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Building Fluorescent Grow Light

Brian2112

Brian2112

Im starting to build my own grow light with pretty thin "mdf" board and light wood..
It is going to be T8 based 4x 4ft bulbs..
I still need to put the ballast in and do the wiring...
But i need to find some kind of refective material that is light weight and thin, i dont want to use aluminum foil..
Does anyone know of a material that i can line the base under the bulbs???

Thanks, Brian

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Flat white would be the cheapest and probably most efficient way to go.

Mylar reflects about 93% of the light but will dull in time and become less reflective.

The flat white paint is cheap, reflects at around 80%, and diffuses the light well with no hot spots.

And though it looks like you're doing a nice job with your layout and construction of your fixture, I'm not sure that wood is a good construction material for a fluorescent fixture.

The ballast, which is basically a transformer, boosts the voltage to those fixture ends to well over 500 volts, so that arcing will occur across your (cathode) tubes.

There's a reason these fixtures are made of metal, and if you were to accidentally burn down your house with an electrical mishap from your homemade wooden fixture, your insurance would probably be voided...jus sayin'... ;)

Older fluorescent fixtures are being thrown out on construction sites on a lot of renovation jobs.

Maybe phone around and talk to some electrical contractors in you area and maybe they can hook you up.

If you could get a few of those, you could clean them up, convert them over to take T8 lighting like you are doing now, and repaint them if you had too.

And they would be metal enclosed, and far safer to use than a wood constructed T8 fixture.

dvg
 
Yea i hear ya DVG...
Well im going to ground the ballast and im going to insulate the sockets and wood isnt a good conductor, so i should be alright.. but i will look for something else like a old fixture to convert.... I just felt like building something and i dont have a metal fab shop..lol
 
+1 for what dvg said. I was thinking about building my own fixtures a few weeks ago until I found 4' 4 tube t8 fixtures for $28. They weren't even on sale. They are only 12" wide though; perfect for starting 2 flats. I am all about saving some coin and DIY. If you know any HVAC or siding guys, they probably have a sheet metal brake. You could bend up something pretty cool out of a chunk of stove pipe or something, but I like the idea of converting an old t12 fixture. Look on Craigslist. You might even find some for free!
 
when i built my PLL light fixture i just bought some pebble stone reflective aluminum.
you could also try some aluminum flashing. ive even seen people polish aluminum hvac tape to make reflectors.

edit: spelling
 
I like "logchief" solution, industry manufactured light fixtures are built to meet electrical safety standards. At $13.00 bucks a pop I wouldn't try to reinvent the "wheel", there are other areas within this project where one might add a more personal touch.
 
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