Introduction: DIY GLOWING RESIN PLANTER
Here i found something different, merging LED colours with indoor planting. I had made an indoor decoration glowing pot in which you can plant live plants. It is a resin casting, with a wooden base. For some extra look i carved the wooden base on CNC. Attaching RGB LED lights in the base, and connecting it to the main supply.
How adorable it looks!, i had never thought about it.
Step 1: Have a Look on Video You May Get the Proper Idea.
Step 2: Materials and Tools
- Colour pencils
- Plastic container for mould
- Resin and hardener
- Plasticcup
- 80 grid sanding paper
- 50 grid sanding paper
- 220 grid sanding paper
- Acrylic polish
- Hand drill
- Buffing grinder
- Flat planner tool
- Angular planner tool
- Singletooth planner tool
- Colour pencils
- Acryliccylinder
- Circular wooden log
- RGB LEDstrip
- 12v adaptor
- RGB controller
Step 3: Base Making of Pot
- I just took the random plastic container which is good in size for making a pot.
- Make sure the container should be made up of plastic only.
- Mix the resin and hardener, stir it well and pour it in the container.
- Amount of the mixture should be measured that it can only fill up the bottom of the container.
- Now allow it to dry over a night!.
Step 4: Internal Colour Pencil Cylinder
- I bought an acrylic cylinder from our local vendor. Cylinder should be slightly bigger in height then our mould because, it will be easy to handle and remove the casting from the mould by holding it.
- Select the colour order of the pencil as you desire. We follow the light and dark pattern.
- Now stick those pencils on the outer surface of the cylinder vertically with the help of super glue.
- Let it dry for few minutes and your internal cylinder is ready
Step 5: Mould Placement
- The base which is prepared before is now completely dried, now place the internal cylinder exactly at the centre of the container.
- Now again mix resin and hardener add some texture colour to it and stir it well. Pour the mixture in the empty space outside the cylinder as shown in the picture.
- For reference watch the video how it was done.
- Fill it properly and place the mould on any flat surface for equal leveling. Ohk now let it dry over a night again!.
Step 6: Shaping
- Next morning the mixture is hard and extract it from the mould. Obviously it will be uneven in the shape, so we have to flat down the edges as well as the sides.
- Attaching the work piece to the rotating shaft and using the flat planner tool re-shape it as shown in the picture. Blunt down the edges and give some curve surface at the top of the pot.
- Trim out a hole at the bottom of the pot using single tooth planner tool, look at the picture for reference.
Step 7: Grinding and Polishing
- Planner tool generates thin lines on the surface for removing them we have to grind it using 80 grid sanding paper. For more smoothness use 150 and 220 grid sanding paper. Don't forget to grind on the top and also at the bottom of the workpiece
- After grinding, Use buffing wheel for polishing. Apply acrylic polish on the wheel or on the workpiece now follow the process of rubbing in even flow.
Step 8: Making the Base for the Pot
- I took the wooden cylinder which is holo from middle. Measure the lower outer diameter of your pot. Then trim out the wooden cylinder in the same diameter of the base of pot hight of the cylinder is also of your own desire. we took it roughly 50mm.
- Blunt down the edges and grind the surface and sides.
- For extra touch we made some design's on the surface of the wood with CNC to make it more beautiful but you can keep it simple also.
Step 9: CNC Designing and Machine Working
- My CNC is working on Corel draw X3. It's a 2d designing software. I had made some flowers and leaves and some kind of stems in uneven manner the picture shows the design.
- Now attach the wooden work piece to the CNC shaft. Make the point of the drill at centre of the job and run the program.
- Look at the video for the reference of machine working. Now our base is almost ready, installation of LED is only remaining
Step 10: RGB LED Installation
- Take a small strip of RGB LED stick it inside the wooden cylinder in such a manner that the light can refract outside the cylinder from its openings .
- Drill out the hole in the cylinder for wiring the strip. Connect the colour wire such as red wire for R blue wire B and green wire for G for positive take white wire, now it will easy to figure out that which wire should we connect to the controller.
- I bought RGB controller from my local vendor. Connect the wire of LED strip in the controller. Power it up with a 12v output adaptor.
- It'scompletely performing in the manner we desired. Now let's do the final touch ups.
Step 11: Polishing Wooden Base
- Apply wood varnish for grains effect on the wood and for shining rub some wood wax on the surface if it's needed. Allow it settle for few minutes and it's completely polished and varnished.
Step 12: Connecting All the Wires and Filling the Pot
- Connect all the wires properly.now stick the resin pot with super glue on wooden cylinder let it dry for few hours. After it dries fill the pot with mud and place any indoor plant in it. In my case somehow I like devil's ivy plant in my room so I placed it in my pot.
- Now turn on the lights, Sit back and enjoy how adorable it is.