Closet-Gardenholic
Well-Known Member
Here's a complete guide to my DIY fixture for you people considering building one yourself. Big shout out to @Growmau5, @robincnn, @CobKits , Mike @ RapidLED and way too many other people to name for helping me pick out supplies and my overall design.
Tools Needed:
Hack Saw
Drill & Bits
Rivet gun + rivets
C-Clamps
Screwdriver
Tape Measure
Sharpie
Materials:
5 pieces 3/4"x36"X1/8" Aluminum Framing (or a couple long pieces)
6 Vero 29 SE 36V
6 140mm x 70mm pretapped heatsinks
1 meanwell 320 h 1400 b
18 guage wire
Thermal grease
Wago Connectors
Electric tape
Power cord
Cost:
I had most of the tools on hand. I did pick up the rivet gun and rivets for $20 at Home Depot, and the aluminum was another $35.
Everything else is available through RapidLED for around $400. You may be able to save a small amount by shopping around, but I found this to be my lowest price.
I started by spending a couple weeks sketching and resketching my design, as well as pinpointing exactly which components I would go with.
I finally settled on 3000k 90 CRI 36v Veros powered by a meanwell 320h 1400. Since this fixture will be solely for flowering, I felt this was the best curve.
The build:
The dimensions for this fixture make it really easy if you go with the 3' lengths of aluminum angle. 4 pieces stay 36" and the 5th piece is first cut down to 32" and then in half. This leaves you with two 16" supports.
As you can see, 2 minutes with a hack saw and you can have a perfect frame. Also, don't go cheap and use the 1/16" for this large of a fixture. The 1/8" gives it a very sturdy and professional feel.
Next, I gathered all of my materials. The most important thing is staying organized. Try to keep everything in one place, or you are going to spend more time looking for stuff than actually building.
I decided to assemble the heatsinks and frame first before even worrying about anything electrical.
Start by marking your 18" center. Next, mark your 9" and 27" centers. Use these marks to line up your heatsinks evenly with the rail. From here, you can get level and see exactly where your holes need to be to line up perfectly. Mark the location for all 6 holes.
Drilling them with a regular old hand drill is the tricky part. I clamped them down to keep them from moving, but the drill has a mind of it's own if you aren't careful.
I got better at it by the end. My advice is to hold steady and just let the drill go at a slow pace until it starts to grab. Then you can continue drilling through the *actual* spot you intended.
Check to make sure the screws fit. If so, you are golden. Use this first 36" bar to mark the holes on the other 3. After drilling them all, you can assemble both bars.
Unfortunately, it was only 20 degrees out today, and the cold started getting to me right about the point I went to rivet the two bars together. I don't have a picture, but this was the easy part.
Just clamp the 16" side pieces you cut to the 4 rails so the edges are all flush. Drill 1/8" holes through the side bar and the 4 rail bars and use rivets to hold it together.
As you can see, we've moved inside where it's warmer. Now it's time to attach the COBs. These SEs were pretty cool because this ended up being the easiest step.
use a dime size amount of thermal paste or the adhesive square and screw the COB right down to the heatsink. Be careful, if you use too much it will seep through the cracks and get on your beautiful COB!
At this point, I've also already attached the hangers that I used. They came with brackets that I riveted to the sides in between the COBs and used cable hangers with the ratcheting adjusters.
Now all we have to do is wire it up. I decided to mount and wire up my driver first because I was wanted to mount it remotely outside of the closet.
With the wagos and prewired dimmer this was a BREEZE.
First, connect a wago to each wire coming off the driver.
I did the power cord next. Green wire goes in the wago with the (you guessed it) green wire. The other two are a bit different. Brown goes with black and the blue wire from the driver goes with the white wire on your power cord.
Tools Needed:
Hack Saw
Drill & Bits
Rivet gun + rivets
C-Clamps
Screwdriver
Tape Measure
Sharpie
Materials:
5 pieces 3/4"x36"X1/8" Aluminum Framing (or a couple long pieces)
6 Vero 29 SE 36V
6 140mm x 70mm pretapped heatsinks
1 meanwell 320 h 1400 b
18 guage wire
Thermal grease
Wago Connectors
Electric tape
Power cord
Cost:
I had most of the tools on hand. I did pick up the rivet gun and rivets for $20 at Home Depot, and the aluminum was another $35.
Everything else is available through RapidLED for around $400. You may be able to save a small amount by shopping around, but I found this to be my lowest price.
I started by spending a couple weeks sketching and resketching my design, as well as pinpointing exactly which components I would go with.
I finally settled on 3000k 90 CRI 36v Veros powered by a meanwell 320h 1400. Since this fixture will be solely for flowering, I felt this was the best curve.
The build:
The dimensions for this fixture make it really easy if you go with the 3' lengths of aluminum angle. 4 pieces stay 36" and the 5th piece is first cut down to 32" and then in half. This leaves you with two 16" supports.
As you can see, 2 minutes with a hack saw and you can have a perfect frame. Also, don't go cheap and use the 1/16" for this large of a fixture. The 1/8" gives it a very sturdy and professional feel.
Next, I gathered all of my materials. The most important thing is staying organized. Try to keep everything in one place, or you are going to spend more time looking for stuff than actually building.
I decided to assemble the heatsinks and frame first before even worrying about anything electrical.
Start by marking your 18" center. Next, mark your 9" and 27" centers. Use these marks to line up your heatsinks evenly with the rail. From here, you can get level and see exactly where your holes need to be to line up perfectly. Mark the location for all 6 holes. Drilling them with a regular old hand drill is the tricky part. I clamped them down to keep them from moving, but the drill has a mind of it's own if you aren't careful.
I got better at it by the end. My advice is to hold steady and just let the drill go at a slow pace until it starts to grab. Then you can continue drilling through the *actual* spot you intended.
Check to make sure the screws fit. If so, you are golden. Use this first 36" bar to mark the holes on the other 3. After drilling them all, you can assemble both bars.
Unfortunately, it was only 20 degrees out today, and the cold started getting to me right about the point I went to rivet the two bars together. I don't have a picture, but this was the easy part.
Just clamp the 16" side pieces you cut to the 4 rails so the edges are all flush. Drill 1/8" holes through the side bar and the 4 rail bars and use rivets to hold it together.
As you can see, we've moved inside where it's warmer. Now it's time to attach the COBs. These SEs were pretty cool because this ended up being the easiest step.
use a dime size amount of thermal paste or the adhesive square and screw the COB right down to the heatsink. Be careful, if you use too much it will seep through the cracks and get on your beautiful COB!
At this point, I've also already attached the hangers that I used. They came with brackets that I riveted to the sides in between the COBs and used cable hangers with the ratcheting adjusters.
Now all we have to do is wire it up. I decided to mount and wire up my driver first because I was wanted to mount it remotely outside of the closet.
With the wagos and prewired dimmer this was a BREEZE.
First, connect a wago to each wire coming off the driver.I did the power cord next. Green wire goes in the wago with the (you guessed it) green wire. The other two are a bit different. Brown goes with black and the blue wire from the driver goes with the white wire on your power cord.
