Making a plunger

Question

Help, I know how to print simple cookie cutter style molds, but I need to know how to turn that open shape into a closed smaller version that can be used as a plunger. Reason being, is I make bath bombs, so it would be so much easier to get bombs out of molds if I could make a plunger. Thank you so much for any help!!

Answer 1

It's important to provide information regarding the program you are using to model your molds. Even without that information, there are general methods to produce the portion you require.

Consider that you already have the outer portion, what you describe reasonably well as a cookie cutter style. If you are using someone else's model cookie cutter shape, the following will still apply.

Most programs have a subtractive feature. An easy program that provides this feature would be Tinkercad. Running with that program, the steps would be as follows:

• import the current cookie cutter shape
• scale up the shape to ensure that the inner portion is decreased, by increasing the wall thickness. It is expected that scaling up the shape will enlarge both the outside wall and inside wall of the cookie cutter shape create a block that will encompass the cookie cutter, circular or rectangular as desired.
• use the subtractive feature to remove the cookie cutter shape from the block
• this should also segment the outer portion of the block, which would be removed, leaving the inside cookie shape.