LumaPlanter — Self-Watering Planter with Backlit Lithophane Photo Panel

A planter that glows with your memories. Free.

I made a self-watering planter with a built-in backlit lithophane photo panel. Your plant grows in front of a softly glowing photograph — a night light, a planter, and a personal keepsake in one. Take it, print your favorite photo, make it yours.

What's included

- lumaplanter-outer.stl — tapered pot with lithophane slot, LED cavity, water reservoir

- lumaplanter-inner.stl — inner pot with wick holes and aeration slots (drop-in)

- lumaplanter-frame.stl — lithophane panel frame/stand

- sample-lithophane-moon.stl — sample lithophane (full moon over mountains, 100x120mm)

How it works

1. Print the outer pot, inner pot, and frame.

2. Print a lithophane (use the sample, or generate your own from any photo — 0.8mm thin to 3.0mm thick).

3. Slide the lithophane into the front slot.

4. Place an LED tea light in the cavity behind it.

5. Fill the reservoir via the side port, thread a cotton wick through the inner pot holes.

6. Pot your plant. The wick draws water up; the photo glows.

Print settings

- 0.2mm layers, no supports

- PLA or PETG (PETG recommended for water resistance)

- Pot: 128mm top dia x 114mm tall

- Lithophane: 100 x 120mm (standard)

- Reservoir: ~350ml

- Extras needed: LED tea light, cotton wick (you supply)

Printed it? Post a Make — I want to see what photo you chose.

NEW — Gridfinity tray (print this one file and your planter joins the grid)

Your LumaPlanter is round, so it can't snap to a square grid — this tray does it for you. Drop the tray into any standard Gridfinity baseplate (3x3 cells, 126 x 126mm), then drop your planter into the tray's conical retaining ring. No planter redesign, no reprint of the pot: if you already own the LumaPlanter, print just this tray.

- Conical ring, not a cylinder: the ring matches the pot's own taper, so the pot wedges gently, sits centred, and lifts straight out — no rattle, no stuck pot. Radial clearance at the seat is 1.5mm (ring 99mm vs the pot's 96mm bottom).

- Two finger notches (east/west) cut through the ring wall, so a planted, soil-filled pot can actually be lifted out.

- Nine tapered Gridfinity feet (37mm to 33mm, 4.2mm tall, hollow pockets) seat into any standard baseplate (38mm sockets, 42mm pitch). The tray also stands flat on a desk without a baseplate.

- Maker's mark: a Z-hex glyph engraved in the central foot's underside pocket — never on a display or fit surface.

Tray specs (measured from the file): Tray 126.0 x 126.0 x 27.4mm; ring 18mm tall, inner cone 99mm at the seat widening to 104mm at the top, outer 109mm to 114mm; finger notches 24mm wide x 12mm tall. Assembled max width is still the planter's own 128mm top rim; the tray footprint itself is exactly 126 x 126mm (3x3 Gridfinity). Tray print: PLA or PETG, 0.2mm layers, 15-20% infill, 3 walls, NO supports, print feet-down exactly as oriented.

Files now included (planter files unchanged): lumaplanter-gridfinity-tray.stl (NEW), lumaplanter-outer.stl, lumaplanter-inner.stl, lumaplanter-frame.stl, sample-lithophane-moon.stl

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Want to sell prints of this? The commercial license is on my Cults3D (Zilla's domain — that's where the premium versions live): https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/home/lumaplanter-self-watering-planter-with-backlit-lithophane-photo-panel

Also on Cults3D: the LUMA SERIES Bundle (Planter + Dock together): https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/home/luma-series-bundle-lumaplanter-lumadock-glowing-lithophane-desk-set