Just in Time for 4th of July! Guy Creates ‘Redneck Rocket’ With Pringles Can and 3D Printing

Patrick Saville creates 3D printed prototypes for clients in his home-based business. In his spare time, he also likes to have some 3D printed fun.

His latest invention, which he has dubbed the ‘Redneck Rocket,’ combines a Pringles can with 3D printed components to make a rocket that can soar high in the air.

“With plenty of parts on hand, and the summer weather being great, I decided it was time to launch a rocket,” Saville told 3Dprint recently. “The problem was that I had no tubes. One cone was designed for a large tube, while one motor mount was designed for a small tube. A lot of rocket parts, and no way to use them without ordering tubes.”

His solution turned out to be right on his desk.

With his Pringles can tube in hand, Saville quickly went to work designing the rest of his rocket.

“I went about the design process in much the same way I tackle my other projects,” Saville explained. “I knew what the fixed variables were. Tube weight and dimensions, and motor weight and dimensions. And that’s it. The rest would have to be 3D printed, and that meant keeping the weight down in the design was crucial. The design was going to be geared towards FDM printing, since that’s what I use here. That meant taking into consideration average nozzle diameters for popular FDM printers. The average diameter of the popular FDM printers is .4mm, so the entire design would be based around that number.”

The result, which works much like any other model rocket, is capable of soaring up to 300 feet in the air before floating back down to the ground on a parachute made from a garbage bag.

He also made the plans free to download at Thingiverse for anyone who wants to have some “Redneck Rocket” fun of their own.

Photo Credit: Screenshot