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Mark's Spiral plant container


markde2e

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Hello,

I'm Mark from the Netherlands and a have a lot of Cephalotus leaf cuttings and not enough space :confused:

So I decided to design a spiral plant container!

I designed this with Inventor (a 3D drawing program).

I sent the model to shapeways.com and let it print out in 3D.

Overall wall thickness = 0.5mm.

Height = 386mm

Diameter = Ø190mm

This had just gone well, as it turned out 0.7mm wall thickness is actually the minimum allowable size to be...

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Despite the thin wall thickness, it is relatively rigid.

But I want the thing to put in polyester resin and hope that it will be a lot stronger (and smoother).

I had deliberately kept this minimum thickness because you paid for the volume and otherwise is became very expensive.

The thing weighs only 120 grams: wink:

Here some pictures of how i recieved the model:

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Update with the (15)plants in it :man_in_love:

Now its (finally) in the polyester resin and feels a lot stronger!

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Regards,

Mark

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A very nice design and should look spectacular when the Cephalotus fill out :smile: I dread to think how much the 3D resin model cost though. Last time I used this technology, which admittedly was a number of years ago, it was very expensive. You're clearly an Engineer, judging by the turned stainless steel 'planter' in one of the pictures.

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Looks very nice indeed. And the tray method works? The substrate on the top gets moist this way, or must you also water from above?

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hmm....judging from the holes on the container...i guess it works on Capillary and gravitational action right? you have filled the main tube with planting media from the bottom right up to the top...do you need to fill the water tray very often? please let us know more about the results of your creation...

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Hello,

Thank's for the reply's!

This model is just a prototype and pure for the hobby.

But who know's, if this method will work well then maybe i can sell the model via shapeways.com.

But then a 'thicker' model, that don't need a layer of polyester resign.

Unfortunately that will cost a lot of money.

So don't now if anyone wan't to buy this.....

But it seems that the lower part of the container, stays wetter then the upper part...

I yet can not tell if it works properly, beqause the first few weeks i will water the plants from the top also; so they can adjust from the transplant..

A very nice design and should look spectacular when the Cephalotus fill out :smile: I dread to think how much the 3D resin model cost though. Last time I used this technology, which admittedly was a number of years ago, it was very expensive. You're clearly an Engineer, judging by the turned stainless steel 'planter' in one of the pictures.

Indeed, it's still not cheap, that's why i designed it as thin as possible!

And yes i'm a cnc turner! :thumbsup:

Ps.

I'll post an update once I know more..

Edited by markde2e
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How much does one spiral plant container cost?

Hello,

As soon as i have some spare time, i will design a slightly thicker (and a little modified) model, that you not have to put in polyester for more strength...

Then i will send this to shapeways and then i know the exact costs, and put it it the shapeways shop so that people can buy it! :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello! Good idea and congratulations on actually doing it! Most of my plans remain as...just plans :P

Honestly, I am thinking the current spiral design is too distracting and the white color adds to that as well. While cephalotus is a very attractive plant and there are 15 of them there, they didn't grab my attention at all. Maybe hide the design partly by LFS or just pick a different color? I dunno, just some ideas of mine.

Thanks for sharing!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

That looks fantastic and once you have mature plants spilling over the sides and down the spiral it will look mezmerising.

Have you thought about a design similar to a strawberry pot where the plants have their own little "balconies" and the center of the pot contains the soil so overhead watering gives all the plants an even amount of water?

As technology becomes more mainstream and the printing of objects becomes more easily available to everyone this type of "designer" pot will become cheap and easily available I'm sure growing cephs this way will become easy for the average grower as pot designs are easier and cheaper to create.

I find that hand watering my cephs overhead in a pot which allows the water to flow through the pot gives my cephs a chance to grow well with plenty of water and oxygen flowing past their roots.

This year I have at least 15-20 seedlings poping up and I currently have around 15 flower spikes coming up in our Australian spring with more flower spikes emerging all the time so every year I look forward to experimenting with conditions to see what is most favourable for my ceph growing.

