‘Tis the season for Christmas music, hot chocolate and 3D printed holiday cookies. With access to affordable 3D printers and user-friendly design software, there is no excuse to use last year’s boring stencils. With SOLIDWORKS, it is easier than ever for CAD lovers to render their favorite holiday treats and print food-safe cookie cutters. Keep reading to see how we rendered candy cane cookie cutters using basic tracing and surfacing techniques.

Tracing

With a simple image search, you can be on your way to finding your cookie cutter soulmate (Note: Be careful of copyrights if you’re planning on selling the cutters or cookies!)  Once you find your image, simply insert it into SOLIDWORKS, scale it to your liking and use your hard-earned SOLIDWORKS CAD skills to trace the design. This will give you the outline you need to move on to the next step.

Surfacing

After tracing your design, you are ready for the surfacing tool. SOLIDWORKS Surfacing allows you to create smooth, flowing 3D shapes that change the way we view consumer products. Plus, you can also repair broken geometry to get imported files converted and ready to machine. Turn impossible sweeps and lofts into life-like sculptures that are ready to be converted and printed. For the candy cane render, the only knowledge you’ll need is how to access the surfacing toolbar. (Psst…watch this on-demand webinar on surfacing tips & tricks if you need help!)

Thickening Walls

Next, extrude the sketch to the desired height, apply a ruled surface and thicken the walls of your cookie cutter. Use a chamfer to sharpen your new instrument, and send it off to the printer. Again, make sure you’re using a food-safe material in the printer, and RINSE THOROUGHLY if you’ve used a solution to remove the support material – my guess is that chemicals are not part of your baking ingredients.

With the ability to design custom, one-of-a-kind cookie solutions in the blink of an eye, your neighbors will no longer mock your decision to go into engineering instead of culinary school! Watch in prideful glee as Mrs. Johnson delivers an assortment of last year’s trees and candy canes while you throw down with a stack of custom snickerdoodle sleigh bells and sugar cookie college team mascots. The sky’s the limit, folks, and SOLIDWORKS is the only way to fly.

Want to see the steps for 3D printing holiday cookie cutters? Read the next blog!