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New Light Frame for 2013 Season

Big Mike

Big Mike

Got started on a new frame for my grow lights for the new upcoming season. Will have plenty of room. Frame now houses two 4 ft. T5 fixtures and will easily take two more. Assembled with 1/4 inch hex bolts and wing nuts to make adjustments easy and quick. More pictures later when I get it going.

Big Mike
Visit us Online: www.knot2worry.us


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JoynersHotPeppers said:
Nice work, did you think about allowing the lights to move via chain instead of having to move supports? Solid piece of work!
Click to expand...

You know, I didn't really think it would work for me. I have had better luck in the past supporting my lights from underneath. I've tried suspending from wire and chain but haven't found that as user friendly (for me anyway). Would be a good feature though!

Big Mike
Visit us Online: www.knot2worry.us
 
Nice work , but when it's loaded it's a pain to adjust( built one similar) chains r easier like joiner said lol I even built one with car jacks that moved shelves up and down woz an epic fail but a good idea just didn't execute it right :)
 
I like the idea all around. Its solid, heavy enought it won't fall over, its not overly complicated and keeps your plants more organized and not all over the place, and I really love how you set up the supports. My light stand has pull cords and I find them to be a huge pain in the ass, not to mention my light isn't as steady as it would be supported from underneath, it kind of swings around and get annoying. Job well done, I'm gonna have to make something like this too. BTW how till is it?
 
It's 72 inches to the top. If you do one, make sure you even the bottoms and mark all four standards with a square at the same time (I clamped them together to make sure). That way, the predrilled holes will be exactly even with each other as you go up.

No pull cords on these fixtures. Rocker switches on the front (two) that start two lamps each. I understand your point about the chains. To each his own. I like the solid support and the automatically level position afforded by the 2X4 supports. I have used the "swinging chain" approach in the past with some difficulties. Anyway, I don't plan to move the fixtures. The shelves will be what I adjust beneath the fixtures. (anyway, that is the plan).

I'll post more pics once I have this thing in service. It is really going to tidy my basement up and improve wife's outlook on my seedling projects. Wife is a chile head too but was becoming testy about the clutter of seedlings, concrete blocks, pieces of plywood, aluminum foil, blocked doors, draped extension cords and so on. I'll even have room for some junk underneath the bottom shelf I think.

More later!

Big Mike
Visit us Online: www.knot2worry.us
 
The climbing shelves I built a few years ago and still use have the lights for the shelf under attached to the bottom. I just pull the plants off to adjust the height. If I did it again I would keep it the same, but put the support screws in myself without the boys' help. While I like the character it has, it can be a character at times. I really like the drilled hole shelf support idea.
 
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