I am getting my first 3D-printer (a Prusa CORE One) this week! I have tons of ideas that I want to get started with, but the most time-sensitive one is to make some self-watering planters for my balcony (so I can have time to grow some greens in the season). I wanted to do this without a 3D-printer last year, but I could never find any cases close to the right dimensions in the stores, and making the separator between the water reservoir and soil from off-the-shelf parts was not so easy with the cases I did find, so I hope I am able to make something functioning with my 3D-printer this year.

But I’m new to this, and I am looking for some advice to where to get started reading up on different concepts that will be relevant to this project. These are the things I am planning to dive into over the next weeks, and I am sure there are plenty of things I have not thought about at all:

  1. Splitting and joining 3D-printed objects: The overall base area of the planter is too large for my 3D-printer to do in one go, and I am likely going to need four parts that I need to fuse together. I am thinking there are many “standard” ways of doing this, such as splitting with a jigsaw-puzzle pattern? I am also planning to simply glue to the parts together along the seam, and add an additional layer of glue along the boundary. Which leads to concerns about…

  2. Water tightness: I know that making watertight prints is not the easiest thing in the world. The container should be able to contain water without leakage, and I am planning on reading up on all the ways to make the prints themselves as impermeable to water as possible. I am sure there are much to learn in terms of slicer settings here. In addition, I will look into different coatings I can finish it up with, such as a layer of water-proof wood glue. However, the water here will be absorbed by the soil and then by the plant’s roots, so this coating should be non-toxic.

  3. Material choice: To begin with, I will only have PLA available, but I can get other filaments if needed. There are two immediate concerns I have about this: whether it is food-safe (for the same reason as above) and whether it is suitable for outdoors use. It will not be in direct sunlight, as I will build a wooden case around these 3D-printed containers, but the planters themselves will be, so it could get a little hot during Summer. Any other considerations I need to make?

  4. Modelling the parts: I am already familiar with Blender, and planned on using it for the first project. I have FreeCAD installed, but zero experience. The shapes are simple, and I am sure I can draw up something in Blender in no time. But since I want to split them up, and join them ideally as flush as possible, will the models be precise enough? Dimensional precision is the main reason I’ve heard for using CAD-software over Blender for hobby basis.

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    12 days ago

    Yes due to outdoors. Even in low light, UV can add up and also, it takes quite some time, but even racemic pla does start to break down with aqueous exposure.

    Recommend buying a dedicated butane torch (<$40) for print cleanup. Something in between a zippo and a crem brulee torch. Works wonders on removing and stranding on your prints.

    Polycrillic finish is pretty inert stuff. Can’t imagine a sealant layer of it would be too toxic to plants or get significantly incorporated into any edible plant materials. I use polycrillic coated pla for weighing out coffee beans.