Hey guys noticed you where discussing the Super Cropper. I am Zach from Urban Hydroponic Growers Union we invented and began selling the Super Cropper last year.
You're breakdown on cost is pretty close to what our costs are to build one plus labor and since we include shipping in our pricing you can see that we have worked really hard to create a great system at a very reasonable price. We only sell systems so we can afford to do more growing ourselves
Looking at your drawing the only problem I see is that it looks like the spray line is in the bottom of the rails. That is problematic because the roots will grow into your spray holes and clog them up.
To build one it takes about a weekend. I do feel sorry for anyone trying to build a 72 site version. Drilling all those holes is quite a task which is why we use a CNC router to mill out all the holes.
About attaching the netcups: early super cropper versions did have a clip for them but we found that once a plant has a large enough root mass or is supported in some way they don't ever tilt at all. I am growing some pretty large eggplants in one and don't tilt even a bit. Another strategy is to put loops in a string and use the plants on opposite sides of the rail to support each other.
