affinity designer Christmas Star Cookie Cutter

[AdamStanislav]

Well, this is something I have never done before, but Printables has a context for designing a 3D printable cookie cutter. So I just drew a double star in Affinity Designer, made several duplicates, gave each a different stroke, expanded the strokes, subtracted duplicates of the inner strokes from the outer strokes, so I got this:

I exported that to SVG, which I hand edited to the width and height of 100 mm. I imported that into FreeCAD, in which I extruded each of the three shapes into three 3D layers of a cookie cutter and added a little cross to the background to make the 3D print sturdier, and the result looks like this (and no, it’s not leather, it’s PETG plastic):

I seriously doubt I will win because there are numerous entries much better than my first attempt at a cookie cutter, but at least I figured out how to do it with Affinity Designer.

At any rate, if anyone wants to see it (and maybe give me a few stars), here it is on Printables.

[jmwellborn]

@AdamStanislav  In theory it is a wonderful idea.  In practice (and I should know because in years of yore I have baked about 3,000 cookies that needed cutting first) the edges need to be sharp.  Otherwise the cutter will be gummed with raw dough stuck in every point.  Your plan is very clever, though.  Maybe a jello cutter?😊

[AdamStanislav]

8 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

@AdamStanislav  the edges need to be sharp.

They are. The center layer (black in the image) is the first that touches the dough, and it is only half a millimeter thick. It actually is the outer layer of what touches the dough because the thick blue layer is only 2 mm high and is only there to help you hold the cutter but it never gets to the dough. The inner layer is 1.5 mm wide, and it touches the dough after the sharp center layer has cut into it. Between the two of them they leave a gap around the shape for an easy separation from the rest of the dough.

The layers look much thicker in the image than they are. That is because the forum stretches images to fit the width of the page.

At any rate, that is not my idea, that is what everybody does when they design 3D printed cookie cutters.

I would definitely not use it with the jello. PETG plastic is food safe, but the way 3D printing works, there are microscopic gaps between layers, so I would only trust it to cut something that is going to be baked or boiled, so if any microbes get to it, they are killed in the process.

[jmwellborn]

@AdamStanislav   Ah ha!!  My sugar cookie dough is rolled out to a 1/4 to 3/8" thickness for cutting.  Otherwise those Christmas tree branches, points on stars, and heads on snowmen would fall off before they reached the cookie sheets.  Don't know about millimetres, but isn't that 6.35?   If your cutter has a total thickness of 4 millimetres, then isn't that about 1/8" thick?  My snowmen would turn into headless goblins!  The jello suggestion was actually just being whimsical, by the way.  I do like the shape itself!    

[AdamStanislav]

28 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

@AdamStanislav  If your cutter has a total thickness of 4 millimetres, then isn't that about 1/8" thick?

The total thickness is 2 mm. The extra 2 mm on the handle never touches the dough. At first, the dough encounters the half millimeter thin knife edge. 2 mm later the edge thickens to 2 mm. An inch is 25.4 mm. So, half a millimeter is 1/50.8" and 2 mm is 1/12.7".

[jmwellborn]

1 hour ago, AdamStanislav said:

The total thickness is 2 mm. The extra 2 mm on the handle never touches the dough. At first, the dough encounters the half millimeter thin knife edge. 2 mm later the edge thickens to 2 mm. An inch is 25.4 mm. So, half a millimeter is 1/50.8" and 2 mm is 1/12.7".

You have lost me on this one.  I am an American, and haven't a clue about millimetres.  I do know that cookie dough only 1/12th (plus or minus) an inch thick (or 1/2 of a pica!) would never make it from the counter top to the cookie sheet.  Too thin.  Further, that cookie would burn in very short order in the oven.   Got to have thicker dough, when rolled out!  Are we having fun yet??

[AdamStanislav]

1 minute ago, jmwellborn said:

I do know that cookie dough only 1/12th (plus or minus) an inch thick (or 1/2 of a pica!) would never make it from the counter top to the cookie sheet.

The dough is not 1/12" thin. The cutter’s thickest wall is. The dough, with this cutter, can be up to 9 mm (more than 1/3") thick before it hits the crossbars. And if you need it thicker, that can be easily adjusted before 3D printing it.

[jmwellborn]

18 hours ago, AdamStanislav said:

The dough is not 1/12" thin. The cutter’s thickest wall is. The dough, with this cutter, can be up to 9 mm (more than 1/3") thick before it hits the crossbars. And if you need it thicker, that can be easily adjusted before 3D printing it.

Ah.  Sounds nice!  Bon appetit!!!!