Converting a 19" server cabinet

[CBL]

As some of you might have seen in my introduction topic my humidor is nearly full and I've started a new project: Converting a 19" server cabinet that can hold 30 cubic feet into a new humidor!

Some info: The cabinet measures 60x80x180 (cm) and is made from aluminum.

There are ventilation holes on the sides of the front door (that I want to close off with cedar veneer)

And a huge ventilation raster on the bottom of the back door (I'll probably close that off as well)

At the top of cabinet is room for 8 fans, but I have 2 right now (one can fill the cabinet with fresh air 4 times in one minute)

I'm planning on buying some cedar to build planks to put my boxes on and want to humidify it by using beads (I probably need 5 pounds )

As I'm leaving in 3 weeks and won't come back until next summer I have no rush in finishing this project, but I did want to prepare and plan out all the possibilities because with a cabinet like this the possibilities are endless! The most ambitious one being to build two or three small cedar humidors that I can pull out

But right now I want to keep it simple and to be completely honest not too expensive. I fully plan on this humidor to be an ongoing project that I can expand and evolve throughout the years.

I'd love to hear some of your suggestions (I will post pictures ASAP)

I also have one question:

The fans: should I make them blow out the "old" air or supply fresh air? And if I make them supply clean cool air, does that make the temperature go down at all?

I've read Bartolomeo and PigFish's topics and PigFish's manual, but I'm not sure everything applies to a non temp controlled humidor, so I'm still in need of more info

[thechenman]

As some of you might have seen in my introduction topic my humidor is nearly full and I've started a new project: Converting a 19" server cabinet that can hold 30 cubic feet into a new humidor!

Some info: The cabinet measures 60x80x180 (cm) and is made from aluminum.

There are ventilation holes on the sides of the front door (that I want to close off with cedar veneer)

And a huge ventilation raster on the bottom of the back door (I'll probably close that off as well)

At the top of cabinet is room for 8 fans, but I have 2 right now (one can fill the cabinet with fresh air 4 times in one minute)

I'm planning on buying some cedar to build planks to put my boxes on and want to humidify it by using beads (I probably need 5 pounds )

As I'm leaving in 3 weeks and won't come back until next summer I have no rush in finishing this project, but I did want to prepare and plan out all the possibilities because with a cabinet like this the possibilities are endless! The most ambitious one being to build two or three small cedar humidors that I can pull out

But right now I want to keep it simple and to be completely honest not too expensive. I fully plan on this humidor to be an ongoing project that I can expand and evolve throughout the years.

I'd love to hear some of your suggestions (I will post pictures ASAP)

I also have one question:

The fans: should I make them blow out the "old" air or supply fresh air? And if I make them supply clean cool air, does that make the temperature go down at all?

I think Piggy is the man you want to talk to about this project. If he does not respond to this thread, I'd shoot him a PM.

[PigFish]

I think Piggy is the man you want to talk to about this project. If he does not respond to this thread, I'd shoot him a PM.

I need some pictures, and information about your ambient conditions. Any box can isolate cigars, hell people use ice chests!!! It all depends on what environment you want to create or isolate from. Always happy to help as long as I don't have to type a book!

Good luck, Piggy

[CBL]

As promised a couple of pictures and some extra information on the cabinet. I bought 3 pieces of spanish cedar last week that I will turn into two shelves that I can pull out for about 2/3.

I left a cup of water in the cabinet for a couple of days and the RH stayed at a perfect 65% but I honestly have NO idea why, because the cabinet didn't have anything in it except for the water (with no beads) I only measured from the top of the cabinet, so it might be a safe bet to say that the bottom of the cabinet might have been extremely dry (maybe in the 45% radius, because thats what I measured without the cup of water)

The humidor will be kept in The Netherlands where it is relatively dry so I will need to Humidor to keep my cigars at the right humidity level. I'm not too worried about the temperature, but I do have the possibility to add two fans, but I have yet to figure out if I'll make them blow fresh air into the humidor or suck the air out of it. Hopefully you guys can help me out with some info on that subject!

The front door is made from glas, but right now still has some paper stuck to it to protect it from scratches while I'm still working on it.

Here is where I want to put a pull out shelve.

The plastic and duck-tape is just temporary obviously, I'm still contemplating how I can close it up. I was thinking about using some Cedar veneer. I have the same problem with some air holes on the sides of the front door, I've also closed that up with duck-tape for now.

This is where I can and will put two computer fans. Either blowing air in or out.

The cabinet has 4 doors that can open on each side, so I closed them all off with weather stripping.

I hope to be able to post some pictures of the shelves as soon as those are ready (hopefully this week)

If anyone needs some extra information, please let me know. I'm thinking about using a buttload of beads to keep thinks humidified, but if anyone has any other ideas, I'm happy to hear them out!

[hansa]

WOW, great project CBL...

Keep us updated (preferably with pictures ! )

Never seen a server cabinet being transformed in a humidor... Interesting ! You're a pioneer !

[CanuckSARTech]

Always happy to help as long as I don't have to type a book!

Uhhh, didn't you already?

[CanuckSARTech]

Me myself, I don't know if I'm a fan of converting that cabinet into a humidor. Might take a heck of a lot of work - there's a lot of seams and edges to seal up from air leaking in/out. Also, with it being metal, and this thing essentially enclosing a very humid environment, I don't know about the longevity of it.

For the fans, I wouldn't look at blowing air in or out. Fans are just nice for air movement within a larger cabinet, to keep the air moving around top to bottom. You don't want mass quantities of air exchange in and/or out of there - it negates the purpose of a humidor.

