3D Scanning mating surfaces for customised enclosure

Printing Portal has been very excited to help deliver a unique solution to Twizy Tours, an exciting new venture giving Londoners a chance to view the city with an informative twist.

Simon from Twizy Tours approached Printing Portal with the ambition of fitting a tablet into a suitable dock in a Renault Twizy. If anyone knows what a Twizy is then they know we didn’t have an awful lot of space to work with!

The tablet would be loaded with the company’s software to guide locals, tourists and city lovers alike through the twists and turns of London; providing information on landmarks and Points of Interests all in a fun, Britannia-wrapped, zippy motor!

To make the perfect fit, we used our in-house 3D scanning equipment to take the surface detail of the Twizy glove-box. We could then convert the points into mesh, then finally to NURBS surfaces using our powerful 3D software. This formed the perfect surface detail of the tablet holder which would mate neatly into the glove box.

Using our approach of 3D Scanning dramatically reduces the time and expense for drawing 3D CAD models:

Within the brief we needed to find a way to get the tablet safe and sturdy with cables neatly tucking into the glove box. To do this we placed the tablet into the glovebox using plasticine to mimic the position it would end up in, as well as the general height we wanted the final holder to be. We also measured the tablet with its case on to get specific details for fit using our 3d scanner. With all this data we could now build the ideal tablet holder that would mate perfectly in the Twizy glovebox and provide a stable and safe experience to those who were using this fantastic service.

Initial tests were undertaken by a Form 2 – printing 6 different sections and sticking together to check general fit & design. Once we were happy with the final model we moved onto broader production, creating a tool by 3D printing a single holder, then making a silicone mould.

With 1 tool we were able to make 15 units, given the dimensions of the part this was no walk in the park. Each casted part was checked for consistency & fit using the original tablet before delivery to Twizy.

We are happy to say that all holders are now operational having been designed, tested and build in London, UK

See the car here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN48zDaO4Ow