I recently bought a bunch of plants and wanted to try my hand at designing my own geometric planter. This is what I came up with. If you'd like to see how this is designed, you can find the source here at Onshape.
I've included two *.3mf files with my print settings for all 3 sizes. The first contains the “inner pot” parts to be printed in PETG, and the other includes 2-color painted versions of the outer pots.
Updates:
- 2024-08-06: New vented/latching versions of the inner pot and drip tray.
- New designs include air vents along the back of the pot because I noticed that the original designs seal so well inside the outer put that the drip trays weren't allowing the water to evaporate, so it was at risk of getting stagnant and had to be dumped out manually every time I watered.
- These versions also extend deeper into the drip tray to allow for bottom watering, and latch onto the drip tray to keep them together when removing from the decorative pot.
Design considerations:
- I need pots that can easily be removed from the wall for cleaning/draining, so I designed an inner pot that can be lifted out to perform any needed maintenance. This also allows for the decorative pot to be printed in PLA, which doesn't always hold up well over time in contact with damp soil.
- This hook design also allows a large air space between the pot and the wall, which helps avoid any moisture from the plant damaging your wall.
- I'm a big fan of Honeycomb Storage Wall so I designed the hooks to line up with its grid. I've included files for a couple inserts that take an M5x8mm screw and and allow the pot to hang on your wall.
Printing tips:
- For best longevity, avoid PLA or the inner pot and drip tray. PETG works great.
- Make sure you have staggered inner seams enabled in your slicer, especially the drip tray.
- This is designed to be printed with an 0.4mm nozzle with standard PrusaSlicer settings (I use the “0.2 SPEED” profile).
- Walls intended to be water-tight are a multiple of 0.5mm, so you should adjust your extrusion width if you aren't using a modern slicer that can do this for you automatically.
- If you're using MMU painting to paint paint the decorations a different color, test out different part orientations. Due to this bug, simply rotating the part 90° can save several hours of this already lengthy print.
- Also of note: I've had some troubles ensuring the outer pot is fully water-tight when printing in multiple colors. The provided pre-painted model has settings to alleviate these issues, but I encourage you to assume the outer pot is not water-tight, and to rely on the drip tray to actually catch/hold water.
ex-nerd
