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Bosch projects you can build yourself
Hanging tiered planter
Do you live in the city or somewhere that doesn't have space for a herb patch or flower bed? We have a practical solution - and one which you won't find in any ordinary shop: in our hanging tiered planter, basil, chives, rosemary and parsley can nestle happily alongside marigold or trailing lobelia. All that's missing is a place in the sun!
The following assembly instructions apply to 19-mm-thick medium-density fibre board (MDF) and 5-mm-thick perspex. You must adapt the list of materials accordingly if you opt for other materials or thicknesses.
Ask your DIY store or carpenter to cut the required boards to size.
Our hanging planter essentially consists of a set of suspended shelves with four bases secured between side panels and a rear panel. The perspex panels add an aesthetic charm to the piece, but you could achieve a similar effect with attractive plant pots, for example. In this case, you could simply omit the perspex panels.
Instructions
Attach the pegs to the rear panel
Using a drill and a Forstner bit (wood drill bit with a diameter of over 12 mm), drill two 30 mm holes at the same height above the upper shelf base. For this purpose, mark the drilling points precisely and place the centring tip of the drill on these points. Please note: Do not drill the holes too deeply; use the peg installation depth as a reference. Then insert the pegs in the holes; if necessary, tap them in with a rubber mallet.
Rout the front panel grooves in the shelf bases
Using clamp clips, secure the backing board on your work surface. Drill two holes through each of the shelf bases and insert screws through these holes to fasten the shelves temporarily to the backing board so they are steady. Countersink the screw heads so they do not impede the router when you rout the groove. The holes are filled in with putty at a later stage and fully concealed under a layer of paint.
You can skip the task described in the previous section if you are lucky enough to have a work bench. In this case, clamp the bases to be routed onto the bench.
Adjust the router to a routing depth of 7 mm and rout a groove using the parallel guide and 5-mm straight bit. Afterwards, you can use the cordless screwdriver to remove the shelf bases from the backing board again if required.
Join the shelf sections together
Place the rear panel on a flat surface. Place the side panels and the shelf bases together in the way you want to assemble them. Carefully check that the gaps between the shelf bases are sufficient for your requirements. Then use a pencil to mark the position of the shelf bases above and below each base on the rear panel and on the side panels, while holding the sections together firmly to prevent anything from slipping while you draw the lines.
Remove the shelf bases again. You can now see the position of the base edges on the side panels and rear panel and check the gaps again using your folding rule. In the centre of the lines you have drawn, use the drill and 4-mm wood drill bit to make the holes for fastening the shelf bases. Then turn the side panels and the rear panel over onto their inside edge and countersink the holes to the size of the screw head using the drill and countersink bit.
Tip for screwing together two pieces of MDF
In the piece where you want to insert the screws first, always predrill a hole that is 0.5 to 1 mm larger than the screw diameter; the hole should be countersunk for the screw head. In the piece that you are going to drill second, predrill a hole that is always 1 mm smaller than the screw diameter.
When you collect all of the sections together for final assembly, make sure that the grooves in the shelf bases are on top. Then assemble the sections with the cordless screwdriver and flat head screws (4 x 45 mm).
Cut the perspex front panels to size and sand them
You can skip the first part of this step if you have your perspex panels cut to size at a retail outlet or DIY store. Otherwise, adjust the number of strokes on the setting wheel of your jigsaw to 3 or 4 and make sure you wear protective goggles when cutting the panels.
Clamp the panels in place and sand the visible edges, starting with sanding paper with a grit of 120 before completing fine sanding with sanding paper with a grit of 240. Always work in the longitudinal direction of the edge only. Then chamfer the edges, using fine sanding paper at a 45° angle in a longitudinal direction.
Now chamfer the corners of the lower edges using sanding paper with a grit of 120 at a 45° angle lengthwise to create a small bevel. This bevel allows you to insert the panels more easily into the grooves in the shelf bases once the surfaces have been treated. Fix the panels in place with silicon or adhesive if the fit is not snug enough.
Prepare MDF surfaces
First, fill all screw holes with putty or wood putty. Once the putty is dry (check the manufacturer's instructions), sand the area smooth using sanding paper with a grit of 120.
First chamfer all MDF edges with sanding paper with a grit of 120 at a 45° angle to create a small bevel. Use a sander and sanding paper (grit of 120 – 180) to work the MDF surfaces.
Surface treatment
To achieve a perfect finish on your furniture, paint the sections before assembly.
First read the manufacturer's safety and handling instructions thoroughly. Make sure the room you are working in is well ventilated and not used for smoking, eating or drinking.
Apply the priming filler with the roller or with a paint spraying system if necessary. Allow it to dry completely.
You should change the paint tank if you want to apply another material with your fine spray system in the next step.
MDF tips
MDF surfaces are highly absorbent. For this reason, you may need to pay particular attention to the edges (i.e. apply several layers). You can skip the time-consuming task of sealing the absorbent surfaces by using MDF with a primer film. This MDF guarantees a perfect finish without fillers, at least on the surfaces.
Finely sand the primed surfaces and edges; increase the grit of the sanding paper from 180 to 220 to 240.
Paint the visible surfaces
A wide range of paints is available, of various types and price categories. The main criteria in choosing a paint should be its workability, the technical equipment you have at home, and the surface quality and durability you require. Ask for advice at a specialist retail outlet. If you are not an experienced painter, we recommend that you practice beforehand on a sample piece.
You will achieve the quickest and best result with acrylic paints. It is particularly quick and easy to apply these water-dilutable paints using a fine spray system.
Pour the paint into the paint tank and dilute it if necessary with water. Using a test board, adjust the spray jet at the nozzle and the paint flow at the setting wheel. The spray jet can be set to horizontal or vertical for surfaces and tapered for edges.
Hang the shelves
Mark the position of the holes at the points where you want to hang the shelves. Use a line finder to ensure that there are no electrical cables or water pipes in that particular part of the wall.
Note on fixings
Nowadays, wall construction may consist of anything from dry lining walls to solid concrete walls. Therefore, first check the construction of your walls. Depending on how the walls are constructed, different types of fixings will be required to fit the hanging tiered planter.
Depending on the wall construction, use a drill or rotary hammer and 6 mm masonry drill bit to drill holes in the wall, then extract the dust and insert the fixings. Now use a cordless screwdriver to turn the screws required to hang the planter.
The availability of the Bosch tools shown here may vary from country to country.