Fusion File: https://a360.co/2TnODXd
Having the liberty to design something original sounded like
a lot of fun. Figuring out what to make was the tough part. I stumbled upon the
idea for a personal baby greenhouse for my plant as I was staring at it in the
recent cold weather. I felt bad for the plant, also known as Larry, and decided
to create a home for Larry. I measured the approximate sizes needed to enclose Larry
completely and moved those into Fusion and started making stuff until it looked
slick. After my design was complete, I moved all of the wood supports into pdf
drawings to be laser cut and programmed the see through Lexan pieces to be CNC
cut. I was tipped off by this shady character who hangs around the machine shop
Monday through Friday 8-5pm that the Lexan laser cut leaves a gross finish and
the CNC would make it look much better. After making all the programs, I cardboard
prototyped the wood support and one frame of Lexan to make sure all of the
pieces fit together nicely as seen in the image to the right. 
After the cardboard proved to be successful,
I moved to make
the plywood frame with some tasteful engravings to make me seem more environmentally
friendly. Some of the ply pieces were warped so I was worried about everything
not being square and retaining right angles, so I tried my best to bond the
pieces against stuff with right angles as seen to the left. The bonding technique
was using plain and simple wood glue except that shady guy had a super glue bottle full
of wood glue (image to the right) for more precise application. Gluing took
a considerable amount of time since pieces were bent. I had to clamp certain
areas together in more than one spot as seen in the image below.
At this point I started bonding the four separate supports
together with the support connectors, each with its own words or decorative floral
display. As that was drying, I began to CNC (image to the left) all the Lexan pieces for see
through aspect of the greenhouse. The
CNC worked perfectly (and no one was hurt I might add) so I used silicon to bond
the Lexan to the plywood. As seen in the image to the right, there were a lot of clamps
to keep the pieces from shifting and also to maintain a good amount of pressure
such that the silicon would form a strong bond. The roof piece is all that
stood in my way and it did not fit, not even close… I expected the roof to not
fit PERFECTLY, but it was far from ideal.
I did not expect for the greenhouse to be so far from
square. I thought I was careful in my assembly, but I was not. In hindsight, I
would have definitely have made a middle support structure to guide everything
into place that could be removed later on. I would have also cut the Lexan
first to help give the rigid support and help maintain the square shape of all
the angles before bonding the wood. Not only would I have added middle
supports, I would also have added top and bottom enclosures to ensure everything
was lined up the same. In the mist of my deep sorrows of staring at my roof not
fitting, I decided to put an oversized roof on top from a new piece. I can
claim that I made that new design choice to act as a counter top for beverages.
.. yay, go me.
Here’s the finished product! -Bvyan Granizo
CNC- $30/hr -> $30
Plywood $1/sheet -> $2
Zing $30/hr -> $30
Lexan $6/sheet -> $24
"My Time" $10/hr -> $50
Total: $136.00
(Maybe not worth it for a little greenhouse)
But it's for Larry!
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