Seed Starter Structure for Growing Lights

This is a simple and cost effective structure to hold the growing lights close to the seeding tray.

Material:

• PLA+ filament - white
• 4x Square Dowel Rods - 1/2 in thick and 48 in length
• Seed starter tray
• Growing Lights
• Some cord
• Some glue

Note: I got the wooden rods directly at Home Depot. They also have them in Rona or Reno Depot!

Tools:

• Copying saw
• 3D printer - Ender 3 v2 from Creality - the best budget printer you can get!
• Utility knife
• Plies

The first step is to print the joints that will later hold the structure together. You need 8 copies of the joint.

Just open in your favourite slicer the .stl file I have attached, and obtain the gcode for your 3D printing machine.

In my case I used the well known and free slicer called Cura.

Also I printed the joints on PLA+ white from eSUN, with a heated plate at 60C, and a nozzle temperature of 200C.

You must use supports when printing since there are overhang walls!

Time to remove those supports by using the utility knife, and maybe a pair of plies to pull the supports out of the joints.

The design is done so that it is super easy to remove them. The supports are mostly attached to two faces, so they come out as 2 small squares (as showing in one of te pictures)... that's why I added the holes in some faces in those strategic positions!

Now you have to cut each of the 48 inches rods into pieces by using the copying saw.

Basically you want to get from each rod the following 3 pieces:

• 1 piece of 23 in
• 1 piece of 13 in
• 1 piece of 12 in

... and repeat these operation for each of the 4 dowels. By the end you must have 4 copies for each piece (a total of 12)

Now is time to put all the pieces together.

The easier way I found to do this is by mounting the top frame and bottom frame first with the plastic joints. Then connect these 2 sub-assemblies together with the remaining wooden rods.

For each sub assembly you need:

Top frame.

• 2x wood pieces of 23 in
• 2x wood pieces of 13 in
• 4x plastic joints

Bottom frame:

• same same

And then connect Top and Bottom with the 4 wooden pieces of 12 in length that you have left.

Now you have to hang the lights from the frame just above your seeding tray.

I use a piece of cord that I cut and tight from the structure to the growing lights.

It is recommended to put the lights close to the tray. You want the seedlings at the beginning to grow thick, and not tall. Basically you don't want to end up getting leggy seedlings.

Also, don't tight the knot too tight! Over time you will be moving the lights up, allowing your plants to keep growing :)

Note: In the pictures my growing tray is very small compared with the structure. The reason is because I used a smaller tray. Yours should fit more tight to the structure...

I hope you enjoyed making this simple project a much as I did. Happy gardening!