Thursday, November 30, 2017

Tiered Pyramid Planter


Dificulty: Low/Medium
Cost: £20-£50 (depending on size)

Trying to find plans online on how to build one of those tiered pyramid planter that is free and contains all the details has proven difficult. As such I decided to try it myself.

With the help of Solid Edge 2D - Simple CAD software that you can download for free here, I've started to sketch the planter and trying to figure out the sizes and angles.

To build the planter here is the list tools needed:

  • Sliding Compound Mitre Saw
  • Wood Glue
  • Hand saw or electric Jigsaw
  • Nail gun or screwdriver
  • Set Square - I've been using this for marking angle and lines 
Materials needed:
  • 38mm x 140mm treated timber - For the structure
  • 19mm x100mm - For the levels - Take care that the thickness is OK to handle the weight of the soil.
  • Heavy duty geotextile membrane - To keep the soil inside the planter.

 For the structure the basic angles are 60º and 30º. I've decided on building the planter with the dimensions bellow but you can easily make it bigger or smaller (dimensions in mm).



The base will will slot in the other axis, bellow is the drawing of both the base pieces and the slots to join them together.

 

The hardest part was to find the correct angles for the tiers.Researching online  I was able to find this calculator.  Now you can change the angle of the slope for the tiers. I've decided on 60º for the slope. Since we are looking at 4 corners then we obtain for the calculator the following values: 
  • End angle: 26.565º 
  • Bevel angle: 37.761º
Since I cant be very precise with the mitre saw I've rounded the values to 26º and 37º. No matter how big your planter is and how large the tier parts the angles will be always the same. Bellow is how these angles will be used:


To find the length of the boards you will have to decide on how many levels and how far apart they will be from each others. Mark the distances on two of the structure sides and once you are happy measure the distance between the 2 for each level.



For the tiers, I've used wood glue and nail - using my nail gun (but you can use nail & hammer, or screws)

Once all is put together I've decided to use some wood stain, but its up to you! you can paint it, stain it or leave it as is.
Fill it with Top Soil, compost or mix and enjoy.

I still have to find some time to get the plants but here's some pictures for you to see the final product