Upgrading Planter to Welded Steel

Hi. I am finally moving on from my old wooden planter that played hell on track alignment with the seasons and change in the weather.

This new box is all welded steel. The walls are 1/4" steel (6.35mm). This box is 54" wide x 10 feet for my old V1.0+ Genesis. The extra length will accommodate a Subpod and two tomato plants.

Notice, it is also prominently located in the front garden now as part of a major renovation.

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Wow!! That’s amazing. What’s a ballpark weight and cost on something like that??

it is close to 700 lbs. Materials were about $1500. (The bottom is open to the soil below). I am putting a Subpod composter at one end to support a worm colony).

It is about double the cost of using quality lumber, but it will last forever and be straight.

This weekend I am drilling the 32 holes in the side for the track mounts and tapping them.

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@John_D

Hey John,

It looks like a great design that will be super sturdy and will likely last a long time. Would you be able to share the design plans for your welded steel box? I am sure that others could benefit from your design work.

Marc

HI
It is a pretty simple design. I used two 4’ x 10’ x 1/4" steel plate. I had one plate sheared to 24" wide x 10’. The other was cut in half and then on half was sheared to 5’ x 24". 1/2 sheet left over for other projects. The box steel is 1.5" x 1.5" thin wall tube, cut to length with 45 degree miters. We put the sheared plate edge at the bottom and used the nice edge on top.

The four sides were fully welded from the interior corner. The box tubes were set down 3" from the top and bottom and tacked into place. The corners were fully welded.

We used scrap steel inside for temporary bracing to keep it straight during welding. I left them in since they will be buried in the soil anyway.

The key to the installation is that it is on a highly compacted dirt and it is level. I ran AC power to it and a pressurized water line. The bottom is completely open.

Honestly, it is WAAY overbuilt.

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