Balcony Garden: Self-watering flowerpots/planters for balcony railings (parametric)

prusaprinters

<p>Flowerpots/Planters to fit between the rails of our balcony railings. OpenSCAD file is included so you can easily make it fit yours!</p><p>There are two variants of the pot (measures in <code>mm</code>):</p><ul><li>a smaller one that fits between two rails: 120x110x110 (HxWxD), ~1.5l volume</li><li>a bigger one that spans across three rails: 200x229.5x200 (HxWxD), ~9l volume</li><li>( rails are 8.5x40.5 (WxD) )</li></ul><p>Every flowerpot/planter consists of 4 parts:</p><ul><li>the pot itself</li><li>an inlay to create a water reservoir</li><li>a floater to check the waterlevel</li><li>2 or 5 mounting brackets (depending on the pot size)</li></ul><p>There are drain holes on each side of the pot so you can't overwater it and it won't get flooded when it rains.</p><blockquote><p>Please leave a comment or a photo if you print it!</p><p>If you make another size please create a remix including the STLs.</p></blockquote><p><strong>Updates</strong></p><ul><li>06.06.2021: Added tomato trellis clip for balcony railings.</li><li>30.04.2021: STL export from OpenSCAD now creates a clean mesh according to FreeCAD. Postfixed <code>-v2</code> SCAD an STL files added. 3MF files are unchanged since Prusa Slic3r repaired the mesh and they printed fine.</li><li>01.01.2021: The walls of the mount are now fixed width. Before they scaled with the rail width which is a waste of plastic for wider rails. SCAD file updated with <code>-v3</code>. All other files are unchanged.</li></ul><p><br><strong>Customi(s/z)ing</strong></p><p>Download and open <code>flowerpot.scad</code>. All the relevant variables are on top of the file. Measures are in <code>mm</code>.</p><p>You most likely need to edit 6 variables:</p><ul><li><code>big</code> creates a small pot when <code>false</code>, a big one when <code>true</code>.</li><li><code>pw,ph,pd</code> width, height and depth of the flowerpot. Make the width 1 or 2mm smaller than the distance between the rails. Especially when making a big pot which adds an additional 1mm (variable <code>rwg)</code> for the middle rail so it won't get stuck.</li><li><code>rw,rd</code> width and depth of a single rail of your balcony railings. The measurements here should be quite accurate.</li></ul><p><strong>Mounting</strong></p><p>You need one M3x20 (or longer) screw and one M3 hex nut per mounting bracket.</p><p>Place the mounting brackets onto the railings and secure each one with a screw. The pots have a hanger on each side, it should slide easily into the gap between the mounting bracket and the rails. Secure the big pots using all 5 mounting brackets - better safe than sorry!</p><p><br><strong>Printing</strong></p><p>All printed with PETG in 0.3 DRAFT settings. I printed the pots completely solid (no infill) - 4 bottom layers, 3 perimeters, outer perimeters first. They hold the water just fine.</p><p>3MF files are included with all the settings. You can take them as a reference in case the pots do not fit your railings - which is most likely. To print the small pot you need all files prefixed with <code>small-</code>, for the bigger one all files prefixed with <code>big-</code>.</p><p>There are also STL files included which you need to split up yourself using your slicer software.</p><blockquote><p>When printing the big pot make sure your extruder cable bundle has not sagged! Mine did and ended the print ungracefully after ~30 hours. Consider using <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/5722-extended-extruder-cable-clip">Extended Extruder Cable Clip</a> by <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/social/2065-asraff">Asraff</a> which fixed the issue for me.</p></blockquote>