Beta Nose Cone Designer
 

Since my cardiac incident, I have been trying to get some things easier around here for others to do, just in case. :D

I have been converting the program that I use from C++ to VBscript and am putting it online. When it is completed, anyone can design a custom or stock nose cone and generate the CNC file for "Julie" and a drawing for the online catalog. It will also calculate the list price, volume, and weight.

You can try it at Nose Cone Designer . It does not allow saves right now and it only works if you are logged in and are a SVDT member.

Feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I can't seem to get past the first page, regardless of the part designation I use.

John,

Are you logged in to your account?

Oops! Sorry; been traveling all week. My body's in Pittsburgh but I think the brain is somewhere over the Pacific!

Yes; works when one does as one's instructed!

WOW !!!
This should be really cool.
Another innovation from Semroc that will allow one to have a nose cone of their own design produced.

Carl-
Could you do the same thing for MOTORS we want ?? :D
THAT would REALLY ROCK !!!

I love the concept, but think the current user interface is a little cludgy and not very intuitive. BMS sets the standard on this--you pick the shape, there's a clear illustration spelling out what the critical dimensions are, and you input those dimensions. Of course, it's a handwritten form, and you have to write and spell out every dimension to avoid confusion, but it's simple.

Section 1 shape? Section 2 shape? y1 dimension? Why do I have to start with a standard nose cone number if I'm creating a custom cone?

This is certainly appealing to scale geeks like me, and gives me another decent excuse to head over to semroc.com to place an order, as though I needed another one.

--Chan Stevens

OK, I get to the second screen and it shows a table with 4 columns of numbers. The beginning diameter of the shoulder I understand, but what are Sections 1, 2 and 3 and the other input fields? What do they correspond to? And what do the numbers even mean? If I change any of them (as if I had any clue what to change them to), how do I know what the result will be?

Also, what do the "Load" and "Refresh" buttons do? Nothing visible seems to happen when I press them. I'm completely mystified about what I am seeing here.

This is probably not intuitive enough for the general public. A good example of the sections is the BNC-3ET. Bill lets you select the shoulder, one section and an optional additional shoulder for transitions. We had to expand this for up to 10 different sections on some of our cones. The Bezier is the most complex of the shapes. Each has a beginning diameter, ending diameter and two contro points to "warp" the line between the two. Many of the Estes nose cones and all the Centuri plastic nose cones use the Bezier since they do not fit any of the standard shapes. A standard Ogive just uses one section.

The Load button starts over with the nose cone entered. The Refresh button modifies the loaded nose cone with the parameter changes input in the section areas below.

I will add the Save and Save As buttons if this is usable. Another button will be to resize a standard nose cone for another body tube size.

Stinkin' cool...
 

Sweet!

Looks good, Carl. The only bad thing I noticed on a BC-125105 was that the price of balsa had apparently doubled in the last four years! :o
.

Bump...

Is this tool still active? Might be my firewall, but I'm getting a script error after entering a standard cone to start with. Trying to spec out a cone for a small project I'm working on for a spring contest.

--Chan Stevens

We still use it every day. Features are still being added as needed for various projects.

What is the script error you are getting. A line number in the code will help in understanding the failure.

Thanks!

When starting with any of the BNC-70's (ex. BNC-70AJ), I get

ADODB.Recordset error '800a0cc1'

Item cannot be found in the collection corresponding to the requested name or ordinal.

/Store/Scripts/NC.asp, line 411

Actually, I'm even getting that when I enter the BNC-20N that comes up as an example at the prompt :confused: .

--Chan Stevens

Chan,

Are you following the link on the home page? The page you are seeing the error on is an OLD version (NC.asp). I should have deleted it since it has not been updated in over a year.

Gee, all these years hitting the site up a couple times a week trolling for new releases, and I never even noticed that link :o . Good thing my memory still works, and I was able to dig up this thread to at least find the link to the abandoned beta version...

I was able to add a custom cone, will go ahead and order when the next kit comes off that line. It's been almost a week since your last release, so you're probably due any day now.

--Chan Stevens