Compostable sprouting pot press

It's spring !  Time to sprout plants for your garden !

This small press allows you make compostable pots out of cardboard in which you can sprout your seeds. Once enough grown, simply plant the whole thing in your garden.

No more plastic, no more broken plant when taking it out of the pot. Plus cardboard is an amazing garden soil nourishing element.

Printing

Print all the parts with a 0.4mm nozzle (or using the preconfigured files for PLA) :

• Matrix : 0.1mm layer height for the bottom grid, then 0.2mm layer height, 20% infill, no supports
• Pressing arm : 0.2mm layer height, 50% infill, no supports
• Stamp : O.15mm layer height, 20% infill, supports below the edge
• Pressing interface : 0.15mm layer height, 40% infill, supports inside the loops or no supports

Assembling

Once you have all the parts printed, add Ø5x25mm and Ø5x15mm metal axis between the matrice and pressing arm and between the pressing arm and pressing interface as shown in the .f3d file. 

You might need to drill the hole to get a better fit. The parts should rotate freely but have a tight fit. 

Using it

Once you're done with assembling the press, it's time to use it. 

Prepare a mix of clean (ink free, adhesive free) recycled cardboard. Tear into fine pieces and put it to soak in hot water. 

Mix the whole thing to get a thick dry paste (it should have almost the same texture as bread dough)

Pour this paste into the press and add the stamp and press. Once there seems to be no more water, remove the stamp and the pot form the matrix and leave it to dry a few hours.

(Sorry for the lack of real pictures of the result, I forgot those at work. I will add them within a few days)