I have no idea where to start.
Here is the back story.
Since last March, I have been playing with tetrahedrons, and trying to fashion some sort of stable "fly-able" version thereof. I think I have fashioned a successful corrugated cardboard model. It employs 3 isosceles triangles on top, and 3 equilateral triangles on the bottom with 3 very large fins for stability.
After that, I saw somewhere elsewhere, something akin to the tetrahedron, but instead of having 3 sided faces, it used 4 sided faces. The designer said the sides were "diamond" shaped. A parallelogram, each side being of equal length, with equal corresponding angles. My model is made of basswood. It is heavy. It is a prototype. And I have not been able to fashion a workable recovery system. The center tube ruptures when an ejection charge is fired.
So, I am, for the moment stymied.
However ...
Last November, and December, a fellow whose first name is Nick, showed up at our monthly launches. He was flying a 3D printed 10 (ten) sided rocket. He said he started playing with an elongated dodecahedron, but dispensed with the top side so he could have a "pointed nose cone" (it wasn't really a nose cone, but aero-dynamically, it would suffice). I will describe it as having five top faces, and five bottom faces, and the nozzle of the rocket motor emerging from what would have been the 11th side. Five fins emerged from the seems were the bottom faces are joined. The launch lug passes thru the body, adjacent to the center tube and motor mount. It is a light weight rocket for one that is 3D printed.
He explained that he used a special plastic that he purposefully over heated so that it would "foam up," to reduce weight and speed up the printing process. His model was perhaps 12" or 15" tall, maybe 3"or 4" around the middle - and fairly light, considering it was all plastic. I don't recall what motors he was using. I believe they were 24mm D or E motors.
Okay, so here are my questions; Are all 3D printers capable of doing this? What is the special plastic that "foams" when over heated, and prints quicker in that mode? I believe he told me what it was, but it didn't mean anything to me at the time, and now I can't remember what he said it was, and I have not seen him since, and I have no way of knowing how to contact him. I don't remember if he said he was using or had access to a CAD program. I am thinking that CAD program is more likely capable of handling geometric shapes and solids. Or are there other programs that are just as capable, but cost less? I don't recall him referring to the "Thingy verse," which I understand is where most of the 3D print files reside. Or will I have to program it myself? I know nothing about programming.
Carlos/c0c0m0ke