Our original design was just a simple succulent planter that was designed as the outline or shape of the Blue Ridge mountain range. There are two compartments in the design so that the user can have two plants in one planter. The base of the initial design was supposed to be roughly the same shape as the mountain range, but was still too boxy or rigid to match the exact shape.

Our first draft print was entirely too small, but it was expected! And of course it was a draft to roughly get the idea and image of what our thoughts were. We also decided to add on a self-watering reservoir that would in theory be a slow drip that so that the plant would be getting the necessary amount of water added and to avoid any over watering.

    This initial print is about the size of the palm of a hand.

    Seen here are the designs when we were creating the reservoirs for both compartments on the planter. Two cylinders with small holes that lead into the separate compartments so that both sections have it’s own water supply.

Our final design has the base closer to the shape of the planter with some rigid shapes to give it that mountain appeal to it. The size is about 4in x 7in. The final design consists of many holes of a variety of shapes to obtain the current shape. Another way we could have gotten the shape to be true to the mountain range is using another program called “Inkscape” however we were unable to adequately use the program with ease.

 As seen here, there are many hole shapes to get the correct base shape we were aiming for.

Overall, we believe the final print was a success and we would need to add a shielding liquid to get all the cracks that are involved with 3D printing in order to properly hold water and support a plant. The final print took a little over 11 hours to print and we are greatly satisfied with the result!

  

  And here it is with a nicely sized succulent and a mint plant!

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3141947