3D Printed Conic Sections

Hi, my name is Josh Plumley and I am currently a sophomore at Mentor High School. I made 3 cones separated in a way that forms 3 of the conic sections. Horizontally is a circle, diagonally is an ellipse, and vertically is a parabola. This allows for those teaching about conic sections to grant learners a better and more physical visual for them to understand what conic sections are and how they're formed. I gave these to my math teacher, and she expressed how helpful they would be for future teaching.

Supplies

Nothing more than 3D Printing Filament.

Step 1: Creating the Cones

The first step is to make the cones. To do this, I sketched a circle. Then, I extruded it into a cylinder to the desired cone height. Finally, I chamfered it from the center of the top to the perimeter of the circle, forming a cone. Then, I used the rectangular pattern tool to create 3 of them in total.

Step 2: Dividing Into Conic Sections

In order to divide the cones, I created construction lines through each cone in a different way to crate each conic section. I then used these construction lines to create planes which I could use the split body tool with in order to sperate the cones correctly. I then moved the new parts aside and it was ready to be printed.