I’ve burned through another 100g or so of filament today printing saucers for plants in pots. I started with a model from MakerWorld by Ian Smith Builds. It was solid but, although advertised as 9cm, the internal diameter was only about 8cm and so it was a bit too snug for the particular pot I had in mind. That is the model shown above.

I then created my own version in OpenSCAD – a cylinder for the base, a tube for the outer wall and some internal rests so the pot doesn’t seal against the base. All of that was fairly easy using the BOSL2 library and the advantage of creating my own model is that I can easily adjust the parameters. Version 1 had the right internal diameter and I also printed a second one with a raised edge. In theory PLA isn’t the best material to use but I’ll see how these prints perform in actual usage before deciding if I need to switch to PETG.

Ignoring the relatively negligible electricity cost, 100g equates to about £1.40 worth of filament. None of it will be wasted as the first print is still usable for a smaller pot. Let’s call it about 45p per saucer. I checked on Amazon and I could have purchased 10 9.5cm plastic saucers for about £6. I didn’t expect to find that, at 60p each, that works out as more expensive than the home-printed versions. At home, I can print the saucers on demand and, in my current design, I’ve created something thicker and more rigid that what I expect the Amazon ones are like. I’m sure economies of scale would tip the balance if I wanted to buy 50 or 100 or if I was willing to take a chance on the lowest price I could find anywhere online but I’m pleasantly surprised to see that 3d printing is not only convenient but also represents a worthwhile saving at domestic levels of use.