Rain Recycler

One of the many problems that the Earth faces is water pollution. Rain barrels help use recycled rainwater for gardens, but it is often harder to use than getting that water from your sink. I took inspiration from this and created an easy-to-use water recycling system that collects and stores rainwater until use. This will make it much easier to be sustainable and water your gardens!

Simply remove the slide from the recycler to allow the water to sprinkle from the container to move through the platform with small holes to gently water your plants.

To create a concept design, I used the program Autodesk Fusion 360.

For model making purposes, I used the following materials and tools as shown in the pictures:

• Upcycled Balsa Wood
• Scissors
• Beacon Clear Quick Dry Glue (Link Here)

In actual use, the main body would be made out of clear material such as plastic so it would not prevent photosynthesis as well as wooden supports.

Sketching and coming up with different designs was an important part of the process. Making sure to predict what problems may arise and how to solve them was a focus, with different sizes and concepts being tried out.

After I decided the best design, I opened up Fusion 360 and started to figure out how it would actually work.

I first worked on individual parts, first working on the collection area, then the moving parts such as the slider that would keep water in/out, and lastly the final platform with holes and the supports.

After this I put it all together and made sure everything fit! I additionally saw how it would look with the preferred materials with plastic and wood in the design as a final step.

Next, I used the previous model to make a physical one. I collected the materials I would need and started to cut out the right shapes. I glued together the shapes to make each part until I had all the pieces.

Similar to the process in Fusion, once I had all the pieces I put it together, making sure everything fit and was sized correctly.

I did this by stacking the parts on top of each other and adding the slider last so it would stay as a moving part without glue.

With the last step, the model is done. I additionally created a small set for it to see how it would look in a garden bed, and it was a success.

In an actual outdoor environment, the same steps would be taken but instead of balsa wood, a clear material would be used with the wooden supports.

This would decrease our water footprint with being able to easily use rainwater to store and use right above your garden.