Personal Sprouter

thingiverse

Personal-size sprouter for those who cannot use mist nozzles hooked to a water timer. This type trickles water and drains into a sink. If you have access to a laundry hook-up then do the mist nozzle version instead, as seen on youtube at ...v=OY2Ezu5GYMo and ...v=C0ShRKftcOk (sorry I didn't post the entire URL but thingiverse puts it into the files if you do that and these are not part of this project). NOTES: For a complete working sprouter you need to add a water bucket, small submersible pump, electric timer and a strip of green pot-scrubber cut to fit into the drain slot. Or as an alternative you can use a water timer and water bucket positioned higher than the sprouter in order to gravity feed the water. Print the "lid" in something transparent enough for the sprouts to get some light and turn green (I'm using natural PLA) Print the "cap" in something like ninjaflex (if possible) so it will form a good seal. The cap and flow restrictor are based on 1/4" ID, 3/8" OD vinyl tubing. If you are using some other size of tubing you will need to design your own "cap" and "flow restrictor" (if needed). Use any 110v AC timer that allows for 1 minute of "on" 8 times per day (every 3 hours). Electronic types can do this, mechanical types usually cannot. Use the smallest GPH (gallons per hour) pump you can find. I'm reusing one I had that's rated for 75 GPH dialed down to the minimum and I still have to restrict the flow quite a bit. A 2-liter pitcher with wide lid works great for a water supply, just be sure to check it daily to make sure it doesn't run dry, since dry-running a pump can destroy it. If you are setting the thing on your dish drainer, you can use the normal "front legs", but if you need a little spout there, use the "front legs with spout" instead. The pictures are me trying it for the first time in my upstairs (office) bathroom, and using plastic wrap in lieu of the lid so I can see what's going on.Note that I elevated the hose because my submersible pump seems to not prevent a slow, steady gravity leak of all the water, which would sabotage the intent to water for 1 minute every 3 hours. I will try to be vigilant and take daily photos or a video. EDIT: I also figured out how to do a gravity-fed system using a garden hose timer. Since this project already has too many files, I put it here (also it can maybe be used for other plant watering applications): http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2148860 EDIT 3/11/2017: Added notches to the front and rear legs so they can be set into the pitcher-top. Using the pitcher top will prevent forward siphon when the hose is off. I'm aiming the spout down the hollow arm of the pitcher so all the water drains into the sink. The pitcher I am using is about 5-inches in diameter at the top (not tapered, just comes with a wide cap). I'll try to remember to add pictures of the pitcher cap when it's all printed out. Also added a pickle-jar lid (for those tall 80-ounce pickle jars). VIDEO: Here is a time-lapse of my test of the thing in my upstairs office bathroom, showing about 5 days in 3 minutes. I left the lights on and used plastic wrap instead of the printed lid (just for better visibility): https://youtu.be/liZn2PdfoqU PARTS: this looks like a very good timer that would work for the gravity-fed options: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UJH6HQ