Make 3D Printed Microgreen Sprouting Tray With Light

Hello friends in this instructables I will show you how you can make your own 3D printed microgreen growing tray at your home with the help of which you can grow your favorite micro Greens for consumption or just for transplanting purpose

This micro green growing tray also comes with light so that you can provide artificial light even in indoors if you dont have access to outdoor light

This is completely made from 3D printed parts and with the help of which only basic electronics we can build this project, If you are building this project i also have given all the STL files and circuit building steps to you can make this microgreens growing tray

What is the intention behind building this project?

I have seen most of the newer generations showing lack of interest or to be straight no interest at all in the field of agriculture!

This is true and in very rarest case we can see young students in this agriculture field where most of them are busy dancing on social media, Have you ever thought where this might lead to?

Who in the future will be growing food? if this continues it will be a major problem and there will be global food shortage(already happening!)

So i wanted something that will drag the attention of young minds and this can be made possible only through activities!

Not clear what im trying to say? When we came to this earth we knew nothing and to learn something we either saw it someone doing(teaching) and that will continue from us

Similarly if we expand the areas of agriculture to a wide area maybe that will grab the attention of many and out of which few will really start showing interest and that will lead to expansion directly or indirectly

This is my small try to contribute to upcoming generations that will encourage to build such project that is directly related to agriculture that in turn will have effect on our beloved earth!

I have made a 3d printed tray with light feature with the help of which you can grow your favorite microgreen and also for germinating the seeds of your choice

The plants are dependent on their light for their growth so if you live in area where there is restrictions to this or some pets that may eat up all this microgreens this inbuilt light is super useful

You can build this tray in different sizes and for my requirement i have made this size, note that i strongly recommend you guys to give a try to build this and if you are an adult i request you to suggest your dear ones to make this for you

Agriculture will contribute to a cleaner earth in many ways and we all shall be the part of it :)

Note: PLA filament used for 3d printing this parts is biodegradable so it also promotes using sustainable materials

This are the materials that you will require to make this project, i recommend to use the exact same materials for good results

Light source(you can use LED strip also) or Get the strip i used here

Switch

TP4056 charging module

Battery Pack(or any other seed)

Green gram

Water

3D Printer i used here

Slicing Software

PLA filament

Soldering iron

Jumper cables

Hot glue and Superglue

Note that upon buying from this links i may receive a small percent of successful sales at no extra cost to you

I designed the parts for this project using Tinkercad and the parts are really simple and easy to make but the float tray(with holes) was a little tricky but anyways after a lot of trial and error i was able to get it right.

There are total of 4 parts to be printed and all 4 does not need any rafts or supports at the time of print

The base is the part that will hold the water and the other parts, it holds water so i made it little thick so even at 20% infill you can assure it is leakproof

Hold tray is the part with holes that will hold the seeds and promote growth by keeping the seeds affloat with water

The extender named part is just for separating the handle from base frame to create a gap so it is easier to raise and lower the grow tray

Lastly the handle that will hold the led and also to lift the entire project

Use my STL files below and slice it with slicing software and then print it with your favorite colored filament, the post processing is not necessary but be careful when you are separating holed tray from the mat

This are not plastic instead a biodegradable material since we know PLA filaments are bio degradable materials

The circuit is very simple for this project, i will be using tp4056 board to charge the battery and an on/off switch to control the LED light

I will start by gluing the LED to the inside of the frame handle as shown in the steps above and allow to dry completely

I wanted the LED to cover all the areas on the tray so i will use 2 panels, i will connect them parallelly and to the junction of their connection i will solder the wires

The choice of wire is single stranded in my case, it is easy to solder and work upon

Solder the wires following the circuit and now leave a space to connect the switch where we will solder the pins in the end

To make the wires invisible i will use glue and stick the wires to the back edges in the frame, repeat the same step for other wire also

Connect the wires to tp4056 and in the end the battery can be connected, if needed you can use single 18650 battery for longer backup but that will make the project look a little extra so choice is yours

In the end of this step we have a light that will turn on and off at the press of a button

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This can be considered as one of the important steps since this handle will serve you 2 purposes

One is the the tray carrying handle that will allow you to take this tray wherever you want and the other is the light holder and for this we need to attach this handle to the frame with outmost care

I will first test the light stand for its working and now i will elevate its distance from the base support using mini discs

If you want more distance from the base center use more discs, in my case i used total of 4 discs, 2 on one side and the rest 2 on the other side

Use superglue to attach 2 discs together and mark the area where you will paste this discs

Now you can add the stand to this discs and if needed hold for some time so that everything is dry completely

Now I'm very much eager to the last step where we are going to test for the actual working of this device

Using this is very fun and it will give you lots of things to learn, Start by planning what type of seeds you are planning to grow in my case green gram was my favorite

Place the tray on the base part and place seeds all over the tray, the size of holes are small so you don't need to worry about the seeds falling off to the base part below

Pour half glass of water or if you are using different size cup fill water to the place where it just touches the base of the floating tray

Now give a gentle mix to spread the seeds across this tray, and you can leave it for 2 days so that you can finally see some germination from the seeds

After 4 days almost all the seeds will be germinated and if you are keeping this in indoor with no access to natural light simply turn on the light from the device and leave it until the battery discharges

It will take few hours for the battery to fully discharge and when it happens you can connect the battery charger module to USB source and do the recharging

When the greens are grown to maximum you can simply lift the tray, You will see the roots from this floating tray that were going down to the base tray

Give a gentle wash and now you can use your favorite greens, This is all about building this project, Have a great build

Don't worry if you missed to check the setting up of this project it is all covered in this building video tutorial.

Also there are many steps that will be useful for you if you are an absolute beginner to the field of project making, I tested this tray with green gram let me know how it goes for you if you are using different seeds

This is all for now, once again i will ask you guys to share this project if you think it will help your dearest ones to gain interest