3D printing Challenge

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I think it would be easier to make built-up fins rather than print them...you can use "ribs and skin" for the diamond (pictured below for my "F" powered Terrier-Sandhawk) or a "core and skin" for the double diamond like the Nike Smoke. I used balsa and 110# cardstock soaked with CA.

I used these methods when building the from the plan pak so many years ago... results were okay, but not perfect...

img036_zpsq6d6avio.jpg
 
Noodling around with google, looking for some pics, came across a really nice set taken in Italy https://www.panoramio.com/user/2289384 (plus some gorgeous scenery) It took me several clicks, but I was finally able to open a high res version that could be saved to my 'puter.
 
Is this a museum or are they active? Museum I just noticed the people.
 
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I found a body tube from LOC that is close to the necessary sustainer tube size. If I don't finish the model tonight, I'll finish it over the weekend.

BTW, I just do design and modeling, I don't have a 3D printer (actually, I do have a 3D printer, but I haven't put it together). There are folks around here who have 3D printers. One of them can print up my model.
 
Most any hobby printer would need an .stl file. Some might use .obj. It would help if you can set the .stl units to mm. Anything you can do to ensure the .stl is watertight would also help. In larger scales it might be useful/necessary to slice it so that no single section is longer that ~6" (that's the z-height limit of mine anyway); ideally with alignment pegs and holes to fit the sections together.
 
This is a pretty big model.

I tried to find a nosecone that would work with the 4.2 inch sustainer tube, but nothing in the RocketReviews database was appropriate. I could easily model the boat tail and the nose cone to fit the tube, but the nose cone, at least, is way over your z-height limit. Keeping the transition below 6" with its shoulders was all I could do. Here are the dimensions of the transition:
momaday_brent_transition.gif
I produced an STL file and also my favorite format, a Parasolid. If anything is wrong with the STL file, the Parasolid can be used to generate a better one. I also uploaded the spreadsheet I used to calculate the scale values.

I put all the files here.
 
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You can break the cone into two parts to fit the printer...we did that with a D-Region Tomahawk model

3D_Print_004a.jpg

3D_Print_003a.jpg

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DSC_4182MR.jpg

DSC_4186MR.jpg
 
It looks like the 4 54 mm tubes are designed to fit over the shoulder? If so could the shoulders be designed to be about 1" long? The same with the top shoulder. This would make it a little more ridged. Great work. I will most likely use a standard 4" LOC or PML tube. Looks great. Thanks for the hard work.
 
My $.02

As is, it will be a major pain in the butt to print on a hobby grade FDM printer.

Making the following changes would help tremendously for printability.



Fill in the holes above the lower tubes, except for a small area for alignment pins.

Split the model just above the tubes so there is a lot of surface area to glue after the print.

Chamfer the inside top of the transition to a 45deg (about 1" it looks like)

This will remove all support requirements and make the model print nicely.
1.png2.png3.png
 
Are you interested in doing the print for me?

My $.02

As is, it will be a major pain in the butt to print on a hobby grade FDM printer.

Making the following changes would help tremendously for printability.



Fill in the holes above the lower tubes, except for a small area for alignment pins.

Split the model just above the tubes so there is a lot of surface area to glue after the print.

Chamfer the inside top of the transition to a 45deg (about 1" it looks like)

This will remove all support requirements and make the model print nicely.
View attachment 255515View attachment 255516View attachment 255517
 
Great advice, Landru. Just what I need, since I am not familiar with designing for 3D printing (I normally design for casting, machining, injection-molding; and while everything I do is 3D printed as a prototype, I leave the details of how to make that happen to the service bureau). I understand why you need to add that inside chamfer to the transition, but I wonder whether it will add a lot of unnecessary weight. So I hollowed it out as can be seen in the drawing:

momaday_brent_2.0.gif

Is this okay? Naturally, it's easy enough to delete that. For that matter, the chamfer itself could be raised to the upper contour of the hollowed section; would that be okay?

Brent, Landru's suggestions will allow me to add the one inch long shoulders you want while still maintaining a z-height of less than six inches. But before we go a lot further, you need to find out who will be printing this, and see what their limitations are. To make the model complete, I'd like to finish the boat tail and the nose cone, and I need to know what the size limitations might be.

Anyway the new files for version 2.0 are here.

I believe Landru will print it for compensation.

Landru: If you think this is a good part and would like to add it to your library of 3D printable parts, please feel free to do so under the Creative Commons ShareAlike license. I can also make it to different scales (matching standard body tubes, etc).
 
Great advice, Landru. Just what I need, since I am not familiar with designing for 3D printing (I normally design for casting, machining, injection-molding; and while everything I do is 3D printed as a prototype, I leave the details of how to make that happen to the service bureau). I understand why you need to add that inside chamfer to the transition, but I wonder whether it will add a lot of unnecessary weight. So I hollowed it out as can be seen in the drawing:

momaday_brent_2.0.gif

Is this okay? Naturally, it's easy enough to delete that. For that matter, the chamfer itself could be raised to the upper contour of the hollowed section; would that be okay?

Brent, Landru's suggestions will allow me to add the one inch long shoulders you want while still maintaining a z-height of less than six inches. But before we go a lot further, you need to find out who will be printing this, and see what their limitations are. To make the model complete, I'd like to finish the boat tail and the nose cone, and I need to know what the size limitations might be.

Anyway the new files for version 2.0 are here.

I believe Landru will print it for compensation.

