QX12-MAGA Seed Starter

Make Agriculture Green Again

This is a seed starter pack that seeks to take advantage of the biodegradable(?) nature of PLA. The very thin Seed Holders have slots for the roots to grow through, but the idea is that they will break down in the soil, so the gardener will not have to disrupt the seedling, and can just transfer the seedling into the ground where roots can spread and microorganisms can break down the PLA.

(NOTE: Do your own due-diligence here! Composting PLA requires higher temperatures than home composting, but that's for a quick break down of PLA. I have some PLA objects outside that have started deteriorating in 3 months. I'm counting on the breakdown of the starches by microorganisms to finish the job. Just try a 6-pack for a season before you go crazy! I'll post my results as they become available!)

That’s the theory, anyway! We’ll see how this goes. As of Today, July 28, 2017, I have just transferred the seedlings and cells into the ground. In 3 months I will inspect one of the units to see what kind of PLA breakdown has occurred. I hope that the cells will breakdown in a single 6 month growing season. I have these planted in a USDA 6A climate. If anybody has a willingness to make a six-pack and send me their observations I would appreciate it.

There’s a notch on the cell. If your cell doesn’t fit all the way down, try rotating it 90 degrees. Then go by the notch location to get all the other cells in without having to guess every time! Also, things didn’t go so well when I printed more than 1 cell at a time. Don’t know why. Weird missing spots in the print. But you can try.

The BASE UNIT holds six seedling cells, and has a “well” so that the plants can be root-fed. In this manner, you can flood the plants for 20 minutes, and then use a turkey-baster to draw out the excess water from the “well” to prevent over saturation. There are channels on the base floor to allow even distribution of water to all the cells. The top of the channels are at 45 degree angles, so NO SUPPORT is required to print these.

I made the base out of PLA, but I would like to try something more durable like ABS, because I’ve designed the bases to be reusable. Just print out more PLA seed cells for next season!

I created the Bodies in FUSION 360. I’ve exported the bodies as separate STEP files that you may use for manipulating in a CAD environment. Have fun, and MAGA, one Thingi at a time! I've also included my native Fusion 360 Archive files.

-This was sliced and coded using ReplicatorG employing 2 shells (3 total) using PLA.

• FlashForge Creator Pro (Similar to Makerbot Replicator 2)
• Heated Bed 45 Celsius
• Blue Painters Tape on bed, no further treatment
• Print Temperature 220 degrees Celsius
• Use supports No rafts for PLA.
• Feedrate 40 mm/s
• Travel Feedrate 55
  (If anybody has more optimum feedrates, please share!)

REQUEST: Please help me improve my sharing! STEP files have proven reliable for me to transport file between different CAD platforms. If STEPs are a problem for you, please let me know what other common and relatively generic Cad format works better for you.