Many people have hobbies that involve dated paraphernalia. A good example of this is the vintage car restoration business. Your local auto parts shop does not stock the heater knob for a 1965 Aston Martin DB5. There might be a specialty business in England that has the part but there are not many companies willing to invest in reproducing a 65 year old part because there is insufficient demand. Maybe you own an aquarium and wish you had a small custom screen that would keep your fish from swimming into the water filter. Perhaps you have an antique lamp which is missing a part. Or maybe you want to replace unusable parts in the workings of an 18th-century firearm.

 

There is good news for these people. CAD software allows objects such as those described to be quickly modeled and then very accurately produced by a machinist or on a 3D printer. Many times these unobtainium parts are very simple but having them can make a hobby so much more enjoyable and a restored item. When an assembly of parts is needed, using CAD adds a high level of confidence that the pieces operate properly when mated together.

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Shown below are several examples of parts designed and fabricated to fill unique needs.