Curing chamber build log

This curing chamber will cost about $200 to build. The parts are still coming in so I will update as I go.

I have a 19" wide space I want to use so I needed a cabinet that would fit there. There are a couple 16x16" broom closets I found for around $100. The one I picked was the tallest. It also has feet so I can drill some holes on the bottom and add a filter for air exchange. I will assemble it with no shelves and this should give me three tiers for hanging.

closet.jpg

The humidity controller is manufactured by Willhi. It's not expensive so I'm hoping it will be reasonably accurate.

humidity controller.jpg

I like using clothes hangers and picked these because they're compact. I will shorten the hanger by chopping and reshaping the hanger wire. Most clothes hangers are right at 16" which is too large for the inner dimensions of these closets. These also have pant clips for those branches that can't be hung.

hangers.jpg

I will also be using a 120mm fan and an 80mm fan.

How it will go: The 80mm fan will be positioned near the top of the cab and run 24/7 circulating air to the bottom. Since the cab is on the small side I will be mounting this fan on the back of the unit with a duct running down the outside and another hole near the bottom. The 120mm fan will be mounted on the top and wired to the humidity controller. It will be covered by a flap that is forced open by air pressure when the fan is on.

Possible complications: The door probably has a gap and it's possible it will prevent the humidity from staying at the required levels. If this ends up being the case I will have to find a solution, maybe some foam tape or something similar. I may or may not add a filter to the top of the unit in which case it would replace the flap. I've played with the idea of buying activated charcoal and making my own. I've also considered one of the $30 4" can filters that can be found on Amazon but not sure how well it would work with the 120mm fan. I've seen a variety of those accordion type carbon filters but not sure how well they would work. Any ideas?
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I'll tell you an easy way to dry weed with no smell, without any carbon filters. You use a closed container and you sit a container of calcium chloride pellets in there and a small fan to move the air around, but not more than necessary because you want it to dry at a controlled rate rather than get dry on the outside and still wet inside. When the calcium chloride becomes completely liquid you dump it and refill with fresh pellets. The pellets are sold in bags for use in small non-electric dehumidifiers. This way also retains the most aroma, since only water is absorbed by the pellets. Some mild heat is helpful in speeding the drying.

That's how I've been doing it for the last while. I put the buds on a heating pad at low setting, with a layer of parchment over it. One of those seedling heating pads would suffice but since they're rubber I would put a towel between it and the parchment to allow moisture to escape.
 
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So the back board for the closet is flimsy. The whole thing is about 80lbs and the back board is made of cardboard thinner than a notebook cover. I can't put a fan on it so I had to find a different material. Someone suggested corrugated plastic and after grabbing a piece I'm back on track. After cutting out the backboard I had enough left over to make the duct. It was cut from a single piece and glued at the corners with flaps using plastic epoxy and then onto the backboard. The backboard has the 80mm fan installed and a vent near the bottom but not shown in the pic. I'll take a pic of that once the board is installed on the closet. Also shown is the hole for the 80mm fan.

dryer02.jpg
dryer01.jpg
 
The closet is mostly finished. I still need to put some weather stripping on the side edge with hinges. Basically I have two 12v power supplies, one wired to a terminal block and one wired to the humidity controller which is wired to the terminal block. One runs constantly circulating air in the closet and the other comes on when the humidity gets too high. There's also a power switch so I don't have to unplug the unit.

Top of unit with terminal block, power supplies and humidity controller
dryer03.jpg

Inside look at the fans
dryer04.jpg
 
I got the closet in place and made some brackets for the hanger rods. Before I do anything else I'm going to use it as is and see what the humidity levels and smell is like. It would be difficult to make this system 100% smell proof but I could do a couple things to cut down on the smell if I need to. I'll update when I start using it.

dryer05.jpg
 
The small fan on the back wall pushes air through a duct that runs to the bottom of the closet so air will be circulating through the whole unit 24/7. The big fan on top kicks on when RH is high and pulls in fresh air. I was going to drill holes near the bottom but since it's not air tight I decided to wait and see how it works before modifying it further. Realistically it's not going to be smell proof. I'm just hoping it's tight enough the RH can build up and cause the vent to kick on. If not I will have to use some weather stripping to get it closer to air tight.
 
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