DIY ROCKET NOSE CONE

The smoothest, shiniest rocket nose cone I've ever built! Using a 3d printer and some paint I completed this rocket nose cone to fit a 29mm body. You can design your own using this method to fit any rocket size.

For this project I used:

• Spray paint (bright red)
• A spare piece of carboard
• A 3d printer (ender 3 V2 if you're curious)
• Tinkercad
• Cura (you can use any slicing software you want)

Since the shape of a nose is fairly simple I chose to design it using Tinkercad. I've found that by drawing out designs on paper before using tinkercad I save myself a lot of time. So, I'd recommend drawing your design out WITH DIMENSIONS clearly labeled before opening Tinkercad. Here are the measurements/dimensions you'll need to design your nose cone:

• Inside Diameter of the Rocket Body Tube
• Outside Diameter of the Rocket Body Bube
• Height you want the nose to extend past the body (your preference)
• Depth you want the nose sunk the rocket body (your preference)

For example, here were my dimensions:

• Inside Tube Diameter: 29mm
• Outside Tube Diameter 30-31mm
• Height above tube: 80mm
• Depth: 25mm

Once you've defined these measurements open up Tinkercad and start a new design. A simple nose cone like this only needs two shapes! To "tinker" it follow these

steps:

1. Drag a cylinder onto the workplane. Define its height as the depth you want the nose sunk into the rocket body (25mm in my case). Define its length and width both as about .4-.8mm less than your tube's inside diameter (28.2mm). That way you will have a snug but not too tight fit after painting.
2. Drag a half sphere onto the workplane. Define its height to be the distance you want the nose to extend past the rocket's body (80mm). Define its length and width to be the same as your rocket body tube's outside diameter (30.5mm).
3. Select the half sphere and move it upwards (the z direction) until it is the same height as the cylinder (25mm in my case). Then move it to be roughly on top of the cylinder with their bottom/top flat surfaces touching.
4. To center the half sphere over the cylinder use the align tool (see picture). To use the tool, first select the objects to align tabs/axis that you want to line up.
5. Finally, select both objects and use the "group" command to join them.

Yay! That's all for the design!

I used Cura to prepare the design for printing. A really cool advantage of using cura is that it estimates the weight of the nose cone for you, which is very useful in the design phase of a rocket. To get the nose cone to Cura export it as an stl file from Tinkercad. Then open the stl file with Cura. Feel free to use your own print settings, materials, etc.

My print settings were:

• Quality: Low (.28mm)
• Wall thickness for sides, top, and bottom: 4 (.8mm)
• Infill: 25% lines
• Speed: 55mm/sec
• Temperature: 200C nozzle and 55C bed.
• Support: yes
• Bed adhesion: brim

After printing, let the nose cool before the next step.

No one wants a nose cone that creates literally "layers" of drag. So we can use spray paint to make it smooth and aerodynamic. The layer lines of the 3d print are an interesting obstacle to smooth paint jobs. The ridges on a 3d printed surface retain tiny "puddles" of paint. Since we are using the paint as to both color the nose and act as a filler for the ridges you have to let the first coat of paint dry all the way before you do a second or third. To paint the nose cone:

1. Go outside and put the nose cone on a piece of carboard so you don't accidentally paint anything else.
2. Spray on the first coat. For the first coat put on just enough paint to halfway fill most of the "ridges". It does not have to be fully painted yet though; it's okay if it's still showing some unpainted plastic. Let dry all the way before second coat or you will get bubbles in the paint!
3. Spray on the second coat. On this coat you are focused on filling in any remaining ridges and unpainted plastic. the second coat should be about as heavy as the first. Let dry before next coat.
4. Spray on the third coat. This coat should be light and focus on getting a consistently smooth surface with no drips or splotches. So, hold the can a little bit farther away from the nose cone while painting, that way you are less likely to cause dripping or splotches.
5. Let it dry all the way for full strength and you are done!

With the nose cone done and painted you can put it at the top of your rocket. Mine (being bright red) went atop a rocket named Rudolph.

In summary,

• We used tinkercad to design a nose cone based off the dimensions of a body tube.
• Then we sliced the design using Cura so we could 3d print it.
• After 3d printing we applied multiple coats of paint to get a smooth, glossy nose.
• Then attached it to a rocket body for display or launching.

I ended up smashing mine in a rocket that crashlanded. It was pretty amazing while it lasted. There's a picture above of the damage.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your nose cone!