3D Printing Estes PNC-50YR Nose Cone

[Jack Hydrazine]

This is a 3D model of the Estes PNC-50YR nose cone. It is designed to fit Estes BT-50 airframe tubing.

There are two files you can download - the nose cone and the end cap. The end cap has a two millimeter hole in it to allow you to add a screw eye or eye bolt.

I have added a third file of the nose cone without the shoulder.

Estes kits that use this nose cone:

Kit# Kit Name
1259 Orbital Transport (re-release)
1265 Scissor Wing Transport (re-release)
1333 Scorpion
1377 Hercules
1382 Comanche-3
1906 Sizzler
1906 Rascal RTF (starter set)
1907 HiJinks RTF (starter set)
1923 Cougar
1952 Halley's Tail
1953 Fire Aero
1954 Starbird
1960 Nova Payloader (+ 2007 Re-release)
1979 Clipper
1980 Long Shot
1992 Dasher
1993 Lancer
2002 Thunderhawk
2006 Calypso
2007 IRIS
2008 Yellow Jacket
2011 Super Nova
2026 Athena (nose chrome plated)
2027 Silver Streak (nose chrome plated)
2028 Cajun
2030 Hornet
2034 Deep Space Transport
2041 Menace
2042 America (nose gold plated)
2050 Super Neon (+ 2007 Re-release)
2051 Solar Probe
2053 Blackhawk
2055 White Tiger
2075 ARV Condor
2076 Pegasus
2093 Mongoose
2097 Manta
2112 Transwing Super Glider
2136 Gemini DC
2144 T.I.E. Fighter (Black, P/N 072403)
2172 Monarch
2174 Polaris
2176 Echostar
2179 Guardian
2452 Athena RTF
2454 SkyTrax RTF
7005 Yellow Jacket (Boxed)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4760544

 

[ZoomieG]

This is a 3D model of the Estes PNC-50YR nose cone. It is designed to fit Estes BT-50 airframe tubing.

Hey Jack,

When printing your nose cones, what do you use for infill/wall settings? I've noticed your nose cone files are designed with a hollow center; do they need to be printed with 100% infill for the end cap to fit properly?

Also, if one uses Cura to scale up/down to a different tube size, how does that affect the ID/OD ratio of the shoulder? When you post a re-scale, do you just scale the model in the software, or do you design a rescaled version with correct shoulder diameter ratio?

Thanks for any answers/insight you can provide.
ZoomieG

 

[Jack Hydrazine]

I would set the walls setting to at least three. Infill I put at about 15%.

Yes, I do hollow out my nose cones to reduce weight. For most I set the wall thickness at about 1.0mm. When they get up to six inch diameter I'll set the wall around 2.5mm. With the walls being so thin setting the infill to 100% isn't going to make much of a difference. The end caps don't need to have 100% infill in order to fit properly. As long as your printer prints accurately the end cap should fit. I design them to be 0.4mm (aka 400 microns) smaller than ID of the nose cone.

I don't know how well these designs can be upscaled or downscaled. As for the ID/OD ratio that's where you run into a problem. If you upscale a nose cone by it's shoulder diameter to fit a larger tubing diameter the OD of the nose cone is going to be larger than the tubing itself. If you upscale it by the OD of the nose cone you'll find the shoulder will not be wide enough. You can always throw some masking tape on the shoulder to deal with that problem. If I need a larger nose cone I simply design larger while keeping the tubing thickness in mind.

-JH