Reverse Engineering the 1973 Mini Cooper steering column cover parts with EinScan Pro 2X

Challenge: Finding replacement parts for a classic car

John Buffington is a classic car enthusiast. He loves restoring cars to their original glory and breathing new life into a classical design.  He recently noticed that many of the interior plastic parts of his beloved 1973 Mini Cooper was succumbing to the hot temperatures and high UV exposure of the Nevada desert. One of the critical interior pieces that required immediate replacement was the two steering column covers. The covers were dry, brittle and decaying.  They needed to be replaced as they were no longer able to be secured together. However, with a rare classic car like this 1973 Mini Cooper, finding replacement parts in the US is extremely difficult and expensive.

The 1973 Mini Cooper

Solution: EinScan Pro 2X fills the gap

​John, also being a talented engineer and with his deep knowledge of 3D printing technology, he decided to reverse engineer these Mini Cooper steering column covers and 3D print new replacement parts. Rather than measuring the parts with a caliper and designing in CAD from scratch, John decided to 3D scan the plastic steering column covers to generate a 3D digital surface model to get accurate measurements of the parts with the EinScan Pro 2X 3D scanner​

He used the EinScan Pro 2X 3D scanner with the Industrial Kit, which is the tripod and automated turntable accessory that enables higher accuracy scanning in fixed mode. When using the Industrial Kit, the handheld 3D scanner is placed on top of the tripod and converted into a desktop 3D scanner and used in conjunction with the automated turntable.  This set up automates the whole 3D scanning process as well and enables a more precise alignment utilizing the markers on the turntable. 

​The black steering column plastic parts were covered with AESUB spray to ensure every detail was captured.  The AESUB spray lightly coats the object with a thin layer of white powder which evaporates automatically after use without leaving any white residue, making the whole process cleaner.  The EinScan Pro 2X captured the dimensions of the object with exceptional precision and accuracy, picking up every minute details, giving John the confidence to reverse engineer the steering column covers.  The details of the screw bosses that would have been difficult to measure by calipers were captured by the 3D scanner. The EinScan Pro 3D scanner was simple to use and provided more accuracy than manual measurement. Instead of having to design from scratch, John was able to to create high quality 3D surface mesh files using the 3D scanner.

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The EinScan Pro 2X 3D scanner with the Industrial Kit enabled John to put the object on the turntable and within an hour or so, get a workable 3D mesh. Multiple scans were automatically fused together to create a watertight 360-degree digital surface mesh that was then imported into the Solid Edge Shining 3D Edition reverse engineering software. The surface mesh files were leveraged to build a solid model, make design improvements, and then be further process for 3D printing.

Results: Capturing details enabled precise CAD file creation for 3D printing 

​By using the EinScan Pro 2X, John was able to capture the surface details of the steering column covers as a mesh file (.stl format) which he then imported into the Solid Edge Shining 3D Edition CAD software in which he converted the .stl file into a  .step file with precise details of the fastening features, the alignment pins and screw bosses. 

Time-consuming, inaccurate, and inconsistent manual measurements are now a thing of the past and with 3D digital technology, reverse engineering a classic car part can be fast and accurate.

“By using the 3D scanner, I was able to focus on creating the CAD file suitable for 3D printing without having to wrestle with measurements and generating a CAD file from scratch.”  - John Buffington.​

Also importatnt to note is to understand copyright laws in the US.  Reverse engineering is legal but if you are going to reproduce and profit, you should get in touch with a patent lawyer. With an old part like above, it's beyond the copyright

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​Growshapes the official U.S. distributor of Shining 3D EinScan 3D scanners. We now carry the eviXscan 3D scanner from Evatronix as well!

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