Mini hydroponic garden on your desk using 3D printing. via instructables
I came up with this project after my cat started chewing on all of my house plants. I used to buy him cat grass from my local farmer’s market, but they started to get really expensive. ($9 for a 3×3 pot) So I decided to put my 3d printer to use and make a cheaper alternative using some stuff I had around the house. I’ll be growing some cat grass (Barley) and some catnip for my little plant killer.
To start, you will need the following materials:
These items can be found at any Walmart
– 1x Aquarium air pump – Found in the pet area
– 1x 8 ft Length air tube – Found in the pet area
– Small air-stones – You should ideally use small round air-stones, but I happened to have a few spare 4 inch air-stones – Found in the pet area
– Mason jars with a regular sized mouth – The 3d file can only fit on regular mouth jars, not the wide mouth.
– Cat nip seeds/Cat grass seeds (barley)
– Large bowl
– 1 Gallon distilled or Reverse Osmosis water
You will also need:
Coconut fiber pith or rock wool which you can get at any hydroponics store. If you use the coconut fiber you will have A LOT of extra material.
If you use rock-wool, you will need at least 1x 1-inch cubes as well as a few (handful) hydroton pebbles.
After germination you may also need:
1x Digital pH meter of pH test kit (fluid test)
Liquid nutrients (ex. General Hydroponics)
Finally, you will need
1x -3d printed lid
Lid 3d print settings:
I printed the lid with Yellow 1.75mm ABS on a .4mm nozzle
Layer Height: 0.2mm
Shells/perimeter: 3
Top/Bottom solid layers: 4
Infill: 20%
Skirt outlines:2
Skirt Layers: 120 (Helps prevent warping/de-lamination at the base of the print)
Print speed 60mm/s
The model may appear really small, if that is the case, scale it up by 10. I think it may be an issue with .obj files. Unfortunately Maya LT doesn’t support .STL exports.
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