Fully 3D printed Model rocket.

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Bluegillbronco2

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For the past year or so I have been exploring the possibility of 3D printing rockets. My first few were small and did not have recovery systems. Last weekend I successfully flew one that was fully modular and had a full recovery system. It is the most basic configuration with a Fin Section/motor mount section as one piece, a body tube section which houses the parachute and launch lugg, and the nosecone that is just a plain nosecone(but with a bit more infill that is needed, because I needed more weight forward to keep it stable). Here is a link to the video of the flight: https://youtu.be/L41hOa1F4Co

I was wondering what you guys on TRF think of this non-traditional way of building rockets. I will have the files ready to download very soon once I complete a few more test flights.
 
A guy in my club has a 3D printed rocket. He has flown it a few times at club launches. I think it uses 1/2A motors and uses tumble recovery. Works fine.
 
I have seen quite a few fin cans and cones but only a few complete printed rockets. One is my Boyce Saturn V :)

Keep working on them and keep us updated on your projects.

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I love the idea of 3D printing. Used it for 4" nosecones and transitions very successfully. Mach+ flights too. A couple of years back I was getting all sorts of strange looks when I even suggested flying plastic parts. It is a material like any other, and you work within its specifications. (or break it!).
 
I flew a completely 3D printed rocket at Airfest that had spin fins. It flew perfectly on a D12, and spun like a top.

I also flew a 3D printer filament spool, so maybe my opinion on what you should fly is not one you should rely on.
 
Very cool. What material did you print this in? I have printed one with PETG. It is a 13mm minimum diameter with a small streamer for recovery. The motor is just friction fitted in and it is nice for 1/2A but really gets going on a A10. The body tube with fins and launch lug is all one piece that almost maxed out my printer at 7.5" and the nose cone is solid for some nose weight. Once I find the files I used I will post them up on thingiverse and drop a link here.
 
Very cool. What material did you print this in? I have printed one with PETG. It is a 13mm minimum diameter with a small streamer for recovery. The motor is just friction fitted in and it is nice for 1/2A but really gets going on a A10. The body tube with fins and launch lug is all one piece that almost maxed out my printer at 7.5" and the nose cone is solid for some nose weight. Once I find the files I used I will post them up on thingiverse and drop a link here.

This one was printed in PLA. And I have not had any trouble with melting. Even the engine hooks that were less than a centimeter from the flame had very minimal damage. I also printed smaller rockets that were friction fit 13mm, but I had trouble fitting the recovery system inside the tube, hence why I decided to go bigger with this system. This current system can fit a 15 inch chute and can fly on 18/24 mm motors.

Sadly my printers max dimension in any direction is 120 mm, so I had to go with the modular design.I think I have done a good job with this considering the only glue needed to assemble the rocket is to hold the shock cord in(just like a normal model rocket).
 
The test version of the 4 piece configuration of my 3D printed rocket series has been printed and is ready for flight. unfortunately all this week my area will be experiencing gusty winds so will not be able to launch Demo flight 2. I also have to dedicate the next few weekends to studying/ practicing for a SAT in November. If the weather is good and I have a bit of free time I will see about squeezing in a launch next weekend.

But for now, I have a few improvements to the rocket system. Mainly I have scraped the engine hook design and have gone with a screw retainer style for engine retention(similar to HPR). The old system worked fine, but I believe that the screw on retainer will be more reliable.

I also addressed an issue where the FS/MM(Fin Section/ Motor Mount) part of the rocket experienced damage in the form of warping. It is unclear if it was caused by the initial kick of the C6-3 or by the ejection charge melting the plastic. Either way, I doubled the thickness of the tube in the space between the forward centering ring and the top of the part. So I think It will be fine.

Here is a link to an Imgur album of photos of the rocket and the described changes above: https://imgur.com/a/Ivtdr

I will release the STL files for all of the parts once Demo Flight 2 is complete and successful. They will probably be out by the end of october/

After that, I will start working on making parts that would allow 24mm motor compatibility, and also a special nosecone that would allow you to easily fly the Jolly Logic altimeters(1,2 or 3) and the 808 keychain camera at the same time. Sort of a electronics bay but on the very top of the rocket.
 
This Past weekend I flew a Fully printed 3D Rocket, It was a J Cluster.

The rocket flew on a single I-205 to airstart 3 F-44 Motors. The entire airframe, Av-bay, Nosecone were all 3D printed. The fins were G10 and the Bulkheads were plywood (that were cut on my CNC Router built from parts I printed).

The airframe was about 2.5 inches in diameter and stood about 5 feet tall (had about 150 hours of printing).

Flight was successful, all 3 out boards ignited and flew to an altitude of 2179 feet.

Dual deployment recovery was all successful.

The I-205 generated a lot of heat and in hind sight I should have pulled it as soon as I recovered it. I didn't and the motor case was seized in the plastic. I believe that there was enough heat generated that the PLA exceeded its glass transition temperature which for the record is only about 65C.

I will be attempting to salvage the majority of the body tube and reprinting the fin can. I am looking into inserting motor tubes into the printed fin can to act as a buffer for the heat generated by the motors.
 
Wow, that is pretty amazing that you printed a HP rocket. How many pieces is the main airframe made up of? Do you have any pictures? It sounds like an amazing build.

Luckily the small motors I use don't produce enough heat to melt the centering rings.
 
Demo Flight 2 was a success, which means that I feel comfortable releasing the STL files for this project.
Here is the Thingiverse page: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2620771
And Here is the video of Demo flight 2: [video=youtube;ouKVIZMkeGU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKVIZMkeGU&t=2s[/video]

Let me know if any of you guys have any questions. If you build one let me know how it works/ flies.
 
I saw one about two years ago, the builder put a cardboard motor tube and thrust ring in it to prevent the motor from softening the fin can. It seemed to fly OK, but I'm guessing that it was probably heavier than a similarly sized Estes rocket with a cardboard tube and plastic fins/NC.
 
It's cool to see a fully printed rocket, but IMO they are mostly a novelty. I got a 1/312 Sat V from Boyce just for that reason. It is cool but is heavy and marginally stable on a C6-3 (flew OK once, went cruise missile once...is now a display model). Printing components like fin cans and cones seems like a good idea but, unless you have a printer or a close buddy with one, they seem to be too pricey for me. That may change.
 
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