Methods of fabricating shims for joining parts

A method of fabricating shims for joining parts, wherein the parts have mating surfaces separated by a gap, comprising:

• generating first digital data representing a first surface profile of a first part;
• generating second digital data representing a second surface profile of a second part to mate with the first part;
• physically assembling the first and second parts into an assembly;
• placing a non-contact distance measurement device between the assembled first and second parts;
• measuring distances between the assembled first and second parts at multiple locations;
• generating a digital volume that substantially matches a gap between the first and second parts based on the measured distances;
• disassembling the first and second parts;
• generating a three dimensional digital representation of a shim to fill the gap by using the first and second digital data to map the first and second surface profiles onto the digital volume;
• automatically fabricating the shim matching the gap using a computer-controlled machine, the machine being controlled using the three dimensional digital representation of the shim;
• physically reassembling the first and second parts;
• and
• placing the fabricated shim between the parts to fill the gap.