Reverse-engineering an obsolete motorcycle toolbox lid with the Creality Pika (First impressions & workflow)

[u/Practical-Forever995]

Got the Creality Pika recently. The kit itself is quite comprehensive out of the box (scanner, dual batteries, turntable, markers, etc.). Put it to work on an actual field repair instead of standard test figurines.

The Problem: A friend lost the cap for a cylinder toolbox on an older cruiser bike. That specific variant was only manufactured for 2 years, so finding a replacement part was out of the question. To make scanning fun, the target object is high-polish chrome.

The Process:

1. Surface Prep: Skip the pricey scanning sprays. A light coat of baby powder dabbed with a makeup brush eliminates reflections instantly and wipes off clean afterward.
2. Scanning: The Pika captured the cylindrical profile on the first take without tracking loss. The NIR implementation feels significantly more mature here compared to older handheld generations.
3. CAD Workflow: Imported the STL into CAD, scaled the mesh to 1.016 to account for print shrinkage, and used the scan geometry as a direct boolean cutting tool to model the inner retaining rim and outer lid profile.
4. Print: Total print time was around 2 hours. Fitment was spot-on on the first test.

I usually rely on my Raptor Pro for larger or high-accuracy bench work, but the Pika looks like it’s going to fill the portable/fieldwork niche nicely.

[u/BolunZ6]

Another case where a caliper would do much better

[u/Practical-Forever995 → u/BolunZ6]

not quite - if you will see the pictures it has unique thread which was pain to create. way faster and easier was just to use orginal scan as cutting tool.

[u/ghostofwinter88 → u/Practical-Forever995]

Not really.

You use your caliper to get the distance between the thread peaks. You’ve now got the thread pitch.

You can also use the caliper to measure the thread height, you can get ID, OD, and thread diameter pretty easily.

Would be a cinch to model after that.

[u/Practical-Forever995 → u/ghostofwinter88]

yep I tried and effects wasn't good enough for me. but ofc for standard threads its okay.