Conic Sections Cone

Full Cone Sliced for Conic Sections

See a hyperbola, parabola, ellipse, and circle as slices of a circular cone. Both nappes of the cone may be printed and displayed together with a printable holder to show both branches of the hyperbola. Great for learning about conic sections!

Designed for multicolor printing, this would also look good in two colors. Note that this is designed to be printed together as a model in one piece. This is not intended to break apart to show the curves as cuts. The curves are embedded in the model.

There is one STL file with all four curves together (for the "Bottom" cone), but I also included them individually if that works better for you. Also, "Bottom" and "Top" are labels for how I envisioned it. You could, of course, put them in either location within the holder. Or print two "bottoms"!

Idea! To visualize only one or two curves, set the ones you don't want to see to be the same color as the cone. See note in 3D Printing Settings below about "painting" in the slicer.

I printed the “Cone Holder” with clear PLA. It is very thin and prints as one perimeter. Two versions included: two-thirds support (in photos with cones) and three-quarters support (based on the holder for my earlier Circular Cone). The two-thirds support has a wider opening that fits the entire hyperbola curve when rotated accordingly, but is not as strong as the three-quarters support holder.

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Mathematical Models

• This model is featured in my 3DWithUs article!
  3D Printable Math Models for Teaching Complex Concepts

• Find more models for mathematics in my Math Surfaces, Solids, Etc. Collection.

• You may also be interested in my Quadric Surfaces Set.

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