I have been eyeing this stand for months and finally got the money to buy one, and I am not disappointed. The unit arrives in two boxes. The materials are well packaged and arrived unharmed by shipping.
It is recommended that you assemble this on a carpet, as not to mar the coating on the metal. If you do not have a carpet, such as myself, you can flatten the cardboard boxes by cutting them open to form a work surface on the floor which will do the same thing.
Do this especially if you have wooden floors to protect the surface. The key to assembly is reading the instructions and reviewing the diagrams. First lay out all your parts with the part numbers facing you.
Then read. Note there is an orientation of the parts that need to fall in place. On many of the legs, there is a hole which is solid and there is a hole which is indented. The indented hole always goes towards the joint.
There are LEFT and RIGHT oriented parts which must align when the full assembly is made. Please pay attention to this orientation. The first thing I did was to put the caster bolsters in. These require a little bit of force and it is easier to do with individual pieces, then with an assembly.
Their insertion DOES NOT interfere with any other step so no worries. The key is not to hurry. When attaching pieces, make sure the edges are flush. Some of the thread keys may be a little off line, but are easily adjusted when aligning the parts, and you have no worries of forming a perfect joint.
The joints are very strong. Do not tighten down the bolts until you have the sub assemblies constructed. This will allow you to adjust everything accordingly, making sure they are flush and then you tighten.
A word about the sections where the bolt goes inside the framing through the “Big” holes. It is possible for the 3/4″ bolts to slip and then they “fall” into the metal section, and it appears that there is no way to get it out.
Do not panic. All you need is a screw driver that is magnetized. Bring the bolt to the opening through jostling. Use the screw driver to grab hold of the threaded end and “walk” the threads up and out the hole.
Once you can grab it with your hand, simply pull the bolt out. No problems. Works every time. Ask me how I know. LOL. Once the two ends are built, and you have the correct orientation, then you assemble the center light supports.
Do this to one side. Here you can tighten these right away as they line up perfectly against the middle vertical support. Once they are in place, the one side will self stand. Then you can attach the other end, and your unit will be strong.
Once these center supports are in place, then you can install the end rails. Just make sure you have the correct orientation for these, and they will bolt right up. After this is done, then you can flip the unit upside down and insert the casters.
If you are doing this yourself and are not very strong, you can easily “roll” this unit side by side, until it is upside down. The casters will pop right in. If you are having difficulty with them, take a little “DAWN” and lightly, ever so lightly coat it and it will “pop” right in.
The Dawn will not harm anything. Again, don’t use too much. Just a little will do. Flip or roll the unit over so it is upright. Insert the hole caps over the bolts that went through the frame. Give a tap with a hammer, end of a screw driver, or block of something and they will go in flush.
Next is the light assemblies. I highly recommend before you do anything with these light assemblies that you start to peel the protective coating from the rolled side edges. You will happy that you did.
The bulbs are packaged well as one whole unit. You remove them by simply twisting. The bulbs are very thin, so twist ONLY by grabbing the ENDS, and NOT the middle. They will pop right out. Remove the foam supports.
They are not to be used. Make sure you have the correct MALE to MALE orientation of the light units. Both male ends are to be on the same side. Center your bulb frames and insert them in the clips. You can either angle the assembly or push them straight in.
I suggest angling as it “starts” the process and makes it easier. Once that is all done, then insert the wiring harness into the bulbs. The bulbs are to face down, and the grooved section of the bulb faces the hood.
The hoods are supported by steel ball chains, and key rings. There is a little adapter at both ends of the chain. Do one end only. Start with the outside, LARGE key ring. Insert ONE ball into the adapter.
The ball goes in, but the metal thread must SNAP into the adapter to be secure. You will hear it “SNAP” in place. If you didn’t hear or feel it “SNAP” it isn’t correct and you risk your lights crashing down on your plants possibly damaging them, and breaking a bulb or two.
Feed the chain through the squeeze control by pushing down on the top. Once you have it close to the large key ring, that’s good, and you can feed it through the hole on the end supports, and then over the nylon bushing in the center supports.
You repeat the process for the small ring that when completed, simply hooks onto the light unit hood. To adjust the height, simply hold the chain, release the squeeze control, pull the chain to its correct height, and then release.
Your light will be affixed at what you selected. Do the same for the other side. Here is what I did that is extra and above. I made sure that all the light controls which are a spin dial were all on the same side.
Using the appropriate size plastic ties, I attached a power strip across the bottom support. I zip tied all the wires appropriately so they were out of the way and completely organized. I zip tied the controls flush to the ends for easy operation.
I then plugged the lights in, and zip tied all the slack left over so it was neat and out of the way. The power strip was then plugged into a Defiant programmable timer, and I set up the lights to come on automatically at 7AM and remain on til 9PM and they go off, repeating the process each day.
It works flawlessly. Whereas I have yet to put any plants under it, my unit is set up just the way I want it, and I can’t wait to start growing. I am very pleased with this unit. The fit and finish is excellent.
THANK YOU so much for using STICKERS that don’t take an ACT of GOD to remove and have a gooey residue left! The unit rolls easy, and is easily placed in the home. The shelves are equally spaced. Those like me who are a little challenged with getting low, will deal with the lower shelf accordingly.
The shelves are affixed. There is no adjusting them. The great thing are the bins that are included. They are at least 2″ deep so no worries about any “water” leaking. I am extremely happy with this unit and highly recommend it to all who want to grow but cannot because of their restrictions or restraints.
I fully intend to buy another one. They are great. I’ve attached some photos of my unit so you can see what I did. All that I have suggested here is just that: suggestions. I hope this helps those who may be a little intimidated in building this.
It may look like a lot, but if you take your time, you will assemble the perfect grow light rack. Thank you Gardener’s Supply for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. I highly recommend this unit.
You will not regret the purchase.