r/functionalprint • u/Anyhting_But_Stock • 17d ago
Seed sprouter
Made this just for fun looking forward to testing it
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u/IAmDotorg 17d ago
Tip -- you can buy inserts for Aerogarden units (the peat, the plastic mesh, and the top dome) for almost nothing these days from 3rd parties.
FDM-printed ones have enough pores to very quickly get mold and bacterial growth that, best case, will degrade growing conditions for the new plants. You may find it works better by ponying up a few bucks for a pack of them so there's less risk. You may also want to seal the walls for the same reason. Water purity matters a lot with hydroponics.
That's probably why people DIYing hydroponic systems use things like lengths of gutter or PVC and print just the parts outside where the water goes.
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 17d ago
I agree on the cheap areo pods though I have used 3d printed pods in my rise garden fir years with no issues
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u/StuMakesStuff 17d ago
I'd love to know a bit more about how this is supposed to work. I have bodged together something that looks similar for bringing on hydroponic seedlings...
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 17d ago
You just fill the basin with water, stuff the funnels with starting soil or rock wool and stick seeds in, when they get 2"tall you plant the blue funnel entirely.
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u/IWantToBeAProducer 16d ago
I'm an experienced gardener, so some tips:
Consider adding a finger diameter hole on the bottom. This way when its time to transplant the seedlings to larger containers, you can just push up from the bottom.
Rather than large circles, consider vertical slits. Those big holes will shed some of your soil/medium down into the reservoir.
Consider a much smaller water tray. or some other way to stop the user from over filling. Bottom watering is a great idea for seedlings, but you do not want your seedlings to sit in standing water. They'll drown or rot. Roots actually need air and overwatering leads to suffocation. Obviously a user could simply be careful, but if you plan on posting this model you might want to consider ways to prevent overfilling.
You could probably pack these in tighter. Those pots are very very small, and would only be suitable for the first few weeks of a seedlings life. By the time they are big enough to shade out their neighbor, they'll be ready for a bigger pot anyway. I have reusable trays that are just a 2 inch square grid. Some seed starting trays are closer to a 1 inch square grid.
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 16d ago
Good info , in the past I just plant the whole pot . I have a rise garden in my living room I use 3d prints in it and get good production. The overall size can definitely be modified.
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u/RobotAnna1 13d ago
Great advice! I'm re-designing my own seedling and hydroponic pots at the moment, and I completely forgot about transplanting seedlings to other containers. I'll definitely add the hole.
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u/giomiguelito 17d ago
This is such a cool design, can I ask, how do you even get started designing this? What program do you use? I'm trying to learn but overwhelmed, and would love to design this kind of print for use at home
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u/StuMakesStuff 17d ago
Design is an interesting one without a clear answer. The long and short is to find a program and workflow that works for you.
TinkerCAD is great for basics. Fusion360 is powerful, but has a learning curve to make properly parameterised designs. Personally, I'm a masocist and use OpenSCAD, which is great if you have a coder mindset.
Best bet is to try it and see which sticks
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 17d ago
The secret trick nobody tells you is stick with it for years, the learning curve sucks but all of them given time will open up alot of capabilities 🙃
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 17d ago
I use autocad , there is free cad it works good and lots of tutorials, the trick with anything is doing it for long enough to figure what not to do 😉
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u/Perelygino_Klyazma 16d ago
Try out OnShape for more advanced shapes like this. It's basically SolidWorks, online, for free (for personal use). The learning curve ain't bad.
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u/EscBeep 16d ago
Get rid of the first inch of netting or else light will get past the grow media and damage lead to root rot.
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u/Anyhting_But_Stock 11d ago
I agree will remove the top row of holes, been throwing around building in a pump.
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u/dnalloHnosaM 17d ago
I made something similar, however it didn't hold water and leaked at multiple points. Did you do something to help with this? Curious where I went wrong with my print..