Landru: If you think this is a good part and would like to add it to your library of 3D printable parts, please feel free to do so under the Creative Commons ShareAlike license. I can also make it to different scales (matching standard body tubes, etc).

Hollowing that out will probably make it heavier, depending on the print settings.

Typically, a print is configured with a number of perimeters and a percentage of infill, which will be something like 10%-20%. The infill for those hollow volumes will quite possibly weigh less than the perimeters.
 
View attachment 255594

Fiddling with it myself. Lots of tweaks and details to finish. My steam-powered pc makes it kind of slow going.

Kind of along the lines of what I was thinking. Anybody got a Solidworks file of this transition, I'm just barely getting started on learning SW2014 and have yet to figure out how/if I can modify the solid from the file I was able to download.
 
nh.jpgnh34.jpg

It just didn't seem right without some attempt to model the structure visible inside that access cutout. The aft cone is temporary, and there's still lots of tweaks and details to do.

The missile aft cone could be made an integral part of the transition for a single stage, with recovery in the booster; or ducts could be added to do single stage with recovery in the sustainer. It would probably be possible to two stage it with the aft cone socketed into the transition.
 
View attachment 255856View attachment 255857

It just didn't seem right without some attempt to model the structure visible inside that access cutout. The aft cone is temporary, and there's still lots of tweaks and details to do.

The missile aft cone could be made an integral part of the transition for a single stage, with recovery in the booster; or ducts could be added to do single stage with recovery in the sustainer. It would probably be possible to two stage it with the aft cone socketed into the transition.



Looks good. I am thinking about seeing if DFR Technologies ( Real Space Rockets ) would be interested in printing it up for me. I have had him do some stuff for me before.
 
Since that last, I've went back and reworked the Nike M5 forward flange to include the bolt hole positions. Bringing those hole positions forward into the cluster flange, shows me exactly where the mounting bolts for the support ring must go. I was close, but still the flange and support ring need to be reworked. This also defines the necessary rotation of the M5 motors, and possibly explains/defines the position of the motor weld lines. There's a different style of ignitor for the M5 that I'm going to change to as well. I've also added some flanges to the inside of the shroud that are looking good too.

Now I'm getting really interested in doing the aft cluster cradle and shroud too.
 
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Any progress on this. A friend of mine just got a 3D printer and is having a blast with it.
 
I intend to pick it up again, but printer upgrades and illness have taken a big bite of my time. Going to all aluminum parts in the printer so I can up the chamber temp to ~70-80C. And ya, 3D printers are a blast.
 
I found a local printer that will do the print for 168.00. Much better than Shapeways price. Hope to get it printed next week.
 
Searching the Forum, the Nike-Hercules is certainly a popular subject, with many recent threads. So, I apologize for bringing up this older thread, but what I'm posting is really a continuation of this thread, so here goes.

I've recently picked up the Hercules interstage 3D project again, largely reworking and adding significant detail to what I'd done earlier. Now, it includes greater (and corrected) panel detail, flanges, internal panel cutouts, and all discernible rivets, bolts and washers. This includes the fin latches, launch lugs, 'adapter plate', some M5 igniter detail, and the upper stage support ring. The most significant things missing at the moment are the igniter cables. The only thing 'out-of-scale', that I know of, is the thickness of the shroud/panel walls, which were made thicker than scale so they could be printed.

Tiny tweaks remain: there are some small fillets I could work on, and those cables. I also need to check the rotation of the M5's, but that can be fixed quickly. I also need to make a 'reduced detail' version, for printing at smaller scales. I guess I also need to think about sectioning it so that it can be printed at larger scales, where the detail should look really good.

It's too complex inside, with too many overhangs to print in one piece. So now the next project is to take it apart into logically printable pieces. -- Shouldn't be too hard. I can't post the .stl, it came out to almost 60MB, but I bet that can be cleaned up for a significant reduction. It almost certainly needs repair too, but the views here are from the .stl displayed in Simplify3D, and it sliced there, so it can't be too bad.

In particular, note the view where the upper tip of the triangular panel section meets the upper transition - the upper rims of the shroud, and the base of the upper transition, are not simple circular sections - I'm particularly proud that they match the photo extremely well. (Couldn't manage to model the dents though.)

I've only modeled the simpler option for the M5 upper flange; I intend to add the 'curvy' type as another option. There is also an alternate type of igniter that I intend to add as well.

access-flange.jpginterior flange.JPGlatch-ignitor.jpglaunch lugs.JPGpanel transition real.JPGpanel transition.JPGside 3-4.JPGupper 3-4.JPG

Next up will be:
The rest of the M5 motor (usable for other Nike subjects)
internal motor connecting supports
tail shroud
booster fins
upper stage
 
Very nice looking CAD there. What size Nike tubes is the model to suit?

The CAD model is done at 1"=1", but .stl output dimensions are usually assumed to be in mm, so that becomes 1" = 1mm, or 1/25.4. For the views shown, that makes a Nike motor diameter of about 0.65". That could easily be bumped up as required to accommodate 18mm motors, and it would still fit on my printer as a quad as shown. Might fit with BT50's; or, I have another printer I could get running that certainly will do a print that could do 50/55 maybe 60. But as I said, I'm not quite ready to print any of it yet, as I need to divide it up a bit to make printing at any scale possible.

If sectioned into 4 pieces, it could be printed for tubes as large as 3 or perhaps 4". Of course then for any larger model, the internal structure would need to be adapted to support the weight of the upper stage. Not a big problem, just needs to be done.
 
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