3-D Printed Rocket

The final project for my SolidWorks class was to model a rocket, 3D print it, and fly it. My design included fins, a nose cone, a body, and an internal bay, printed in two colors and assembled. Getting it right meant thinking about wall thickness, print orientation, and where to split the parts, since those decide whether a model actually becomes a working object.

I finished early. I had been using SolidWorks for years by then and was ahead of most of the class, so I spent most of my remaining time helping other students with their rockets. I didn’t think of it this way at the time, but I had already been mentoring FIRST Robotics teams for five years, so explaining CAD to someone who was stuck was already one of the things I did most. That habit came with me into the classroom.

My rocket flew the highest in the class, and it still sits on my desk at work.