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hi im interested in making food safe silicone or plastic molds for chocolate and cookie cutters. I’m wondering which 3d printer would be best for this?

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Hi! I join the issue. It is interesting for me too. How wonderful would be to make food by yourself. No one in the world wouldn’t have suffered from hunger any more.

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For molds, you print the item you want to finally have. Then you cast the item in silicone.

FDM and SLA printers 3d printing in and of itself cannot print “food safe” items. But it can print items that can then be cast in food safe material.

Shapeways can print in ceramic, which is food safe.

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We use SLA prints for silicone molds as the masters, and they produce a really nice surface finish. They also work well as the masters for vacu-formed plastic, which would produce a mold similar to clear plastic chocolate molds you can buy in a store. This is obviously more involved than silicone, as you need to have access to vacuum forming equipment. In regards to the silicone, just make sure to buy one that’s marked as food safe.

A lot of people make cookie cutters with PLA, so if you are going to go this route, make sure you coat the print in a food-safe epoxy (polyurethane) before use. This will smooth out the layer lines and make it more difficult for bacteria to grow, and also protect the print a bit so it will last longer. Always wash with warm water, and try to find a printer with a steel or stainless steel nozzle, so you minimize any chemical leaching. Also make sure to use natural PLA, so there are no chemical dyes involved. Cookie cutters are generally pretty safe, as they’re barely in contact with the food and never come into contact with your mouth. Check out Pinshape’s guide for more info.

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FDM and SLA printers can print Food Safe items and Food Items.

Honestly you can print a cake or chocolate which is not only food safe it’s edible.

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Continuing the discussion from Food safe printing:

I’m wondering if I can print a trumpet mouthpiece for a high school project I have a sla printer and I want to know if siliva can get in it without it hurting me or my instrument I am a 14 yr student at wvhs