3D "photocopy" question

[fiftyfour fiftyfour]

Apologies for the question, I've looked back through six pages and couldn't see a topic where the answer was apparent. 

 

I want to make a copy of an item I already have, in my naivety I assumed it was a "thing" that a local 3D print place might be able to simply place my item in a machine for it to somehow scan it and spit out copies some minutes later. Upon asking it seems I have to spend £300+ getting them to make it into a file, and that is before I've even got one unit in my hands.

 

The item is an interior seat moulding for a model bus that measures approx 120mmx28mmx30mm. The material used isn't important, neither is the colour or the finish for that matter. Looking at the other threads it seems that making the item myself in fusion 360 or similar software would be the starting point if I was making it from scratch, but that feels like a very long route when I've got the actual thing I need in my grubby little hand- I just need about 20 more of them!

 

Huge thanks in advance for advice!!

 

[Mike Harvey]

If you want replicate it without acquiring 3D modelling skills, why not make a rubber mould and use that to make replicas in whatever material you choose? No fancy chemicals needed if you cast in something like plaster of Paris. Rubber mould kits widely available online or in retail outlets like Hobbycraft.

[fiftyfour fiftyfour]

Never thought of that, I'll have a look in there later this week!

 

 

[ikcdab]

Yes, sometimes the old ways are the best.....

But using fusion360 is not that difficult, and doing a set of bus seats is straightforward. There is quite a good YouTube tutorial to produce an ice cube tray which, to me, has very similar characteristics to a bus seat moulding.  I think the video is 20 mins or so long.  So not long winded at all.  

Ian

[PaulaDoesTrains]

Something like a bus seat is trivial to produce in CAD. Just create a sketch of the seat's cross section then extrude to the required width. Just a few minutes work in FreeCAD or Fusion 360. Even a complete beginner will be able to do that after watching a how-to video. If you want to include the grab rail, which is traditionally found on top of the seat's backrest, that's probably better represented by a piece of bent wire.

[bradfordbuffer]

16 hours ago, PaulaDoesTrains said:

Something like a bus seat is trivial to produce in CAD. Just create a sketch of the seat's cross section then extrude to the required width. Just a few minutes work in FreeCAD or Fusion 360. Even a complete beginner will be able to do that after watching a how-to video. If you want to include the grab rail, which is traditionally found on top of the seat's backrest, that's probably better represented by a piece of bent wire.

Trivial if you know how.....if you don't it's bloody complicated....! 

I must sit and follow a how to tutorial one day but it takes so long....and always other stuff to do...one day...one day

[billbedford]

I'm sure the bus will wait for you. 

[ikcdab]

6 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Trivial if you know how.....if you don't it's bloody complicated....! 

I must sit and follow a how to tutorial one day but it takes so long....and always other stuff to do...one day...one day

Well yes.  Everything is difficult until you know how.  I found that learning fusion360 was an entertaining project that I could do on my laptop in the evenings when I don't want to go out to the shed.

 

[Bittern]

Drawing a shape and extruding it is pretty much the first thing covered in a 3D CAD tutorial. Creating a specific 3D curve is hard to get right from photos (hence the difficulty even major model companies have in getting it right every time with things like class 47 cab roofs or Deltic  noses), but a bus seat in good condition is close enough to a straight extrusion with filleted edges that would probably do in 4mm scale (same for most train seats before the 1970s), and for a knackered old one no two are quite the same so poking the basic shape with the 3D sculpting tools should produce a fairly good result without much difficulty.