Good luck with your designs and I look forward to reading your next report on how your early desing is progressing.

Kind regards,

Dave.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank's for the replies!

:-)

That looks fantastic and once you have mature plants spilling over the sides and down the spiral it will look mezmerising.

Have you thought about a design similar to a strawberry pot where the plants have their own little "balconies" and the center of the pot contains the soil so overhead watering gives all the plants an even amount of water?

As technology becomes more mainstream and the printing of objects becomes more easily available to everyone this type of "designer" pot will become cheap and easily available I'm sure growing cephs this way will become easy for the average grower as pot designs are easier and cheaper to create.

I find that hand watering my cephs overhead in a pot which allows the water to flow through the pot gives my cephs a chance to grow well with plenty of water and oxygen flowing past their roots.

This year I have at least 15-20 seedlings poping up and I currently have around 15 flower spikes coming up in our Australian spring with more flower spikes emerging all the time so every year I look forward to experimenting with conditions to see what is most favourable for my ceph growing.

Good luck with your designs and I look forward to reading your next report on how your early desing is progressing.

Kind regards,

Dave.

Hello Dave,

That's a great idea!

Maybe i will incorperate this in the next design...

Hello! Good idea and congratulations on actually doing it! Most of my plans remain as...just plans :P

Honestly, I am thinking the current spiral design is too distracting and the white color adds to that as well. While cephalotus is a very attractive plant and there are 15 of them there, they didn't grab my attention at all. Maybe hide the design partly by LFS or just pick a different color? I dunno, just some ideas of mine.

Thanks for sharing!

When printing this size only the white colour is available, at the moment...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I designed a new and fully improved version 2.0 of the plant container for sale!

It's not cheap, and i think that for many people its just too expensive..

But who knows, maybe i will get allot cheaper in the future just as Dave mentioned!

Improvements:

-This container is designed for top-watering, by a funnel at the top in the centertube.

The water is than running down de spiral trough the substrate and at the end it flows back in de centertube.

Then it leaks out in the saucer.

The excess water in the saucer will be sucked up by capillary action by the downtube under the spiral.

With model version 1.0, my intentention was that by capillary action is that you don't have to top-water the container..

But experience shows that the lower part stays significantly wetter than the upper part.

So this model wil fix that problem

-The model has a built-on saucer

-This model is more than twice as strong than model 1.0

The minimum wall thickness is 1.0mm instead of 0.5.

Also the built-on sqaure saucer ads allot of extra strength in de botom and the two extra pilars under the spiral ads allot of stiffness the the container.

You don't have to paint it with polyester resign beqause its strong enough

Here you can buy the model:

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/marksdesigns

Picture:

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Greetings,

Mark

Edited by markde2e
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  • 2 weeks later...

I Want one!!! As long as the price is not to crazy. I think it looks great! Yep way out of my league! I work at a blow molding Plastic company here in NY. And I know for a fact that our engineer could get the mold custom made. If you used 50/100 h.d.p.e you could bring the price way down. and also get it in any colour you wish. Plus if you had the UV additive to the plastic it would last for many many years. Check out ConferPlastics.com. this is where I work as a Machine operator. Dave lipnarski is our engineer and he is very intelligent. A mold could make many millions of these. There would be a hole somewhere in the product but that's what plugs are for. we specialize in custom products

Edited by bodaciousbonsai
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  • 3 weeks later...

I Want one!!! As long as the price is not to crazy. I think it looks great! Yep way out of my league! I work at a blow molding Plastic company here in NY. And I know for a fact that our engineer could get the mold custom made. If you used 50/100 h.d.p.e you could bring the price way down. and also get it in any colour you wish. Plus if you had the UV additive to the plastic it would last for many many years. Check out ConferPlastics.com. this is where I work as a Machine operator. Dave lipnarski is our engineer and he is very intelligent. A mold could make many millions of these. There would be a hole somewhere in the product but that's what plugs are for. we specialize in custom products

Hello,

Thank wou for your reply!

But i think its just not possible to mold this model!

Regards,

Mark

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