Urban Gardening: the Closet

Welcome to the first part of my urban gardening project! In this article, I will guide you through the creation of a custom-designed wooden closet that serves as the central hub for my balcony garden. This closet houses the electronics for a sophisticated water irrigation system, hydroponics setup, and various gardening tools. Let's dive into the step-by-step process of building this essential piece of furniture.

Materials:

• 3x 800x600x18mm beech wood panels
• 3x 800x400x18mm beech wood panels
• 3.5x45mm black powder-coated screws
• 2x hinges (I chose them in black polyamide)
• Weatherproof varnish
• 1/2" wall-mounted valve
• Ø13mm 0.5m garden hose with ending connectors.

Tools

• Laser cutter (or access to any makerspace having one)
• Random-orbit sander
• Screwdriver or drill
• Brushes

The closet was designed to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. It has a bottom part that serves as a storage area for the electronics, solenoid valves, hydroponic system components, and a lateral access for a water hose. The upper part is a rack with horizontal holes for hanging hydroponic pots.

Using a CAD software, I designed the closet to be laser cut from 18mm beech wood. The design ensures easy assembly, with some parts fitting together like a puzzle.

Once the design was ready, I used a laser cutter to cut the wood panels. The precision of the laser cutter ensured that all parts fit together perfectly. However, the process was slightly challenging due to the thickness of the wood. Make sure to calibrate the laser cutter properly to achieve clean cuts, selecting the right lenses (2.5" for this thickness) and the right settings, which for the Trotec 400 Speedy and this 18mm thickness beech were:

• Power: 90
• Speed: 0.5
• DPI: 1000
• Passes: 2-3 (we learned along the way)
• Focus: auto

It was my biggest project up to now involving so much laser cutting, so in the beginning we started with some parameters tuned to materials as similar as the ones we intended to cut until we found those giving the best results.

Special thanks to the TechLAB at the Technical Museum of Vienna for providing the laser cutting facilities and to their crew, in particular to Sarah and Christoph.

After cutting, most of the parts came out good, some others needed a particular pacience and/or force to get out of the panels.

But in any case the edges of the wood pieces had burn marks from the laser. Therefore I used a random-orbital sander to smooth the edges and remove the marks. This step is crucial for achieving a polished look and ensuring that the varnish adheres well to the wood.

Before the next step, I quickly assembled the closet just to make sure all the pieces would fit together without any surprises. This helped me smooth out some edges that made the assembly slightly more dificult.

To protect the wood from the elements, I coated all the pieces with a weatherproof varnish. This not only enhances the durability of the closet but also gives it a beautiful finish. Apply multiple coats for the best results, allowing each coat to dry completely before applying the next.

With all the pieces prepared, I began assembling the closet. The design included pre-lasered holes for the screws, making the assembly process straightforward. Using 3.5x45mm black powder-coated screws, I carefully put together the closet. The pre-lasered holes ensured a smooth integration of the screws, avoiding any protrusions and allowing very plain contacts between the screw's head and the wood surface.

On the right side of the closet, I mounted the water valve and I fixed it to the wood by mouning the hose connector on the inside, which will be connected later on to the 2-way divider water line.

Additionally I 3D printed a hose wall holder to keep everything tidy.

Once the closet was assembled, I placed the closet on it's final location, hiding the water tap valve inside the closet and making all the connections to provide an external water line on the lateral side of the closet.

Last but not least, I installed the electronics for the irrigation system, including the solenoid valves, pushbuttons, sensors, pumps...

... but that will be content for another Instructables!