Tank333
- 636
- 93
So... Talking with my parents, it looks like they're gonna sell me their property with a 4,000 sq ft warehouse on it (that's about all that's there besides the fencing for the animals and the farm). There's a small apartment in the shed that we're looking into expanding into a 2-story house INSIDE the shed. Then that leaves about 3,000 square feet of unused space in the shed. There are two very large roll-up doors, and I'm working out a way to design a light deprivation system so I can flower outdoors before the insane summer heat of the Tri-Cities shows it's ugly face. It gets to be in the 100+ temps towards the end of the summer here.
What I want to do is create a rolling framework that can be pulled in and out of the roll-up door so they can be covered at night. I figure that putting it on a track would be the best way to make sure it gets moved in and out safely and without incident. I also plan on using two winches to move the platform (one to pull it outside, and one to pull it back in) since it will be immensely heavy! I'm thinking a simple U-beam bolted to the asphalt would be sufficient for the track.
I've got pretty much all my plans for this thought out except for the actual construction of the platform itself. I want to have both vertical and overhead lighting, but plant spacing makes that quite difficult in the beginning. So I want to design a platform that not only had HYDRO sites in it instead of soil, but these sites need to be movable. In the beginning they need to be able to be close enough that the overhead lighting will overlap sufficiently, and the vertical lighting will be efficient. Then at the peak of flowering, I need to be able to pull them further apart to keep them from having to compete with each other for light. I figure a footprint of 3 across by 4 deep would be good. I haven't measured the doors, but I'm assuming they're at least 20 feet wide. With that in mind, that gives ~3' on each side of each plant. Provided I'm not grossly mistaken on the dimensions of the door, at least...
I might do away with the idea of the vertical lights as the time grows closer, but that's in the air. I want a fuckload of light during veg, but my wife thinks that it'll be counter-intuitive to the whole "free light" aspect of doing things outdoors. Granted, they won't have the HID lighting over them all the time. I'll have em outside as much as possible, and them turn the lights on when they get brought back inside due to cold or lack of light.
Anyways, that's my problem. I need to design a rolling hydro platform with 12 MOVABLE plant-sites on it. Oh, and I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to use for the plant containers, but they'll be at LEAST 55 gallons each. I'm considering just using plastic 55 gallon drums for it (since I can get em for about $15 each), but they're a bit taller and not as wide as I would like them to be...
TIA for the advice, guys!
What I want to do is create a rolling framework that can be pulled in and out of the roll-up door so they can be covered at night. I figure that putting it on a track would be the best way to make sure it gets moved in and out safely and without incident. I also plan on using two winches to move the platform (one to pull it outside, and one to pull it back in) since it will be immensely heavy! I'm thinking a simple U-beam bolted to the asphalt would be sufficient for the track.
I've got pretty much all my plans for this thought out except for the actual construction of the platform itself. I want to have both vertical and overhead lighting, but plant spacing makes that quite difficult in the beginning. So I want to design a platform that not only had HYDRO sites in it instead of soil, but these sites need to be movable. In the beginning they need to be able to be close enough that the overhead lighting will overlap sufficiently, and the vertical lighting will be efficient. Then at the peak of flowering, I need to be able to pull them further apart to keep them from having to compete with each other for light. I figure a footprint of 3 across by 4 deep would be good. I haven't measured the doors, but I'm assuming they're at least 20 feet wide. With that in mind, that gives ~3' on each side of each plant. Provided I'm not grossly mistaken on the dimensions of the door, at least...
I might do away with the idea of the vertical lights as the time grows closer, but that's in the air. I want a fuckload of light during veg, but my wife thinks that it'll be counter-intuitive to the whole "free light" aspect of doing things outdoors. Granted, they won't have the HID lighting over them all the time. I'll have em outside as much as possible, and them turn the lights on when they get brought back inside due to cold or lack of light.
Anyways, that's my problem. I need to design a rolling hydro platform with 12 MOVABLE plant-sites on it. Oh, and I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to use for the plant containers, but they'll be at LEAST 55 gallons each. I'm considering just using plastic 55 gallon drums for it (since I can get em for about $15 each), but they're a bit taller and not as wide as I would like them to be...
TIA for the advice, guys!
