FB complete center console scan and 3DP
 

A couple of months ago, I started disassembling the center console of my FB to give it a fresh layer of paint.
I had the paint custom-made to match the original colour, applied plastic primer first, then a thick grey primer, followed by the final paint — and it came out just great. Looks like new.

However... the gear lever billow is no longer properly in place, as the pins that should hold it are now broken. Also, the third part of the console — the one with the switches and the coin holder — is a bit crooked.
I’m an engineer, and my company makes extensive use of 3D scanners and prototyping. We've made several reproduction parts that we sell commercially for the Maserati Biturbo family (see www.biturbox.com). It’s not our main business (that’s slot cars), but we redesign, reproduce, and sell unobtainable parts for the Maserati Biturbo.
So I decided that — as a fun project, and to preserve for future generations the ability to reproduce the FB center console — it was worth scanning the whole thing and remaking it with some minor improvements.

I am now on prototype 2 stage - that is, Proto 1 was done and tested already and I have incorporated what I learned from Proto1 in the current iteration.
Here is the current switches' board. In white, the 3D scan - I have tried to make my design 'just like', with the following changes:
The small arrows and the small 'small tub' are detached parts because this makes life so much easier when painting - no masking is necessary, just spray and assemble: the parts are attached by screws.
As you can see I am also designing the switches external case (the one you see is the cruise control switch case)

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7eab65a568.png

Thanks for doing this!

This is the gear lever console project. The green part is a flange which keeps the billow tightly in place, attached to the console via Seeger rings.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...af693c3eb9.png

And the console. At the moment, I do not plan on doing it as a 3DP part - my console is still perfect.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...021c01c2d8.png

This was more difficult to scan.

Nice work. I have found that using magnets instead of the tabs and clips has really helped.

If you can make a 1979 radio surround I'd pay for the model. This is for my own use to fit a double bin 7" radio and aftermarket gauges. I don't have a scanner or the skills to make the Fusion 360 CAD file.

I can make simple things in Fusion, put importing a mesh and making a parametric model that has a timeline is way above my skills.

Do you want an insert model that would replace the switches and bin for a cup holder? I have one that fits decent. Just haven’t been able to get good prints of it out of my old simple printer. I can send a step and stl of you wanted to work with a solid model.

Thank you for the offer, but I will keep as similar to the original as possible

Unfortunately I only have access to my own FB console.
If you want to take the risk to ship a 1979 console to Italy we can discuss how to do it, but keep in mind that scanning is relatively cheap whereas reverse engineering to make a 3D model of that complexity requires time.

MrILO, what are your plans with the raw 3d scans? I'd be interested in them to help with development of open source (free) 3d models. I have a goal to open source (creating reproductions of stock parts) the Rx7 and having scans to work off of would be of great assistance. The project is very much in idea at the moment but I do have a github repo for it (perhaps an odd place for it but it's what I've got). I'd post the repo but it's basically a placeholder right now as my focus has been on other projects. If you are interested in sending me the scans I'll handle them however you want. However, the ideal situation would be the publish them (with credit) to the repo making them freely available for other to contribute to the project. If the community had our hands on 3d scans we could slowly secure the our platforms' future as more and more parts become NLA through having the models freely available for reproduction.

In other news, ie: why I haven't been working on this goal, I've been working on and off on an s4/s5 LIM to Weber IDA adapter. It works but I'm still long term testing it and have no release date in mind. I have also created a couple other one offs for the platform and they are available on my Makerworld space. I need to go back through my projects and see if there is anything else to add. I do know of one item I have to contribute but it's untested but I'm hoping for a release mid-year after some testing. That item is another Weber part, an annular discharge venturi, I was primarily inspired by bumpstart from the Austrailian forums but I had to do a lot of other research considering I was working off photos.

Thanks

I want tag onto Yeti's generosity and donate my version of the 1984/1985 power window/joy stick portion of the center console.

It would be neat if we had a section for 3D Printing for sharing. I'll donate what I have. I'll probably add to my current Konig wheel caps model on MakerWorld.

Really nice partnership, guys - and THANK YOU for your contribution to the forum and community! 3D Printing is the way of the future especially when it comes to old, old parts that aren't economical to reproduce in any other fashion.

Making the .stl files available for future owners will really keep these cars available to enthusiasts, as more and more fall off the radar as the years go by. Thanks for what you're doing for us enthusiasts,

My company sells repro and improved parts for the Maserati Biturbo family (and very successfully). We rebuild the unobtainable - and our own Biturbox has helped hundred of customers put the cars back on the road, greatly improving their reliability, and providing us with a significant income.
However, I think that we would not be able to sell enough of the Mazda console units to justify turning it into a product with all that it requires.
Therefore, I think that it makes sense to release the files so that the RX-7 community could use them.

this is what the repro gear stick part look like when painted and put in place.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...e241ee7a38.jpg


It is printed with on a HP JetFusion with standard quality, then primed with plastic primer, followed by grey body primer, sandpapered and painted with a custom spray paint made to match the original console.
Me being a perfectionist - I think I will add a small chamfer to match the radio console EXACTLY (there's a 0.5mm error where the radio and gear console meet)) - but as you can see it looks great already.

The flange and seeger rings that are desigend to keep the billow in place work very well. Sorry for the poor quality picture
I have added shims, but the sseger rings alone should be enough to keep the flange pressed against the billow.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...92c4a3a1d5.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...47fdd92f00.jpg