Behold: DupliGator! This is probably my best Thingiverse posting yet. I'm very excited to share it with you This thing works just like the machine at the hardware store that copies keys, like a router duplicator, and also like a lathe duplicator except that there is no motorized machinery and it works in 3D.

The idea is that you glue a source object to one geared platform using glue stick or other temporary glue, then you adhere a destination object in a removable way to the other gear. Next if you are right handed, you hold the gears steady with your left hand and guide the tool with your right hand over the source object, theoretically carving the destination material into the desired shape (approximately).

Now do be forewarned that this is a work in progress and I do not have any wax, clay, or chocolate for testing. So if you spend half a day printing this thing (if all goes well) and it does not work, do not be disappointed. I have tested it with no destination object and it works great in theory and in application. The best method is not to make stabbing or chiseling motions but rather to drag the toolhead over the work.

So if it's untested, why am I so excited? Well, not everybody is a 3D printing enthusiast with a scanner and 3D software expertise. In fact, as you know, there are far more people who do not have the time or inclination to get into our hobby or work. So this DupliGator is for them! To make a one-off copy of some object in chocolate for a cake topper, it's the wOw factor that they need. Also creators who wish to make lost wax statues can use this thing. The applications go on and on with the imagination.

Please note that the gears, counterrotating as gears like to do, will cause a mirrored object to be made. It will take an improvement to the OpenSCAD file (which I plan to do in time) to add a third gear for making non-mirrored objects.