Bridge shoes seem like the perfect 3-D printer project. You may need help getting the drawings done....a few folks here on OGR might help, and then you could load them to the website 'Shapeways' where you or any modeler could order them. And parts that small and simple would be pretty reasonable. Then anytime you needed more you can just order them. If I had mastered 3-D art software I'd do them for you....but I am stuck at 2-D for now.
Dave,
They do seem like a good candidate for 3-D printing, but the attempt with the bridge piers left a bad taste in my mouth. I have downloaded SketchUp 2014 and played with it. I'm not great with 3D, but passable I suppose. Certainly for something like this SketchUp would allow me to render it. I didn't get the kind of SketchUp technical help I expected (even when I paid for it). And the pricing for the piers was astronomically high - more expensive than the bridge! Pricing for 3D printing of bridge shoes should be reasonable, but once bitten, twice shy. I'm just not sure...
The guy who made my bridge piers is reliable and does spectacular work (as you can see in the photos). My skills with a 2D drawing tool like Visio are pretty good. That will probably be my first path. If it doesn't work out, I have the 3-D printing option in my hip pocket.
Thanks,
George
