3D Printable Self Watering Planter

This is a 3D-printable, self-watering, hanging planter I designed with Tinkercad. As shown in the main picture, the planter has a bowl-shaped space to grow plants in, and a water reservoir mounted over half of the container for the plant. There is also a cover for the reservoir that can be 3D printed, to keep the water from evaporating.

Required tools and materials:

Tools:

• Ultimaker Cura Software
• 3D Printer

Materials:

• 3D Printer Filament
• Potting Soil
• Water

To carry out this step, you must have Ultimaker Cura installed on your computer. If you don't have it installed, go to this page to download it and this page to learn how to use it. Cura is a slicer, which is a program which can be used to scale and position your 3D printing files on a virtual print bed. Once you have finished scaling and positioning your files, it outputs your files in a language 3D printers can understand, called G-code. First, open Cura. Download your files and drag one of them into the virtual print bed displayed in the Cura window. I would recommend not scaling the files, as the hole for the water in the planter would be enlarged and drain water too quickly.

As I don't have a 3D printer, I was unable to print the planter and test it. However, I was able to make a Tinkercad model of how it should be used. To use it, fill the lower compartment of the planter with potting soil, as shown in the main picture. To use the self-watering feature, fill the upper compartment of the planter with water. The water should slowly flow through the hole in the bottom of the compartment, watering the plant. The 3D printed cover fits onto the top compartment of the planter to reduce water evaporation.The planter can be hung from a string or hook with the ring at the top of the planter.