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Hi everyone,

Newbie here. I am in the chocolate business and am looking for a 3-D printing service that will allow me to design and print customized polycarbonate rigid inserts for a chocolate mold I already own. I want to sell chocolate bars to corporate clients by giving them the option to send me their logo, have the 3-D Printing Service print it in the same material as my chocolate mold under pre-specified measurements, and have it sent to my so that I can start making customized chocolate bars.

Please let me know if anyone in the Miami Area can help.

Thanks,

Fabio

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Most prints arent food safe due to the way they are printed. A better solution depending how big they are is to make a print and make a mold from that and then cast the part you want to use in food making. Do you have a picture of something similar to what you are looking for? That would hep us visualize it better too.

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Polycarbonate could make your chocolate poisonous!

Same with ABS

PLA is the closest to a “safe” plastic, since it’s made from corn, but has a low melting point

Follow Kebie’s tip: create a mold with plastic, use it to cast the real mold with a food safe material and use that last one.

IF you can deal with the low melting point, you could coat the plastic parts in a food safe sealant, but you need to see how these adhere to plastic and be VERY thorough, wash it very well AND check often if the coating is falling or something like that

check these links to have an idea about materials

http://www.countryloveceramics.com/articles/food-safe-varnish-sealer-gloss-finish-coatings-2/

last, but not least, remmeber 3d prints aren’t perfect and things like the layer differences, uneven lines, over or under extrusion in the mold would show in the molded chocolate in the end (no smooth lines). And since a mold is concave, fixing it would be much harder than in a statue or cog, for example.

Good luck in your business and, if everything goes right, send me a share of the profits :stuck_out_tongue:

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Did this for another chocolatier a while back. In short, if you want a usable mold for chocolate, it should be flexible. Stiff molds for stiff materials make removal a real pain

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Hi Fabio - I played around with a similar idea of an insert-in-a-mold, though not for chocolate.

I have to agree with everyone that using a print directly in your mold is likely a bad idea. I think you’re going to need an intermediate step of either casting a food-grade silicone mold or using a vacuum former to make a plastic insert.

The thing that I learned when experimenting though, is if you’re going to go through all that, you might as well 3D print and then mold or thermoform the entire new design instead of just an insert. The result is much better. The time and costs involved simply wasn’t worth it-- though for corporate clients you may find it is.

Happy to bounce around more ideas if you’re interested.

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I don’t think I expressed myself correctly, what I am looking for, in fact, is an insert that goes in the original mold. This insert should be made out of the same material as the mold, which in this case is a rigid polycarbonate food-grade. What I am looking for as an end result is solving the problem that many clients have: order small amount of customized chocolate bars for specific seasons/dates/holidays. For us, a small batch of chocolate production is 1 ton of chocolate, or 1,000 kg, meaning that 500 50gr bars is just 3% of that batch, hence the need to diversify into various clients in order to fulfill orders to complete 1 whole batch (meaning I’d have to allocate 20,000 units), in order to competitively price a chocolate bar.

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Thanks for your comment. Stiff or rigid molds have a variety of benefits such as: eliminating air pockets, maintaining shine and snap, superior texture and resemblance as it required less manipulation. Flexible molds are good for very small batches.

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Thanks! The industry uses rigid polycarbonate molds, the must comply with food safety regulations of course.

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Thanks. Prior to going this route, I’d have to find a food-grade print. However, your “cast” idea sounds pretty interesting, my only concern is I’d have to do this once the chocolate is tempered and ready to be packaged, if I change temperature by heat casting it I may get flimsy results.

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you take the 3d printed part and make a resin mold or something similiar ahead of time. then when you get to step where 3d printed part would be used, you use the part you casted previously instead

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Could you upload a photo of the mold you want the insert for?