Castling - Make Your Garden a Place of Mental Fortitude (With Built in Chess Set)

This design turns a black piece of wall in your garden into a beautiful bohemian wall garden that doubles as a large outdoor chess set.

Step 1: Finding Material and Designing

First, we need material. We used an old DVD player, free and easily workable sheet metal.

As for the design, it can scale and fit the 8x8 square to work with whatever amount of material you have an available.

Once you have your material you may need to sand it down to make a nice surface to work on.

Step 2: Mark and Center Punch Your Holes

Draw your 8x8 square grid over your metal on masking tape.

In the centre of each square mark the holes to drill and then use a centre punch to create a path for the drill the bore into the metal.

Step 3: Drill Holes

If you have an underpowered drill then us bits of increasing size up until you reach a size of around a 15mm diameter.

We used a Piller drill and if you can use one too, do!

Use a deburring tool the remove burs created by the drill.

Step 4: Design And/or 3D Print Pot Models

Use any 3D design software to design your plant pots in a style that you particularly like. If you are a student then try Fusion 360 a simple CAD package.

Or you can use our plant pot designs.

Then 3D print your parts using the normal settings for your printer. Make sure to use a filament that will last in a wet garden environment. PLA contrary to popular belief is not really biodegradable as it will take a couple of hundred years.

If you are a student and don't have a 3D printer (and are not planning on getting one) try 3D hubs.

Step 5: Hang and Enjoy

If you would like to paint at this point do (you will need to sand down you sheet metal first) then drill a few more holes to attach some string to mount the finished thing to somewhere in the garden.