DIY Growing Potato Tower With Turning Bins

Nowadays a lot of people lives in the city and they have most of the time a small gardening place. With this growing potato tower made of bins, we offer a DIY solution wich is very easy to heighten your potatoes just by turning the inside bin!

You can make this product on different proportions with other size of bins. It depends on how much money you want to spend and how many potatoes you want to get. Another interesting thing about this "potato tower" is that you can use it for several years and once you made this product you don' t have to put a lot of effort in it to heighten your potatoes. It' s also an easy system to harvest your potatoes.

We are students industrial design from the University of Ghent and we invented this product in two weeks. Because we are very curious about the outcome of our project, it would be nice if someone can test this system in real. The mechanism is already tested and approved.

Step 1: Materials & Tools

Materials/components you need:

     A. Two identical plastic garbage bins (with a quite smooth bottom surface)
Note: you can choose your size of containers, smaller garbage cans are               for example also possible
B. A small bucket
          Note: extra information about the dimensions in step 8
C. Piece of plastic/wood/metal to reinforce the bottom.
Note: You only need this when the bottom isn' t strong enough to carrying             the weight.
D. Fasteners: 3 nuts, 3 bolts and 3 washers (We used M8.8)
Note: The fasteners are adapted to the holes in the wheels)
E. Wheels
          Note: The wheels are adapted to the garbage cans. More information about           this in step 1


Tools you need:

     1. Saw
     2. Wrench (adapted to size nuts & bolts)
     3. Scribe
     4. Paper tape
     5. Sandpaper
     6. Protractor triangle
     7. Tape measure
     8. Drilling machine + Drills (We used only Diameter 9)
     9. If necessary a compas

Step 2: Measure Distance Between Bins

In order to find the right height for the wheels, measure the distance between the two garbage cans when they are not dragging anymore.

Notes:
-  If you found already two bins that are already fit well in each other, try to find smaller wheels.
-  If the size of your bin is smaller you can use marbles or tennis balls instead of the wheels. (= cheaper!)

Step 3: Saw the First Bin

Now we are going to saw the first bin, this bin is going to be the inner bin.

For this step we need:

- Paper tape
- Tape measure
- Saw
- Scribe
- Sandpaper

1. Measure a distance by approximately 1/3 from the top circle of the bin.
Note: We started from the handle
2.Take paper tape to mark the 2 points
3. Measure the height from the bottom to the first level of the growing proces and tape it. This is approximately 12cm.
4. Tape the 2 straight lines from the upper points to the lower point (3.).
Note: Because we use conic bins, the straight line becomes a curve.
5. Saw the bin alongside of the paper tape.
6. Finish the edges with sandpaper.
Note: You can also use a file for this.

Step 4: Drill the Holes for the Wheels and Water Drainage

Drill the holes for the wheels in the inner bin and for the water drainage. You have to drill also holes for the 
water drainage in the outer bin at the same place as on the inner bin, this step isn' t showed in the movie.


For this step we need:

- Protractor triangle
- Scribe
- Drilling machine + drill (Diameter 9mm, this is adapted to the bolts and nuts that we used)

1. Mark the 3 holes, each 120° from the center of the bin.
Note: We adapted our diameter (22,5cm) where the holes are drilled on, on the size of the small grey bucket that we found in the shop. So pay attention that you don' t take a to big or to small diameter.
2. Drill the holes for the wheels
3. Drill enough water drainage holes at the outer side(!) because potatoes can' t stand lot' s of water.
4. Repeat 3. for the outer bin.

Step 5: Reinforce the Bottom

IMPORTANT: If you have a small garbage bin or your bottom is strong enough to carry the weight of the bin full of soil and potatoes, you can skip this step and you can go directly to step 6

Choose a strong enough plate material like plastic, wood, steel,... we used ABS (6mm) for our product.
With this plate we are going to reinforce the bottom of the inside bin.

For this step we need:

- Plastic/wooden/steel plate
- Saw or Sawing machine
- compass
- Drilling machine + Drill (Diameter 9mm)
- Scribe

1. Measure a diameter that is larger than the diameter of the 3 wheels. In our product we took a diameter of 26cm, therefor we used the indentation of the bin for it.
2. Saw the circle with a sawing machine or just a saw.
3. Mark the 3 holes for the wheels on the circle.
4. Drill the holes (diameter 9mm)

Step 6: Attach the Wheels

In this step you have to attach the wheel at the inner bin.

For this step you need:

- 3 wheels
- 3 bolts
- 3 washers
- 3 nuts
- Wrench

1. Put a bolt through the wheel and the bin
2. Put a washer on the bolt in the inside of the bin
3. Tighten it with a nut and a wrench

Repeat this for the two other wheels!

Step 7: Saw the Outer Bin

Now we are going to mark the second bin (the outer bin) by using the inner bin. After we have taped it, we saw the last piece off.

For this step you will need:

- Paper tape
- Saw

1. Put the inner bin in the outer bin and make sure the handles are positioned above each other. Fix them with tape
2. Mark the outer bin with paper tape.
3. Get the inner bin out of the outer bin en saw the piece off.

Step 8: Make the Protection Ring for the Wheels

In this step we make a ring out of a (cheap) plastic bucket. We need this ring to protect the wheels from the soil which is 
falling through the 2 bins.

For this step you need:

- Cheap plastic bucket with a diameter large enough so that the wheels can turn freely but smaller then the diameter of the bottom of the bin. We chose for a diameter that suits perfect the indentation of the bin.
- Saw
- Paper tape
- tape measure

1. Measure a distance that is a bit smaller than the wheels (We took +-1cm smaller)
2. Mark your sawing line with paper tape, if you just try to tape it parallel to the edge of the bucket, it is good enough.
3. Saw the ring along the paper tape

Step 9: Assembly Your Product

It' s time to assembly the product now!

1. Place the ring in the outer bin
Note: You can glue the ring to the bottom of your bin but it isn' t always necessary 
2. Turn the inner bin a few times on a flat surface to get the wheels directly in the right position.
3. Put the inner bin in the outer bin.

Step 10: How to Use the Product + Result

Congratiulations, finally you made your own potato tower out of bins! But there are still a few things you need to consider...

1. If you use big wheels like in this instructable, you can only turn the inner bin to one side. To make this easier for you: Draw or print some arrows that you stick to the inner bin. These arrows point only one turning direction.

HOW TO PLANT & MAINTAIN?

2. Add a mix of soil & compost (Start position) and plant the potato +-8cm deep

3. When the vines of the potato plant are approximately 30cm above the soil, it' s time to heighten the potato plant with new soil.

4. Harvesting depends on what kind of potato you planted

5. After heighten for the last time, wait until the vines wither.



RESULT

We made these instructable as a school assignment where we worked together with the organisation of centrum Overleie in Kortrijk Belgium. With a movie about the usage of the product and the context we can show our final result of this project.
Enjoy!