Build a PVC and bamboo seed planter

Gardeners and farmers can save their backs and plant seeds without stooping over when they use this handmade seed planter. Thai rice farmers had a hand in the design, but it could be used with other seeds.

The seeder is built from low-cost materials - mostly PVC pipe and bamboo. And, if you have them, you can use power tools to make it, but hand tools, including a machete, will work fine, too.

A team from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is developing the seeder with rice farmers in Bo Klua, a community in rural Thailand. They've partnered with a local Thai organization called the Sustainable Development Research Foundation and produced a construction guide in English and Thai.

Both versions are available for free download.
English manual

Alex Moseson, a sustainable development engineer and an assistant teaching professor at Drexel who heads the project, has asked Instructables and E4C users for ideas and tips on how to improve it. He would also like to see people modify the design to suit their own farming and gardening needs.

As such, Moseson gave the seeder a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial license.

For more on the seeder and the project in Bo Klua, please see the Drexel team's site.

Step 1: Materials

These are the materials in each part and we'll show how to make the parts.

Materials
Handle: PVC or bamboo
Slide pipe: PVC
Diverter: Wood or bamboo
Spear: Metal rod
Funnel: Wood or bamboo
Chute: Sheet metal
Slant chute block: Wood or bamboo
Flat Chute block: Wood or bamboo
Stopper: PVC
Reinforcement ring: PVC
Screw, rubberband

Tools
Tape measure
Pencil or marker
Screwdriver
Files
Hammer
Hacksaw
Sheet metal shears
Pliers

Optional tools
Vice, angle grinder, power drill and a machete