Roboid Self Watering Planter (TinkerCAD)

Hello Makers!

I have been wanting to try my hands to make a 3D printed planter for a long time now. Here is my attempt to make a 3D printed self-watering planter with a water level indicator. Hope you enjoy making it!

As this is a self watering planter, it is made up of following 5 parts :

1) Outer container

2) Inner container ( container that will hold the soil and plant)

3) Right & left leg

4) Level indicator float

5) Antenna ( acts as a funnel to pour water)

List of tools and materials:

1) Tinker CAD

2) Access to 3D printing

3) Plier ( to remove support material)

4) Sanding paper ( to finish the surface)

5) Paint ( if you cannot print it with colored filament)

As there are multiple parts, I have broken down the instructable into smaller steps for simplification.

This is the main body which accommodates all the other parts. One thing that I realized is that if you sketch out your idea and have rough dimensions figured out it is easier to model it out in Tinker CAD.

1. Make a cylinder with a diameter - 22mm and a height - 75mm.

2. Make 4 such cylinders and move them in four corners such that they form an imaginary cuboid of 100 x 100 x 75 mm.

3. Make 2 cuboids perpendicular to each other with dimensions 100 x 78 x 75mm. Place them centrally aligned with the previous imaginary cuboid as shown in the image.

4. Group them together to form a solid.

5. Now, place a cuboid of dimensions 34 x 8 x 9 mm and add a round roof of diameter 34mm and thickness 9mm. Group them to form a solid.

6. Cut out a hole from the solid with a 4mm offset from all sides except the bottom.

7. Make a copy of this shape and centrally align them on two opposite sides of the cuboid as shown. Next,

8. To convert this solid into a container with 2mm thickness, follow above steps 1 to 7 again to create another cuboid which is 2mm smaller from all the sides. Refer the following images.

a.

b.Make the inner cuboid into a hole and group with with outer body to get this shell form.

9. Lets add 2 guide rods which will be used to guide a float. ( You will understand the use of this component better in coming steps)

a.

b.

NOTE: The transparency in second image is to show the internal parts.

10. Now lets add few expressions to our Roboid.

a. Following similar procedure we used to create outer shell to create a 2mm thick 26 x 60mm rectangular frame.

b. Add two semicircular holes like smiley eyes

The Outer container is ready !

Inner container fits inside the outer and hold the soil and plant.

1. Make a 4 cylinders with a diameter - 16mm & height - 50mm and move them in four corners such that they form an imaginary cuboid of 94 x 94 x 50 mm. Now add 2 cuboids perpendicular to each other with dimensions 94 x 78 x 50mm. Place them centrally aligned with the previous imaginary cuboid as shown in the image.

2. Add an edge profile as shown

3. Next, lets create a L shaped pocket in the cuboid to accommodate the level indicator float.

4. To convert this solid into a container with 2mm thickness, follow above
steps 1 to 3 again to create another cuboid which is 2mm smaller from all the sides. Refer the following images.

a.

b. Make the inner cuboid into a hole and group with with outer body to get this shell form.

5. Make two holes with diameter 6mm and 30mm apart, at the bottom center.

6. Next, we will add a water tube in one corner.

a.

b. Subtract a smaller cylinder to form a tube.

7. Next, we will add 4 L shaped support legs at the bottom.

a.

b.

I have converted the antenna into a functional feature. It acts as funnel through which you can pour water, which then is stored in the bottom container. This water is then used by the plant though capillary action.

Lets start building the antenna from the bottom.

1. First place a 1mm thick tube and add another tube at the top to form a ring.

2. Add a cone and cop it from top using a cuboid.

3. Add two concentric sphere on the top and create hollow sphere.

4. Chop the hollow sphere at an angle using a cuboid.

5. Add smaller cone and subtract it from the solid body.

6. Stack the two bodies and join them to form the antenna. Place this on the corner as shown.

Your Antenna is ready. Whenever you need to water you plant, just pour water through the dish on the top!

Level indicator is a floating part that floats on the water stored in the bottom tank.

Note: Make sure you set the infill density for this parts to 10-15% as we want to float.

1. Create a filleted rectangular body with two hole in the middle. These holes will guide the float to move up and down along the two cylinder we have created inside the outer shell.

2. Lets add two circular bodies and attach it to the base using two cylinders.

Note: We will color these two circular bodies BLACK so that when the water level changes, the color of the Roboid's eye changes so as to indicate the water level.

1. Create a base center by stacking 3 different cylinders as shown.2. Add two filleted rectangular flaps on opposite side as shown. This will increase the base length for stability.

3. Join a cuboid and a semicircular disc and subtract a similar shape from center to make it hollow. This hollow cavity will be used to join the leg on the two sides of the outer shell. 4. Chamfer the two bottom edges add a flat circular ring on the back side as an aesthetic feature.

5. Make a copy and rotate for make the other leg.

The above animation shows the assembly of the planter.

1. Assemble the planter as shown.

2. Before you add soil, insert two cotton threads passing through the two holes at the bottom of the inner container. The best way is to tie a knot at the center of the thread so that it does not slip away to the bottom. Make sure there is enough length above and below the hole.

3. This thread keeps the soil moist by sucking water from the bottom container through capillary action.

You are ready to plant your favorite plant!

I will be 3D printing this soon, whenever its possible. If you happen to print it before me, I would love to see the results.

Cheers!