I absolutely love this design. I am now printing it in Pink ABS.
3D Printing Free 3D printed fin can design for HPR
- Thread starter Ben Martin
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- fincan fins high power rocketry
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Thanks. The one that you printed for me will be getting its first flight test in a week, looking forward to seeing how it performs.
Did you figure out what type of mailing tube?
The fincan performed flawlessly on its first test flight. The payload tube did not have the same fate. Really late ejection charge did some damage, thankfully it's easily repairable. Happy with the 3D printed fin can so far, thanks for printing it cwbullet!
vcp
Well-Known Member
I don't think a lot of people have appreciated that yet. Unless you induce some warp or have a seriously mal-adjusted printer, printed fin alignment will always be 'perfect'. Roll induced by fins should be gone - stresses on the model should be reduced.
Great flight. Now, you juts need another tube.
Just have to unscrew the "damaged" one and replace it, simple repair.
How do you order those tubes?
My dad owns a graphics shop so he has a bunch of them laying around. I use the 3in tubes with thinner walls. I'll try to figure out an comparable brand.
What color is the exterior?
This tube was brown on the outside with a white film on the inside. The other rocket I made used brown on the outside and inside.
vcp
Well-Known Member
That video should sell a hundred printers. Even a master craftsman can't get fillets and bevels exactly symmetrical.
Makes you wish all rockets had these. Much time could be saved, allowing us to spend valuable time doing other things in life.
It was one of the easiest prints but it does take a long time to print and a little elbow grease to sand.
It should be able to fit standard 3in tubes (fiberglass and LOC) but I'll make different variations just incase. I will also be scaling it up to a 4in version and below 3in if anyone has requests. The long print time is worth the great flights, plus it's an easy print with no extreme overhangs.
Looks great, hopefully you will get some good flights out of it!
opcon
Active Member
Hi Ben, what CAD software did you use to create this design? Would you be willing to share those files?
I used Inventor to 3D model it. The design files are in the Thingiverse download as the native .ipt file.
opcon
Active Member
Thanks, I'll have to get Inventor
It's free for students but really expensive if you're not in school or it's not provided by your work. A free alternative is Fusion 360 which is similar to Inventor.
opcon
Active Member
I was able to get the Inventor Professional 2020 as an engineering student. I am pretty decent at Fusion 360, but had to do some fumbling around to be able to recreate your design and create new designs for smaller fin cans. I'm experimenting now in trying to get the curvature correct for a Von Karman nose cone using MATLAB and export that data into Excel and then import it into AutoCAD to create the curve and then import into Inventor to create the cone. Having a bit of difficulty with the math in MATLAB, but I am getting close.
Could always trace the shape of an image in Inventor to make the nosecone. Saves a lot of work.
opcon
Active Member
MATLAB finally provided the correct X,Y coordinates (user error 
). Copied X,Y coordinates into Excel. Ran the insert Points tool in 2D Sketch mode, selected the Excel file and choose the Create spline option. Drew a line on the X axis and changed it to a center line then drew a rectangle for the shoulder. Finished sketch and used Revolve on the spline and rectangle since I had a center line it knew what I wanted. Ran the Shell tool and hollowed out the nose cone and shoulder. I am happy with the results.
). Copied X,Y coordinates into Excel. Ran the insert Points tool in 2D Sketch mode, selected the Excel file and choose the Create spline option. Drew a line on the X axis and changed it to a center line then drew a rectangle for the shoulder. Finished sketch and used Revolve on the spline and rectangle since I had a center line it knew what I wanted. Ran the Shell tool and hollowed out the nose cone and shoulder. I am happy with the results.
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
Very nice!
If you were still stuck at lunchtime, I was going to ask for the dimensions you needed. Solidworks' formula driven curve makes haak and parabolic cones very easy.
If you were still stuck at lunchtime, I was going to ask for the dimensions you needed. Solidworks' formula driven curve makes haak and parabolic cones very easy.
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