[CBL]

Me myself, I don't know if I'm a fan of converting that cabinet into a humidor. Might take a heck of a lot of work - there's a lot of seams and edges to seal up from air leaking in/out. Also, with it being metal, and this thing essentially enclosing a very humid environment, I don't know about the longevity of it.

For the fans, I wouldn't look at blowing air in or out. Fans are just nice for air movement within a larger cabinet, to keep the air moving around top to bottom. You don't want mass quantities of air exchange in and/or out of there - it negates the purpose of a humidor.

Most of the edges are sealed already, but I still need to make it all look a little better I'm not too worried about a little air coming in because I won't go near the humidor for a year so if some air comes in it wouldn't be a problem. My dad will add some water when necessary and air out the humidor.

Regarding the metal, It's all stainless steel and aluminum that won't rust, so that won't be a problem either. I will also put boxes in it only, so that will keep the cigars stored perfectly.

My humidor right now is kinda the same but in a smaller format. It's completely made from glass and steel and it has some seams around the doors and even 4 small air holes in glass, but it keeps my cigars in PERFECT condition, especially for long term aging!

Thanks for the heads up on the fans! I'll start thinking about different ways to use them.

BTW. Today I started working on the shelves, it was a disaster! I hope to finish tomorrow and upload some pictures soon

[PigFish]

My first thoughts go to the many zinc plated parts and how they will be prone to corrosion and condensation. If I were to work on this project I would make sure that you keep the cabinet in an area that is not prone to rapid declining temperature cycles. If you keep this by a window, keep it closed. A sudden drop in temperature could cause a considerable humidity/condensation problem here, so be aware of it at the very least.

Good luck. -Piggy

EDIT: SS will help the corrosion problem of course but the condensation issue still exists. ****... Stainless Steel!!! That box must have cost a fortune! No wonder you want to keep it!!! -LOL

[CBL]

Thanks PF! I wasn't too worried about corrosion but I was (and still am) kinda worried about condensation, especially since a lot of people on the forum have coolidors that create so much moisture that they rehydrate the beads Thats why I was hoping the fans would help out with that.

Also the temperatures in my room rarely go up or down. During the summer it's pretty warm in my room but I'm always home during the summer vacation and keep a close eye on my babies

Like I said before, this humidor will be a continuing project that I'll slowly build into my dream humidor. Next year I might build newer and better shelves and I also want to add some led lights at some point.

And I should be able to come up with a more efficient way of humidifying the cabinet. But for now, I just want it to keep a steady RH and not leak anything on my boxes

[CanuckSARTech]

Have you thought about lining the whole interior of the cabinet with thick spanish cedar? I know that might be very cost prohibitive, but it's a thought.

[CBL]

Have you thought about lining the whole interior of the cabinet with thick spanish cedar? I know that might be very cost prohibitive, but it's a thought.

I have thought about it! But the wallet said no (for now)

But like I said I hope to slowly expand the humidor and my clear end-point is to have the entire inside lined with cedar! The Cabinet is perfect for that as it has some free space between the shelves and the doors.

[CBL]

Last week finished building 2 drawers with my dad.

We learned a lot! Mostly that you should make the drawers out of one single piece of cedar But I'm pretty happy with the result! I've only shot the top drawer, but rest assure the bottom one is more or less the same except that the boards/planks are further apart as I will use the bottom one for cabinets or odd sized boxes.

I've measured the RH for a couple of days and on average the RH was 65% at the top shelf and 70% at the bottom shelf (without beads, just a small bowl of water) Sadly I won't see my humidor for a year (I'm back in Taiwan) but next year I'll start arranging it after I get a bum-load of beads and some fans two circulate the air. Also I'll buy some more wood and build some extra storage space. I'm thinking about building one small "closet" inside the cabinet for long term aging where the boxes are under full lockdown

[CBL]

BTW. My dad completely fell in love with the smell of cedar Best quote: "wow, one would start smoking cigars JUST for the smell of that cedar"

He even admitted to sneaking into my room and smelling my humidor when I was away for the weekend once

I just hope I'll never find lines of cedar sawdust on the coffee table

[sloth]

from what i hear.. dust from cut spanish cedar is toxic, so i would tell your dad to ease up.

[CanuckSARTech]

I just hope I'll never find lines of cedar sawdust on the coffee table

from what i hear.. dust from cut spanish cedar is toxic, so i would tell your dad to ease up.

Yes, exactly - you really should wear a good dust mask when working with it, especially for the finer-dust stuff like using a board planer or a table saw. Not good at all for you.

But, looking great so far, CBL. You'll definitely have to keep us updated on your progress on this in the future. I'm a little bit sad that you won't really get it done for a year or so - I'm excited to see what it will look like, from your vision for it that you've explained.

[strayvector]

LOL...looks like an IBM T42 rack. Good luck in your conversion. Keeping the sucker air tight will be your biggest challenge.

[CBL]

I'm a little bit sad that you won't really get it done for a year or so - I'm excited to see what it will look like, from your vision for it that you've explained.

Man it breaks my heart that I can't finish it or even see the cabinet for a year But rest assure the coming 10 months I will work out and design a grand master plan to make my cabinet as efficient and useful as possible. I want to have it up and running as soon as I'm back for the summer next year and hopefully move in all my boxes before I leave again

I'm also gonna use these 10 months to buy all the electronic material I need to monitor and regulate the climate in the cabinet.

Sadly all this will have to be done on paper first, but this way I should have a well thought out plan in the end