Hydroponic grow tower
The goal of this project was to successfully grow my own vegatables during a Montana winter, and learn something along the way
All prints were made on a Prusa mk2, this process took just over 4 weeks of daily printing to create the pieces needed. There were many revisions to get the tolerances just right
Once all pieces were printed(not all shown), I began assembly of the 3D printed parts
Various seedlings were placed into the tower
After a few iterations, the final assembly was comprised of the 3D printed tower, fastened ontop of a 5 gal bucket. The bucket contained an aquarium pump that cycled the water to the top of the tower, and then it ran down over the roots of the plants
The grow was a success, and I learned a few things. Firstly, an ideal environment for plant growth is also an ideal environment for algea growth. The print layers of the parts were a perfect space for algea to grow. In the future I will add a finishing process to the prints by using a heat gun to melt the layers together. I also learned t
The grow was a success, and I learned a few things. Firstly, an ideal environment for plant growth is also an ideal environment for algea growth. The print layers of the parts were a perfect space for algea to grow. In the future I will add a finishing process to the prints by using a heat gun to melt the layers together. I also learned that this many plants will discharge a high amount of oxygen, which needs to be evacuated with a fan