Introduction: Design the Nose Cone

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The following information is a single lesson in a larger Tinkercad project. Check out this and more projects on Tinkercad.

Project Overview:

In this project students will design and print a nose cone and a set of fins to turn a soda bottle into a retro-rocket!

Step 1: Add Ruler

Drag the ruler onto the workplane to allow for precise entry of dimensions.

Instructions

  1. The location of the ruler on the workplane is not critical and can be moved later if needed.
  2. Continue to next step.

Step 2: Make Inner Wall of Cone Base

This cylinder will be the inside wall of the piece that will connect the nose cone to the bottle.

Instructions

  1. Drag cylinder onto workplane and make it a hole.
  2. Change the dimensions by dragging the corners of the shape or by clicking in the X and Y boxes and typing precise dimensions directly into the boxes.
  3. Continue to next step.


HINT:

Accurately measuring the diameter of your bottle is critical here. My soda bottle was a little more than 73 mm, so I made the cylinder 75 mm.

Step 3: Outer Wall of Cone Base

This cylinder will form the outside wall of the cone base, the dimensions of the cylinder will determine the thickness of your walls.

Instructions

  1. Drag another cylinder and leave it solid, change the dimensions to include the desired thickness of your walls. The new X and Y dimensions should be greater than the hole dimensions by twice the thickness of your wall. The Z dimension should be the same as the hole.
  2. Continue to next step.
  3. Stuck?

HINT:

This model features 2mm thick walls, so my X and Y dimensions are 4 mm greater than the hole.

Step 4: Align Two Cylinders

Combine the cylinders to complete the cone base.

Instructions

  1. Check that the height of the two cylinders is the same and that they are both on the workplane, then select both by holding down shift and selecting them individually or by dragging a box around them both.
  2. From the Adjust menu, choose Align and select the center position on the X and Y controls.
  3. Complete the piece by grouping the two objects together.
  4. Continue to next step.


HINT:

To save time and material, it is advisable to print this piece to test the fit before proceeding to the next step!

Step 5: Make Tip

In this step, we'll use a similar process as before, only starting with a different shape. Choose either the Cone or Paraboloid for the shape of your tip. I like math more than ice cream, so I chose a Paraboloid.

Instructions

  1. Drag Paraboloid Shape (or Cone if you prefer) onto the workplane and resize the X and Y dimensions to the fit outer wall of the cylinder. Adjust the height as you'd like within the limits of your printer.
  2. Make a second paraboloid by selecting it and choosing Duplicate from the Edit menu.
  3. Drag the original shape to the side and resize the new shape so that the walls have the desired thickness, in this case 2 mm. Make the paraboloid a hole.
  4. As previously with the cylinders, center the two paraboloids along the X and Y axis and group them together.
  5. Rotate the camera to view underneath and confirm that you have a hollow tip.
  6. Continue to next step.

Step 6: Put It All Together!

Complete the nose cone by combining the cylinder and tip.

Instructions

  1. Adjust the distance of the tip above the workplane to be equal to (or slightly less than) the height of the cylinder wall.
  2. Select both the cylinder and tip and choose Align from the Adjust menu to center them on the X and Y axis.
  3. Group together, inspect from all angles and download for 3D printing.

In the next lesson you will learn to add tail fins!

Next Lesson:Tail Fins