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Thread: DIY Air Cooled Reflector

  1. #1

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    Default DIY Air Cooled Reflector

    Where to start? I’ve been growing for a few grows now in my converted Ikea Pax single wardrobe (460mm x 575mm x 860mm) using CFL’s and a Sunmate CFL reflector. This has been ideal for me as it’s quiet, stealthy and an ok producer. The important word in that last sentence is about it being an OK producer. To overcome this problem I bought a 250W HPS setup and a cool tube.
    Got the thing home and it was cracked, so another drive back to the hydro shop to replace it with an un-cracked one. Got this home, fitted it and what do you know, another bloody crack. This led me to believe the cool tubes are cheap pieces of shite that you have to handle like a baby. Not to mention the light spread!!! (and the 490mm length made it a bit too tight with all the ducting in my space).
    So that task was on to build my own cool tube that would be better than the one’s you buy. I have found a few suppliers that will supply 5mm thick Pyrex tube with an outside diameter of 120mm. Perfect!!!.......well not quite. After postage and the taxman’s cut, the price was nudging £60 just for the tube!
    So that’s where I am now. Ive decided a round tube reflector just will not do. So I looked at a few forums for some DIY reflectors that I can make and modify. Then I came across this:



    An easy home made reflector made of sheet steel and reflective paint. This is perfect as I can make any size I want :-D (all of the current air cooled hoods available to buy wouldn't fit in my growroom)

    So I made use of these plans:



    The original plans (courtesy of “DurbanLegend” via “Pontiac” on icmag.com shown above)



    Slightly modified now to give me slightly more length for a 250W HPS. The yellow tabs are to be folded to allow glass to be slid in and out and the red tabs are needed to hold the thing together. Notice how the holes are slightly offset in a hope to get better air cooling. I don’t know if it will work any better but intuition tells me it will. Another advantage of having a design like this rather than a cool tube is that the reflector will act like a silencer too.

    Build cost: 500mm x 500mm x 1mm Steel sheet B+Q number 3232636004108 £17.34
    2x 100mm Wall Spigot/Connector Growell Code 1228 £4.80
    Sheet Glass Not sure on this yet, I'll update this thread when i find out)

    First stage is to get some sheet metal; now I’m not sure if I should get sheet steel with a galvanised reflective coating or just use some paint when I’m done. A 500mm x 500mm sheet will be fine for mine. I ended up getting 500x500x1 steel for B+Q, bit pricey at £17 but I wanted to get busy. 1mm sheet should produce something with some strength to it too.
    Draw the plans out on the metal and use some tin snips to cut the shape out (Don’t forget to leave tabs at the side so it can be held together and look further through the thread concerning tabs). I used a jigsaw with a metal blade which worked a treat.





    After the cuts have been made now would be an ideal time to cut the 100mm holes for the air cooled ducts. I didn’t do this, I forgot and have to do it later. Once the holes have been made it’s bashin time.
    I think the tabs should be the first thing to be bent as they are the sharpest bends. Find a desk with a nice 90 degree bend at the edge, line it all up and hit with a wooden/rubber mallet until it is in the shape you need. Do that with all of the tabs. If I was doing it again I’d start with the inside one’s! This can be a lot trickier than it sounds if you don’t have a variety of surfaces to place the piece flat after there are bends put in it! I had to use some pipe grips to make a few bends. Not the prettiest but functional none-the-less.



    Then use that same desk to fold each of the edges down so they meet the tabs and drill a holes through the tab and the side ready for rivets to hold it together.
    You’ll notice on this picture that some of the tabs need edges cut off so it’ll fit together. This is because I didn’t work out the exact measurements for the angles to cut at the end of each of the tabs







    Thats where I am now but I'll update this thread when I've made some more progress
    Last edited by EasyRyding; 27-08-10 at 08:17 PM.

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  3. #2

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    Well done man, really nice. Its simple, cheap and looks as if it could be adapted to any light. Should be a sticky.

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    Cheers mate. There are a few things that need to be done still:

    Seal up all gaps with either heat resistant silicone or aluminium tape
    Jigsaw out the 100mm holes
    Fit the wall connectors/spigots with rivets
    Put a metal V shape directly above where the bulb will sit to improve light distribution

    The glass is an interesting one though. Heat resistant glass woud be my first thought but I'm also thinking about the special glass used on commercial buildings. This glass reflects infra-red but passes visible light. It's used to keep glass buildings cool in blazing sun and keep air con running costs down. Maybe you could even have 2 sheets of glass. One normal heat resistant sheet for the winter that will keep the grow room warm, and the special IR reflective glass for the summer when the grow room gets too hot.

  5. #4

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    Nice one mate, i do love the DIY hydro be keeping an eye on this

  6. #5

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    Very nice work dude!

    Will be very interesting to follow and see the end result!
    Marijuana documentary's: Documentary's

    Feel free to press the -Thanks- button to the lower left if I have been of help! : )

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    Aye, shit-hot thread matey, love a-team shit.
    Really interesting.
    Cheers

  8. #7

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    Todays progress:

    Cut the holes out if you haven't already and make sure they fit with the wall connector/spigots









    There are a few dents n scratches where I got happy with the hammer.

    Next stage is the reflector. Now in the first post on this thread I mentioned painting it white, but since then I had an idea. I had one of those crap Euro barn reflectors lying around which just so happens to be pretty much the right size. So get one of these reflectors:



    and drill the rivets out so you are left with the reflector:



    and flatten it out:



    Then draw the same plans that you used for the sheet metal (If I was doing it again I'd reduce all measurements by about 3mm so the fit wont be as tight)



    and after a bit of cutting and folding:



    and inside the hood:



    Thats where I have got to today. I still need to cut the holes out of the reflective aluminium stuff and rivet in the wall spigots/connectors. The ceramic bulb holder mount still needs to be made.
    I'll look into the glass next week and keep this thread updated.
    Last edited by EasyRyding; 28-08-10 at 06:23 PM.

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  10. #8

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    wicked! im sure itll work too

    cock

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    You got serious handy work skills man!

  12. #10

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    Pleasure to read this thread, can't wait to see the end result

    nice work

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