Obsolete Garage Door Gear Reproduction
A discontinued garage door drive gear was reverse-engineered from a broken sample and reproduced as a fully functional 3D-printed replacement, restoring the customer's garage door to working order.
Overview
A Discontinued Part, Brought Back to Life
A customer approached Vertex Manufacturing after the nylon drive gear inside their garage door motor snapped, leaving the door inoperable. The part was no longer manufactured, and the customer had exhausted the usual avenues for a replacement, but had kept the broken gear itself, which gave a starting point for a solution.
The Challenge
Reconstructing a Part with No Existing Reference
With the original gear no longer produced, there were no manufacturer drawings or specifications to work from, only the broken component itself. The gear’s complex internal geometry, including its multiple bore diameters, spline profile, and external tooth pattern, all needed to be accurately captured and reproduced despite the physical part being damaged and incomplete in places.
The Process
Scan, Rebuild, and Print
The broken gear was scanned to capture as much of its existing geometry as possible, then fully rebuilt from the ground up in CAD, filling in the sections lost to the break and correcting the model against the sound remaining features of the physical part. The completed design was then printed in a durable material suited to the ongoing mechanical load of a garage door motor, producing a complete, functional replacement gear.
Outcome
The customer received a fully functional replacement gear for a part that was otherwise unobtainable, restoring their garage door motor to working order. The project demonstrated Vertex Manufacturing’s capability to reverse-engineer and reproduce obsolete mechanical components from a damaged physical sample alone, without any manufacturer documentation to rely on.
Project Images
Work in Progress & Finished Outputs
Have a Similar
Project in Mind?
Tell us what you need. We will get back to you within one business day.