Martin's Puzzle Rocket

prusaprinters

<p>Some months ago, my brother and his wife had their third baby. Obviously, as the coolest uncle ever, I had to give a spectacular gift to the little guy. So, I thought hard. Both parents are science fiction nerds. My initial idea was a mobile with space ships. But which universe should I take? Star Trek? Star Wars? Elite Dangerous? How could I know what sci-fi universe the baby will be a fan of? After all, he couldn’t talk yet.</p><p>Then I remembered, that the parents were also big puzzle fans. And that was the moment I got the inspiration for the puzzle rocket.&nbsp;</p><p>I designed all the parts in FreeCAD. Detail work (the rivets and the exhaust plume) was done in Blender. All in all, I needed three prototypes and around a month of tweaking to get everything right. The rocket consists of 24 different parts and I am told, it is quite challenging to put everything together without the manual. But fear not! A detailed assembly manual is provided.</p><p><strong>For detailed printing and assembly instructions please refer to the provided manual (bottom of download page).</strong></p><h4>&nbsp;</h4><h4><strong>Which parts to print</strong></h4><p>You will need to print the following parts:</p><ul><li>One of each:<ul><li>part01.stl to part_14.stl</li><li>tip.stl</li><li>nozzle_core.stl</li><li>lower_ring.stl</li><li>upper_ring.stl</li></ul></li><li>Two of each:<ul><li>window_inside.stl</li><li>window_outside.stl</li></ul></li><li>Three times:<ul><li>fin.stl</li></ul></li></ul><p>You can also print a variation with loops prepared for hanging the rocket to the ceiling. In that case print the following:</p><ul><li>Everything of the above except&nbsp;lower_ring.stl and&nbsp;upper_ring.stl</li><li>Instead print:&nbsp;lower_ring_loop.stl, upper_ring_loop.stl</li><li>Optionally print&nbsp;exhaust_plume.stl</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><h4><strong>Printing</strong></h4><ul><li>Print with PETG or PLA, your preferred settings, 0.2 mm layer height</li><li>All parts are already aligned correctly, there should be no need to rotate something</li><li>Two parts need special attention:<ul><li>Print <strong>nozzle_core.stl</strong> at <strong>100%</strong> infill to make it sturdier. Experience with my little nephews has shown that this is the part that might break first.</li><li>Print the fins (<strong>fin.stl</strong>) with a <strong>brim</strong>, since they are attached to the print bed with a small surface only. After printing cut off the brim with a sharp knife. Also print the fins aligned with the Y-axis (edge of the fin points to the front) and in a straight line (one after the other). That way the fans will have a better effect, which is crucial for these small parts (Thanks to Awong1214 and berzerker99 for these tips!)</li></ul></li><li>A nice effect is achieved if you print the parts in different colors. If you want to achieve a really colorful look, do not print parts with adjacent numbers with the same color. Instead choose the parts at random. But this is absolutely up to you!</li><li>Overall printing time should be around 8-9 hours.</li></ul>