could work 2 fold as sound deadening and reflective surface.

Also look into insulated ducting and duct mufflers.

I dont think you will need to expand the exhaust from 4 up to 8, 4 to 6 will probably give you as much improvement as you will get from that type of modification. But hey try both and see if it makes that much of a difference and certainly lets us know how it works out. But it is def a worth while consideration.

#4.. Not sure. Would need to see the actual "hood" to see what type. Most air cooled reflectors use 6 inch pass through duct connectors.

Hi,

I have several design questions about a grow cabinet I intend to build. It's going to be a stealth cab so space, heat, sound, ect are all issues. My cab is a wardrobe, 21" Deep, 48" wide and 72" tall. It's cheap so first thing I'm going to do is reinforce it with a interior frame of 2x2's. My light will be an 400 Watt HPS driven by a Lumatek Digital Ballast, the light will also be in a aircooled hood with I think it's a 240 CFM 6" Axial fan. The cabinet will have further ventilation in the form of a Vortex 4" Fan mounted to a Can Filter 33/38. The Vortex fan will be hooked to a speed controller since the fan is rated at 172 CFM and the cabinet is only 42 CF of space.

So here's what I'd like opinions on:

1) For stealth I'm hoping the Carbon filter and glade plug-ins, open windows, one of those ionizer air filter things ect keep the smell in check?

2) For sound I was thinking first of putting a layer of 1/4" drywall on the walls, bottom and top (inside), putty tape and painting, but will all the extra weight actually translate into a quieter cab?

3) Also since my Vortex fan is a 4" I was thinking of expanding first to a 6 then finally to a 8" for the actual exhaust opening hoping this will reduce wind noise?

4) Lastly I was thinking of mounting the axial fan right to the hood to blow air through it and out, is this how it's normally done?

Thanks!!!

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

You can collect egg crates and place them all on the wall behing your mylar or material or just on wall painted white, they are good when it comes to sound concealment

 

[McBudz]

You can collect egg crates and place them all on the wall behing your mylar or material or just on wall painted white, they are good when it comes to sound concealment

Yes but extremely flammable and should not be used near any heat sources. Google "warwick station night club fire"

 

[L8tNightSkunk]

That is true, sorry just tought i could help..

 

[ReactiveLlama]

Hi and thanks for the feedback!

I'm looking at a reflector called the Silver Star Slim, and you're right it has 6" flanges.

What I am unsure of is if I screw the fan to the side of the cab and duct to the light and then from the light back out as exhaust. OR can I duct to the fan, which is mounted to the light, the fan blows and I duct to the exhaust.

I hope that makes sense.