Completely 3D Printed Model Rocket Using Tinkercad.

Have you ever wanted to fly a rocket, but you don't want to pay the price for cheaply made industrial model rockets, or wanted to feel the thrill of making one yourself, or simply just bored with a 3D printer, well this rocket is for you then! This rocket is a completely self designed, 3D printed, fully functional, Reusable, and Fun Model rocket. This rocket was designed with Tinkercad, and 3D Printed Using a FlashForge Creator Pro 3D printer.

• Access to Tinkercad (or other 3D C.A.D. platform)
• 3D printer filament (I used PLA)
• 3D printer
• Super glue
• Model rocket engine(s)

Before we can design a rocket we need to know what size engine we will use. I would recommend using a smaller model rocket engine like an Estes B6-4 this is a great Model rocket engine that isn't too big or too pricey but still powerful enough too launch a model rocket high into the sky! I based my design off this engine. You can use other rocket engines just your results may very.

To know what size we need to build our rocket we need to know the size of the engine, that our rocket is built around. My Estes B6-4 measured to be about 18mm In diameter and about 70mm in length. Other rocket engines will be different in size so be sure to know what engine you have.

To make our rocket aerodynamic so it can fly through the air with the least resistance we will need to give it a nose cone . Making a nose cone can help our rocket fly higher and faster and fly for a longer amount of time. we need a nose cone that can fit over the top of the engine so we can glue it on. I used the tinkercad generated shape called the Ogive and a hollowed out cylinder with an inner diameter of 2mm more than the outer diameter of the rocket engine (In my cases for the B6-4, it was exactly 20mm ). And the outer diameter of the cylinder was exactly 6mm bigger than the outer diameter of the rocket engine. make this hollowed cylinder at least 12mm tall so that it will ensure a tight fit. Set the diameter of the ogive to the same diameter of the outer diameter of the cylinder. Now you will need to align the ogive and the cylinder on both the x and the z axes using the align tool. and make sure that the bottom of both shapes is at the y value of 0 (touching the work plane) now move the ogive up by the height of the cylinder. Now the lsat step to designing the nose cone is to group the cylinder and the ogive using the group tool.

Our rocket needs to fly in a straight line to do this we will need to give it fins. I used a tapered cylinder with the same dimensions from Step 3 then used 1/2 Ogive slices to make the fins you can do this by taking an ogive and placing it in between 2 equal-sized holes that are spaced apart by your desired fin width. Then I created 3 more fins for a total of 4 fins then I used the align tool to make sure that the fins were placed equally Apart.

Next, we need to print our rocket, I used PLA which is slightly stronger and more rigid than ABS. I used regular print settings to print. when the rocket is done printing you will need to remove all of the supports if your printer uses them. now we need to assemble our rocket first we can take our nose cone and place super glue around the circumference of the top of the model rocket engine and place insert the glued engine top al the way into the nose cone. After this, you will need glue the fins on which can be done by placing superglue around the circumference of the bottom of the rocket motor and sliding the fins up so that the fin base will completely cover the bottom of the rocket. Now, wait for your glue to set and dry.

This step is optional, but I would highly recommend it for two reasons, one it makes your rocket look awesome and two it can help you find your rocket after launching. I decorated my rocket with bright markers and reflective tape.

You will need a way to ignite your rocket engine from a safe distance, there are multiple ways that you can do this but I would just use the long fuse that comes with most rocket engines. Just be sure that however you light off you rocket you do it from a safe distance.

If you want to be able to reuse your rocket multiple times you will of coarse have to find it after a launch. If you decorated your rocket with reflective materials it will be a lot easier to find.

If you are using An Estes B6-4 or any similarly sized rocket engine the files below are what I designed as my rocket.

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/eyz9u8kw4wW-b6-4-model-rocket