Build log

Every version of the 3D drip irrigation system is shown below.

The gravity drip kit

Drawn in
OpenSCAD
Printed on
Bambu Lab P1S

The kit went through three versions before it was placed on Farmish. I tested it through my own terrarium.

Three stakes pin the finished ring around a plant, two printed parts combine to form a flow controller, and a root cap covers the soil at the stem.

  1. A flat white printed bar held in one hand against a wall, with barbed outlets standing up along its length.
    Fig. 1 The manifold, held up against a wall.

    A flat manifold

    Drawn in OpenSCAD as a straight bar with barbed outlets for a line of tubing. It failed because the nail-like pegs along the bar were prone to breaking.

  2. An early printed ring on a white table, with a clean break across the top where the seam split.
    Fig. 2 The break is at the top, where the seam was.

    The first ring

    Bent into a ring so the water lands all the way around the plant. It split at the seam before it held any water.

  3. The ring's first layers on a printer bed, showing the zig-zag channel that runs around the inside of the wall.
    Fig. 3 The zig-zag channel, visible in the first layers.
    The finished ring in a test bed of soil, moss and river stones, seen from soil level, with its stakes pinning it into the soil.
    Fig. 4 The stakes pin the ring into the test bed.

    One piece, with a maze inside

    The change from v2 is attachable stakes that help it go into the soil. It prints in one go, with a zig-zag channel inside the wall that slows the water to drips. This is the version on Farmish.

    In the test bed (Fig. 4), the stakes pin it into soil, moss, and stones.

The kit's parts laid out on black foam: a wide cone-shaped root cap, the two round parts of the flow controller, the drip ring with a tab for each stake, and three stakes inside the ring.
Fig. 5 Everything in the kit, before assembly.

What you get in the kit

  1. Root cap

    Sits over the soil around the stem.

  2. Flow controller, two parts

    The body and the cap combine to form the flow controller.

  3. Drip ring

    One printed piece. A zig-zag channel inside the wall slows the water so it leaves as drips all the way around.

  4. Stakes, three

    Clip into the tabs on the ring and pin it into the soil.