3D Printed Hanging Planter

For years I've been wanting to write an Instructable but either didn't have the time or the resources to make one.

This one sort of popped up on me as I'd already made the 3D files in Fusion 360 and then saw the challenge on the Instructables app. So this instructable will only include the finished file and how I plan to print it once I get my first printer. I have a Creality Ender 3 on the way as a birthday present from my brother.

This project came about for me as my wife and I always wanted to have some plants growing in our apartment but the massive windows in our livingroom were always easily accessible to our 2 cats that like to chew on our plants. Being that these can hang I can keep them high enough away from the cats. I came up up with this design as I wanted something small that looked organic, thus the teardrop inspired shape. There are 2 designs, an Upper and a Lower unit. you can tell the difference by the eyelets around the bottom missing from the lower unit. The idea being that you can hang multiple levels off each other.

Water the top one and any excess drains through the hole in the bottom into the next unit. But before you add soil to plant in, I would lay down some fine mesh like a bit of window screen or cut up an old fine mesh stainless steel strainer. I left the hole in the lower unit so that you don't end up over watering that one as well but I've included the .stl files so you can remix it and delete the hole if you like on that one. I would also create a jig and use it to tie fishing line at preset lengths so that all the units hang at the same height from one another.

After creating the object in Fusion 360, I exported it to Meshmixer. There, I split the body into 2 halves just slightly off centre, so that they could lay down on the printer bed and be supported from the inside and that area will be mostly unseen due to it being inside once the 2 halves are glued back together. I didn't want to split it exactly centre as the eyelet on the backside would have been split as well, and I was worried about it being too weak afterwards.

After splitting the body in two, I exported from Meshmixer into Cura and oriented the objects so that I can print 2 pots (4 halves) at the same. The red areas in the pictures are either where the objects are in contact with the printer bed or where supports are needed for overhangs. You'll have to play with the settings in Cura to print at your desired resolution/quality level. Because supports are required, there will be some clean up required. I plan on sanding them, then filling ridges with body filler, priming and finally painting with either some automotive spray paint or using my airbrush.

I also think I'll download TinkerCad and try to recreate these pots and create an Instructable on how to create them in TinkerCad.

Here's the stl files for the planters.

Please don't use these files to sell the finished items. I'm sharing them with the community in the hopes that someone will enjoy them or remix them to fit their application but not to profit from them.

I'd love to see the finished results of these planters from other makers!