Make watering your plants more fun! These cute little monkeys will add some excitement to your plants while keeping them healthy.

Using an RTC module, this automatic plant waterer will keep your plants alive while you're at work, on vacation, or if you're just very forgetful.

We made two sizes of monkeys to use for this project. The smaller size fits these gear ties, and the larger size fits these.

Step 1: Parts List

Step 2: Designing the Monkey

We wanted to make a simple monkey that can hang on the edge of your plants and hold the watering hose. To do this we found this file on thingiverse and modified the body to hold bendy arms and legs.

The geartie arms and legs make these monkeys very versatile and able to hang on many things for limitless applications.

Step 3: Importing the Mesh

After downloading an STL file from thingiverse, you will import the file for editing. We used Fusion 360 for all modeling, so these steps may be different for other CAD software.

Import the STL file, then right click on Document Settings and turn off Capture Design History. Next, right click on the body and hit Mesh to BRep. You will see that the body turns grey and is now able to be edited.

Step 4: Removing the Current Body

Using the rectangle tool for the main part of the body and the line tool for extra bits, we cut off the body of the monkey, leaving the head.

Step 5: Make New Body

Using the line and spline tools, sketch out one side of the body. Next, use the revolve tool and the center line of the monkey to build the body.

Step 6: Adding Spaces for Bendy Arms

The gear ties we used are about 3mm wide, so we made two holes through the sides measuring 3.5mm. We also added a hole for a bolt to connect the two sides, and a hole for the tail.

We made a larger version of this to hold wider gear ties by scaling the monkey up and changing the width of the holes. Pipe cleaners can also be used in place of gear ties. We found that using two twisted together made it sturdy enough to hang on the side of a planter.

Step 7: Monkey Paws

We used this file for the hands and feet. We cut out a 6mm hole for the tube to run through, and modified the openings for the bendy arms to sit in.

Step 8: Wiring

We used parts from the Pumping Station to hold and organize the pump on this project.

Step 9: Code

This code is set to water your plant at Midnight, 8AM, and 4PM, daily. These times are easy to change. To learn more about coding with the RTC, check out this tutorial. And for a more in-depth project using moisture sensors, check out this automatic plant watering system.