The Rotatable Hexagonal Planter

This is the third installment about a project that cannot be sufficiently covered in one blog. You may refer to the two blogs prior to this to get a feel for what this is about. Now, because there are numerous ways to make a rotating planter, this is merely one way. This is one complicated way but it can be as simple as one 4 X 4 stock lumber from the home center for a center post, a couple of square boards, or even a circular ready-made piece (also available) and a  lazy Susan hardware that is commercially available online or at specialty hardware stores locally. The hanging planter-boxes can also be done in a number of ways - limited only by your imagination. The idea here is to be able to rotate it daily by a quarter turn so plants by the window get maximum sunlight once every four days. Plants will still have light exposure of slightly lower intensity at other times for as long as this planter is by the window or anywhere light can come through from one side.

I probably talked enough about the hexagon that it almost borders on a mild obsession but I preached whenever I can about the hexagon as one very efficient shape in nature. Bees make it, snow flakes are invariably hexagonal and volcanoes make columnar basalt in the unmistakable hexagonal configurations.

Six equilateral triangles will form into a hexagon, which can be circumscribed by a circle whose radius is exactly the length of one side of the triangle. Just another feature of the hexagon that makes it special. This is important to note because as shown in this photo one can make a hexagon from a narrower piece. A hexagon twice as wide can be fashioned from a long narrow board half the dimension. 

Obviously there is a fair amount of difficulty shown in the following photos but again, there are a lot simpler ways; using screws, for example, to attach the boxed-hanger-planters. I used dovetail joinery so the planters can "slip" in and out easily. 

The dovetails are just tight enough for friction to keep them in place, although I provided stops for insurance, but it allows for removal if needed.