If you are a engineering designer you might have to design Contours or curves that are not quite easy to evaluate with commonly available measurement tools. So in this instructable I have designed and 3d printed a Contour gauge and I have also showed how to use the gauge to measure the Surface.

Visit my channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3joz60o3rW1n3lv3...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4301760

https://grabcad.com/library/contour-gauge-3

Supplies

For this project you need,

3x10mm long Allen screw with nuts

Vernier Caliper

Angle D

Ruler

Pencil

And obviously the .stl files to 3d print.( attached )

I have also attached the source files if anybody wants to edit the tool. I can also provide in .igs format if anybody wants.

Step 1: 3d Printing the Contour Gauge

I have designed 3 mm wide measuring scales which is a very low resolution if you are measuring very complex contours. So to increase the Resolution just minimize the width of the scales.

Step 2: Assembling the Tool

Fit the nuts in place into the cover.
Assemble all of the sticks facing upward.
Place the top lid and fasten it with a 3 mm Allen bolt on both sides.

Step 3: How to Use It-Measurements

Select your Contour Surface and align the gauge normal to the surface you want to measure. Here I have measured the contour of my wrist as an example.
Press it against the Contour surface and gently tap from the above to properly get all the sticks in place. Here you have the measurement.

I designed this tools for some other project but due to the recent condition I had to postponed that project, and since I made this tool I had to do something so I decided to measure the Contour of my own wrist. Rest of the calculations are not mandatory. Since the wrist is actually also an oval contour so had to measure the diameter. Now to understand the measurement of the diameter, I took it in such a way to base my calculation around a center line.

So I used a Vernier Caliper to roughly find out the diameter of my wrist.
Also I took the measurement with the Contour gauge of the other side of my wrist.

Step 4: Tracing the Measurements

On a drawing sheet trace out the Contour gauge and highlight all the corners that were resting against the surface.
Trace out a line of all of those points.
Now with that diameter of your wrist draw a line, make sure you keep the line in the center. For divide the Vertical line with a horizontal line for the center.
Measure the other side of your wrist, trace it and now you have all the measurements on the paper.

Step 5: Measuring

Draw and connect all of the points to the center.
With the help of a Angle D find of the the angle of all of the lines.
Measure all of the lines with a ruler.
With all of these measurement you can easily design your CAD model.

Step 6: Conclusion

Print it use it and provide feedback I might made changes according to it. Right now the model I printed is a bit loose because I kept the thickness of only 2mm for the body without any support structure. But I have attached a 3d model with the modification for the support structure. I tried to keep it short, so if needed feel free to ask any question.