LED Planter
we were tasked to design and prototype a funcional tabletop LED herb planter for the kitchen/home environment. The planter may only be constructed from 1.5mm white ABS plastic and should be left in its raw state once completed. The planter should include a small section of LED strip light with a power cable above the plants to act as a grow light. The designs should have enough space for at least three plant areas with a volume of 100mm x 100mm x 100mm each. The design must include at least one curve.
Research
Ideation
I had three main ideas. I was interested in a geometric style with straight lines, but we were required to have a curve in our design. I really liked the simple look of the rectangular shape which I used as the main feature and shape of my planter designs. I then added the different curves to the rectangular prism to meet the curve requirements. These circles and curves drasticly changed the design of the planter. I took inspiration from a traditional greenhouse with a rounded roof design for planter design number 2. Planter number 3 contained the most curves out of the three designs, which I did not really like as it was moving away from the simple rectangular shape that i liked. Planter design number one was my favourite as it was still very simple but elligant and met all the curve requirements.
Developement
The first modle was a simple rectangular prism design which was the base for the other ideas. I did not choose this design as it did not meet the curve requireents and was a bit too simple. The second design was similar to the first although it had circles included on the top beams. These circles will be used to place the LED lights underneath, and to ensure that the curve requirements are met. Modle number three is where I experimented a bit more and took inspiration from a traditional greenhouse with a rounded roof. This was a very good design, but the curved roof added too much hight to the planter making it too big for a kitchen envirinment. Design number two was my favourite as it was simple yet elegant. It met all the requirements while still being ergonomic and visually appealing.
Manufacture
Building my LED planter was not too hard. I had to be extremely accurate to ensure that all the parts lined up correctly. ABS plastic is fairly easy to use. Using Methylene Chloride to bond the ABS plastic together worked perfectly and the bonds were very strong. The Methylene Chloride also dried quickly which saved time. Cutting circles was a challenge but it slowly got easier. Routing the wires for the LED light strip was challenging, so I should have planned that in advance. The watering tray was a lot mjre complicated than I thought, and was very time consuming. Overall, I enjoyed building this project and would love to use it in my kitchen.
Outcome
