Designed in Fusion, this self-watering planter can be scaled to multiple sizes and still work perfectly. I chose to design this to simplify my everyday life. This frees up time but also just not having to think about it is a nice luxury to have. I have seen others design similar in the 3D printing community in all sorts of different ways, some use some string/ rope to transfer water from a reservoir to the plant. Others use a ‘drip feed’ that has a reservoir above the plant and uses gravity to slowly trickle water into the plant like a medical IV.
I chose to have a reservoir at the bottom of my planter that I can easily fill up and then do not need to top up until I see the soil is beginning to dry. To do this I used a two part design. The first part is the outer pot that will hold the water and also the inner part. The second ‘inner part’ consists of a slightly smaller version of the first part but with a small important changes.
After iterating a few prototypes I finally landed on the design I am happy with. This design is functional, aesthetic and also practical in that the reservoir is large enough that it doesn’t need to be filled often but isn’t so large that it takes away too much space from the plant.
There are two different styles of planter. One with a brim protruding past the rim of the first part and one with just the water spout. Both styles feature a ribbed outer part that is both for aesthetics and functionality by increasing the grip your hand can get. Some plants may be very heavy so this is useful when moving the planter. This two part design allows for an almost infinite combination of primary and secondary colours for customisation. This is ideal for plants such as ferns that require regular watering.
This design can be downloaded and created by you for free over on my Printables or my Makerworld!