AnimalHouse
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Oh i 'll bring it all man, lights, fans, cloners, plants... hell i ain't leaving it behind!! i guess i'm gonna have to bring my woman too, she'd be pissed if i left her behind and took the plants!! hahahaha
ah so much great info in that post brother... you're absolutely right i would be way better off just building a cabinet.. well really i only have to build an extension... i have at least four feet to left to expand even way more just not sure how big i wanna go... my veg area can handle pretty much whatever i'd want to expand to.
a lot to think about, i don't wanna just dive in to fast and regret something right after i finished...
one question right off for ya though if ya don't mind... i assume i should use two separate mover rails, one for each lec light? i figured both lights including some sort of bracket to hold both and still be able to use my winches would be to heavy and would just wear on the mover to much. gotta have the winches!! i was thinking two independent movers. i'm not worried about having exhaust ducts or anything, i have a thermostat in my igloo so no worries there!! haha just two winches, a small steel bracket all mounted to a mover. then a mirror of that right next to it covering like a 10 x 4 space. sound doable?
i got a goody bag gathered up for you as well... was kinda waiting on that sky master harvest...
so i decided not to buy the seeds or the UV sterilizer, instead we decided we were getting a new vacuum cleaner for the house. hahaha i got schwooper'd on that one... i was all high, walked right into it, next thing i knew i was online clicking buy now!!!
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edit>>> you gotta check out netflix cartoon hoops.... adults only!!!
Got caught up on that Growing Belushi...fun show and he's cool but dang those two slackers always half stepping suck! And man he did a number on those Cap'n Jack plants... Dang!
You might have to bench the winches for the light rail system buddy. It all could work but the more moving parts the more wrinkles need to be ironed out. I've thought about trying to work my winches into the mover too but the lost headroom turns me off the idea.
You'll probably want to look into using trolley hardware and a tie-rod for the dual lamps. Two motors would definitely be cool but there's ways to do it with only one motor.
Basically you will get your track in 3' long connectable sections. I;d get 3 sections for an 8' long cab and cut one down to 2' so you have track spanning the length of the cab. It would bolt up into the ceiling of the cab so you may want to install a centered 2"x4" rafter beam across the cab for xtra support to mount the track.
The real trick to it going well is balanced weight and the motor with trolley support and the tie-rod being as rigid as possible. Flex and imbalance fucks with performance and can even make the motor stall out and not move, just turning it's wheels with no push or pull power.
I constantly tinker with the positioning of the motor in relation to the trolleys and weight of lights but have found a train car like arrangement is most reliable.
Basically your motor is your train engine and two trolleys would be your train cars. You run a tierod thru the eyebolts of the motor and trolleys to connect them and so they work as a team. Motor on one end and then a trolly in the center and the other trolly at the other end of the tierod. Zip-tie it secure so the rod cannot slip out or move.
On the tierod you would also add some strong metal rings like heavy duty key rings spaced out. The rings would be where your lights connect to the system. Ratchet rope hangers work best but chains will work too. If you were to use the winches they would hook onto the tierod and you can see how that could just be too much of a hassle to make it work reliably.
I made a diagram with paint to help
I may have a small piece of track so you dont have to buy two full size 6' track rails and I'll get to looking thru my boxes for that motor I think I have
Here's a good deal on track but look around ebay. Buying used is my preferred choice as every piece of track I own was bought used but this is a very good price with decent shipping too
And for the trolleys they can be very expensive but I just ordered 4 from Agron for a new light rail project I have in mind and this was the best pricing I could find
LightRail Auxiliary Trolley for LightRail 3.5/4.0
Auxilliary Trolley for LR3.5 (Slave Trolley)Light Rail 3.5 is rated to 35 lbsLight Rail 5.0 is rated to 100 lbs
agron.io
For the tierod I'm using 6' long, 3/8" threaded rod I got from Home Depot but eventually I'll change out my motor and trolley eyebolts for a larger size to hold a new square 1/2" steel tube tie-rod I want to use to make my rig even more sturdy. The 3/8" rod works but it has some flex holding heavier lights and when it flexes and bows I lose a few inches of headroom
And if there's ever an issue where the balance between light spacing, weight distribution, and motor power ever create a stalling out spot or a herky jerky travel, use heavy duty gorilla tape on the track where the motor wheel comes into contact with the track. This adds some great grip like tires almost to overcome those little problems should they occur. The tape does need to be changed out every month or so because like tires, it will wear out.
For your electric I like running a heavy duty extension cord from the timer to the tierod leaving enough slack for the travel distance. Ziptie the plug to the tierod and then plug your lights in at the tierod. This makes it so there's only one cord coming off the system rather than two or three cords and also gives plenty of cord length to lower the lights down kinda far if needed.
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