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Some Parts Designed and Prototyped

A project log for The Big One

You know that Rocket in Toy Story that almost blows Buzz and Woody Straight to hell? Want to 3D Print your own? Here you GO! oh it flys too!

avrAVR 06/04/2016 at 07:230 Comments

So, growing up I loved building model rockets, I've always wanted one like the one in Toy Story so here we go. The idea is for a mostly printed flying model rocket. The way I see it , it makes most sense to print the plastic parts of model rocket kits that you can't always get as separate parts and to just buy the rest off the shelf from model rocketry suppliers. So for this design it will comprise of 3D printed parts but off the shelf cardboard tubes for the rocket body and engine mounting system.

So far I got what I call the fin body designed. I did the modeling in OnShape, its fantastically easy and fast to use, the entire process took about 20 minutes or less. That time frame includes sketching the part in 2D graph paper before modeling in 3D.

As soon as I finished modeling the part, I decided to 3D print it to give it a test. Here are the results:

I don't usually print with support material and the part was designed to be printed free of support, I just happened to have the check box in cura tagged, leftover from experimenting with profiles. The part came out pretty nice, even with the super tight dimensions of 0.5mm wide tips on the fins!!

After the fin body was printed, I worked on the nose cone. The cone is also printable , it is mostly hollow, with a thick bottom, also on the bottom are slots for tying the shock cord and parachute to.

Shock cord tie in:

That's all for today, the cone is printing and I need to sleep!

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