Wall planter box

Cut files

Save .xs writes an xTool Studio project with every layer already set: fine score, then deep score, then the cut, at the values below, run layer by layer. Each file is read back and checked before it is offered.

The SVGs are for other software. Every path carries its own color: red is cut, blue is fine score, green is deep score. There is no text and no grouping in the file. If XCS still imports the sheet as one group, right-click it and Ungroup once, then click each color layer to select it and assign its settings. If your importer flattens colors, use the per-layer files instead: each has the same size and two tiny corner marks in the waste margin, so importing all three at the same X and Y lines them up.

Parts

Build order

1. Cut the fit coupon first. Push an offcut of the same sheet into each slot. Pick the slot the offcut slides into with light finger pressure and no rattle, and enter its number as the slot fit. Acrylic cracks if you press-fit it; the cement makes the joint, not friction.
2. Cut the sheets with the masking on. The pattern is on the up-facing side, which becomes the outside of the box.
3. Dry-fit, gently. Lay the left side flat, pattern down. Set the floor into its slots, then the grate. Push the front onto the floor's front tabs so they pass through the slots in its skirt, and seat the front's side tabs. Press the right side on, pattern up, then push the back wall onto the side and floor tabs. Never force a joint; if one binds, sand the tab, don't hammer it.
4. Cement it. Thin acrylic cement along every inside seam and into every tab; it wicks into the small clearance and welds the acrylic to itself. The front-to-floor seam now has a thin wedge on the inside from the lean, about the width of a hair; run the cement along it twice. Cure overnight, then fill it with water in the sink for an hour. Silicone is a backup, not the joint.
5. Mark the screws with the box itself. Hold the empty box on the cabinet where you want it, level across the top, and mark through the round top of each small seat at the end of each slot with an awl or fine marker. Drill pilot holes there, put a dab of silicone in each, and drive #8 truss head screws until each head stands off the cabinet by a sheet thickness plus about 1 mm; an offcut with a business card on top makes a good gauge. Truss heads are wider than pan heads, so the acrylic lip has more to catch. Never tighten a head against the acrylic. The bottom of the box rests on the cabinet, so it hangs with a tilt of about one degree, which you won't see.
6. Hang it: pass each screw head through a big hole and let the box down until the shanks rest at the tops of the holes. Slide the box sideways so the shanks run along the slots (you can watch them through the acrylic); the lip of each slot passes behind its head, and at the end the box drops about 3 mm into the seats. It's now locked: it can't slide back or come off until it is lifted those 3 mm. To take it down, lift it 3 mm, slide it back until the heads line up with the big holes, and pull it away. Tap Lift off in the preview to see the motion.
7. Lay landscape fabric on the grate, add soil, and water until you see water in the reservoir. To water or drain, lift the box off and take it to the sink.