Suet cake mold

prusaprinters

<p>I wanted to make my own suet cakes to feed the birds in my yard. (The bird feeding area is like TV for my cats.) I searched online for a suet mold and I could only find one that doesn't seem to be being made anymore, and the few places I could find it still in stock it was around $25USD. Since I have a 3D printer, I figured I could spend way more than that in failed prints using NinjaFlex. I searched several of the free 3D model sites and I couldn't find any suet molds. So, time to practice my skills in FreeCAD. Bonus, I was able to waste even more money on filament with prototypes.</p><p>One of my first print attempt of the final design I didn't have the filament tuned properly so I didn't get very good side-to-side binding so the wall perimeters are coming apart and the bottom passes water (and melted fat) like filter medium. I was able to manage the porous bottom by wrapping the mold in foil when using it. My last print seems to be water tight.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/60495/rich_content/77a29215-c315-4aac-b34b-61646ea6e029/pxl_20210320_214607277.jpg#%7B%22uuid%22%3A%22b8b271eb-509c-496d-90a9-82782a421fb0%22%2C%22w%22%3A4032%2C%22h%22%3A3024%7D"></figure><p>When filling the mold, fill up to the ledge on the inside of the mold. The 5mm high walls above that step help hold the mold up when de-molding after freezing the suet cake solid.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://media.prusaprinters.org/media/prints/60495/rich_content/c22c9497-0793-43dc-9a5c-83c83f802335/pxl_20210320_214840111.jpg#%7B%22uuid%22%3A%22d902f218-2d27-4975-8065-d37646a09322%22%2C%22w%22%3A4032%2C%22h%22%3A3024%7D"></figure><p>You don't have to use NinjaFlex, but I would suggest some sort of flexible filament to help pop the molded suet cake. I did design in a 3° draft angle below the inner step in the mold to help.</p><p>The FreeCAD model is parametric, so if you load it into FreeCAD you should be able to adjust the measurements in the spreadsheet tab to customize different sizes. I've also included the step model to load into other 3D modelling software, but the parametric attributes are lost.</p>