Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
different acrylic models of conic sections.

I would prefer to skip the circle,parabola,hyperbola cuts
but I will take anything I can get. I would prefer something
maybe a foot tall with steep angles for all parts. I would
even be happy with just from the tip of the cone down to
the bottom edge of the inclined plane surface and don't
even need the "base" of the cone, but I'll take what I can get.

I approximated all this with a styrofoam cone from the
craft store and that worked ok, but the rough edges of
the cuts into the styrofoam leave too much open to the
imagination and eliminating any imagination is the entire
purpose of this project.

Can anyone point me at a plausibly priced acrylic conic
section model. I haven't even been able to find a Chinese
supplier, but they seem to be busy selling jewelry and
ice cream cone holders instead of selling geometry.

Thank you

bwr fml <qbwrfmlx@gmail.com> wrote:
> Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
> different acrylic models of conic sections.
>
> I would prefer to skip the circle,parabola,hyperbola cuts
> but I will take anything I can get. I would prefer something
> maybe a foot tall with steep angles for all parts. [...]
....
> Can anyone point me at a plausibly priced acrylic conic
> section model. I haven't even been able to find a Chinese
> supplier, but they seem to be busy selling jewelry and
> ice cream cone holders instead of selling geometry.

You might look at commissioning a 3D printed section. Some people
with 3D printers will print things cheaply, others charge a lot. I
could write an OpenSCAD program of a few lines in which you specify
cone height and base and a cutting plane can, which you could modify
using OpenSCAD software to get a 3D model that you like.

On 1/9/2022 12:42 AM, bwr fml wrote:
> Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
> different acrylic models of conic sections.
>
> I would prefer to skip the circle,parabola,hyperbola cuts
> but I will take anything I can get. I would prefer something
> maybe a foot tall with steep angles for all parts. I would
> even be happy with just from the tip of the cone down to
> the bottom edge of the inclined plane surface and don't
> even need the "base" of the cone, but I'll take what I can get.
>
> I approximated all this with a styrofoam cone from the
> craft store and that worked ok, but the rough edges of
> the cuts into the styrofoam leave too much open to the
> imagination and eliminating any imagination is the entire
> purpose of this project.
>
> Can anyone point me at a plausibly priced acrylic conic
> section model. I haven't even been able to find a Chinese
> supplier, but they seem to be busy selling jewelry and
> ice cream cone holders instead of selling geometry.
>
There's this from Ebay, if you're willing to wait for a slow boat from
China.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165025686685

bwr fml explained :
> Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
> different acrylic models of conic sections.
>
> I would prefer to skip the circle,parabola,hyperbola cuts
> but I will take anything I can get. I would prefer something
> maybe a foot tall with steep angles for all parts. I would
> even be happy with just from the tip of the cone down to
> the bottom edge of the inclined plane surface and don't
> even need the "base" of the cone, but I'll take what I can get.
>
> I approximated all this with a styrofoam cone from the
> craft store and that worked ok, but the rough edges of
> the cuts into the styrofoam leave too much open to the
> imagination and eliminating any imagination is the entire
> purpose of this project.
>
> Can anyone point me at a plausibly priced acrylic conic
> section model. I haven't even been able to find a Chinese
> supplier, but they seem to be busy selling jewelry and
> ice cream cone holders instead of selling geometry.
>
> Thank you

Not knowing exactly what you intend to do, I offer my idea about
non-circular, non-parabolic, non-hyperbolic conic sections. It involves
a laser-pointer mounted at an angle on the shaft of a flywheel) and a
flat place to project it on to. An advantage to this approach is in the
way one can also demonstrate the difference in speed the 'point'
appears to make as it negotiates the turns near the two foci when the
rotation is constant.

On 1/8/2022 10:50 PM, James Waldby wrote:
> bwr fml <qbwrfmlx@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
>> different acrylic models of conic sections.
>>
>> I would prefer to skip the circle,parabola,hyperbola cuts
>> but I will take anything I can get. I would prefer something
>> maybe a foot tall with steep angles for all parts. [...]
> ...
>> Can anyone point me at a plausibly priced acrylic conic
>> section model. I haven't even been able to find a Chinese
>> supplier, but they seem to be busy selling jewelry and
>> ice cream cone holders instead of selling geometry.
>
> You might look at commissioning a 3D printed section. Some people
> with 3D printers will print things cheaply, others charge a lot. I
> could write an OpenSCAD program of a few lines in which you specify
> cone height and base and a cutting plane can, which you could modify
> using OpenSCAD software to get a 3D model that you like.
>

OpenSCAD is a pretty nice program. Fwiw, here are some test models I made:

https://skfb.ly/oqPIU

https://skfb.ly/oqQEV

On 1/9/2022 12:42 AM, bwr fml wrote:
> Decades ago I remember Amazon having a variety of
> different acrylic models of conic sections.

Archie Plutonium must have demanded their removal!

Someone should get a set for him.
No, he's not smart enough to learn, so it would be wasted on him.

If wood is OK, I would suggest this, but no price is listed so perhaps
the product is discontinued/sold out/out of stock.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000T1QQZ8