Multicolor customizable plant markers

Keep your garden organized with these simple plant markers. Designed to be fully parametric, you can easily change the plant name, font and size to match your style. No advanced CAD experience required - just open the file, tweak a few settings, and print!

And if you don't want to design your own - download some pre-generated markers from ready_made folder.

I included both .FCStd (FreeCAD) and .scad files and described the workflows below.

⚠ Please note that some of the prints in the pictures use Lunarya DEMO font by Say Studio, which is not free for commercial use.
You can download it yourself and use but I am not allowed to upload the model using it here. The font which the STL models use is a completely free Siegfried font by Dieter Steffmann. Of course with the parametric files you can use whichever other font you have installed on your computer.

📐 Dimensions

• Label dimensions (without the stake): 40 x 80 mm

• Stake dimensions: 20 x 60 mm

• Total thickness: 1.6 mm (base 1mm, text 0.6 mm)

📦 Files

🎨 Customization

You need only one plant_label.* file and both of them produce exactly the same result.

🔶 FreeCAD

⚠ FreeCAD references font file by its relative or absolute path. Either place your font file in the  same directory and set FontFile to ./[filename] or check where your system stores installed fonts and copy the full path.

1. [Optional] download the font you want to use. You will need the path to this file in a moment.

2. Open plant_label.FCStd

3. Double-click the Parameters spreadsheet in the tree view

4. Change values in cells in column B - LabelText, FontSize, FontFile
   Refresh the project - the label should have updated text

5. File -> Export -> save to .stl file

🔶 OpenSCAD

⚠ OpenSCAD expects the name of a font which is already installed in your system. When you download a new font, make sure you install it first, and that the parameter name is the actual name of the font in the system - this can be different from the file name. 

1. [Optional] download the font you want to use and install it. You will need the name of this font in a moment.

2. Open plant_label.scad

3. In Customizer under Parameters edit the variables label text, font size and font name

4. Press F6 or select Design -> Render

5. Press F7 or select File -> Export -> Export as STL

🖨 Printing

⚙ Settings

If you are planning to keep the markers outside, I strongly recommend printing them in PETG. It is known that PLA can easily melt in the sun and can get damaged by water.

That said, printing such small details as text in PETG can be challenging. I managed to find a setup that produces beautiful results reliably. The most important part, however, was to dry my filament very well.

⚠ Don't forget to set color change mid-print in the slicer! PrusaSlicer should automatically detect the text and ask if color change should be applied automatically. If that doesn't happen, you should do this manually. How to do it - explained here.

👟 Running the print

I like manually adjusting speed as I print. You can probably set it up in the slicer too.

• The base label part can be printed at 100% speed without issues

• Slow down significantly when printing text - it's worth it. I usually go down to 25% and then speed up to 50-70% during ironing

🐌 My printer and materials

• Prusa MINI

• Prusament PETG Matte Black and Prusament PETG Pistachio Green

❤ Support

If you're struggling with generating the STL files, feel free to message me. I can generate specific labels for you