ver 0.2 works

Yup folks ver 0.2 is running great I just need to retouch a few seals(the glue works great but you can still accidentally pull out a line) before I go to work in the morning I’ll also finish the gluing for f0r 0.3. you see since I spent most of the day waiting for glue to dry on my six small pod Ebb and Flow system that I decided to get a jump on 0.3 its a 5 pod Ebb and Flow/ Gravity drip system.

Heres the starting materials. well most of them.

The first thing I did was to use small peices of duct tape to hold the pods so I can see how long I need to cut the first bit of wire.

Now here I’ve cut my wire from a coat hanger and threaded it through the holes I made in the ends.

I’ve cut another piece of plastic to make the base plate for the grow pod section. Here is the first hole with a smaller bottle testing the fit.

Here you can see I’ve looped the top wire around and tied the ends, snapped on the base and run spokes from top to bottom. Hope fully this will hold the weight with out flexing as much as 0.2 does.

KInda looks like 0.2 but with bigger pods right.

Well The five spokes running from top to bottom will also hole the weight of my one gallon bottle there will be 1 E/F line to each pod and 2 fill lines to go to the top 2 ltr reservoir which will have 5 drip lines running into each pod these will feed the roots tiny amounts of nutrients between floodings. I may have to add valves for both the e/f and drip lines to get the timing right.

The lines drying look like the las one but heres my top reservoir with the drip lines on. and drying.

Well thats it for today I’ll get more done on the morrow.

oh ya and I joined a web ring

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Tannim Kyraxx

Digital Librarian

Apartment Farmer

yesterdays build

Ok well heres how yesterdays build went.

I also ended up using 2 wire coat hangers.

Basically just normal stuff plus the epoxy, 3-way Ts, line valves and the lid from one of the the tubs, I got for my large Ebb/Flow system. (coming about 5 weeks from now)

I started by seeing how much of the tub lid I was going to need to make the Grow pods support plate.

When I cut it out I used my knife. I found that scoring a few shallow cuts then flexing the plastic made it a cut much more easily.

Next I used a bit of soda bottle to mark the holes in the frame plate. I made sure to size the holes to fit the middle of the 24 oz bottles that are going to be my grow pods, I cut the ends off past the little lip so it will res on that one its in the frame plate. againI cut small and worked it a little at a time till I got the size right.

All right pods in I just pushed them through the hole it crushed in the tapered bit by the caps but it won’t matter.

Now to the Ebb/Flow lines and the drip tubes for the other 2 bigger grow pods.

Ok the epoxy. I made a few mistakes here I got the fast acting one for plastics, not the water proof one as it was $2 cheaper. I mixed way to much the first time by the time I did 2 lines it was hardening, mixing just enough for 1 at a time worked ok but take a look you can tell this is not going to work.

Well afeter a few hours to let the epoxy set and its time for ver 0.2’s first test…

… Results:Epic failure it make bubbles and drips a bit.

Thats up to last night tonights once I’m done or in the morning.

Tannim Kyraxx Digital Librarian Apartment Farmer

The Start of the journey.

I have started a new project. I am learning about hydroponics plant life and in general new ways to make sure I can feed myself and my loved ones regardless of whether or not the trucks and trains are moving.

On 1/11/08 I started seed some in jiffy peat pellets some in paper towels kept moist to start them sprouting. I have started:

chives

plain parsley

basil

rosemary

sage

tomato ( early bird hybrid)

leeks

I’ll add more later once I get some of the kinks worked out. For now as of 1/16/08 my basil and leeks in the jiffy peat have sprouted I’m going to hold off on my large ebb and flow system for now and build a small air powered ebb and flow system. Here is ver 0.1

For tools I used:

• A box cutter
• Electric tape

• A bit of coat hanger (I bent one end to make it easier to hold)

For build supply’s I have:

• A small soda bottle
• A large apple juce bottle
• A water bottle (not shown in pic because I found it after I started)
• 25′of standard air line(about$3 at mega-box store)
• A air pump (about$10 at mega-box store) it came with 2 check valves

To Start I used the knife to drill 2 holes in the soda cap

You could also use a drill it would take 2 seconds instead of 20 but I’m using what I have. The best way I found to start and drill the holes is to put the cap on a covered table (I just used my Idea/hard copy log book) hole the knife firmly point straight down on one side of the cap and twist the cap. You are not tying to stab straight through the cap just keep enough pressure to keep the curls of plastic comin. Use a new (at least newish) blade, the sharper the blade the less likely it is to slip and cut you. Pick up the cap and clean up the other side, just leave it a little small not much but the tighter you do this the less likely its going to leak

For the first test I just need 2 lines one for the air in and one for the water outlet. I put the cap on a bottle

Heres it all set just plug it in and it works great the box says it will pump 6 airstones in ver 0.1 I only have 3 pods each filled with 2 lines one high one low so it both fills the pod and drips right to the roots one the pump stops the water drains back down to the resevoir in this case a apple juice container heres the lid

here

Now for the pods. I used a pen so that it would show up better in the pics but the first line is just bairly in the hole the second goes up to the roots

its gettin hard to hold I’m not planning on useing this version for more than morking out the prototype so I just need a way to hang up the pods, I decide to ziptie them to a coat hanger so i can hang it up

now its rigged time to hang it up fill the resevoir plug it in and pray

well its reither pretty or efficient or even water tight yet but ver 0.1 is in the bag. For ver 0.2 I’ll be using a six pack of soda bottles I’ll have one ebb/flow line for each and I’ll use the plastic ring they come with and some string or wire to add stability. I’ll also have in each cap a second drain line with a shut off valve. I’ll use a 2 part epoxy to seal the lines.

Well thanks for reading I’ll have ver 0.2 in the next post please feel free to leave comments, criticisms, or questions.