FOOD AND BEVERAGE
3D PRINTING AND EOAT FOR FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Food and beverage lines punish tooling in three ways at once: daily washdown, constant product changeovers, and cycle rates that leave no room for a gripper that only half works. Printed PA12 nylon handles all three. It does not corrode, it can be sealed for food contact with vapour smoothing, and because there is no tooling cost, a gripper can be built around one specific product instead of forcing the product to suit a catalogue tool.
We supply both sides of the line: printed components that replace machined metal, and the robotic tooling that picks, places, erects and palletizes the product itself.
What We Make For Food and Beverage:
- Product specific vacuum tooling for bakery, produce and packaged goods
- Guides, chutes and wear parts on filling and packing lines
- Washdown safe components sealed with vapour smoothing
- Case erecting and palletizing tooling for end of line
- Change parts and format sets for product changeovers
Related Builds
Documented tools from our floor, with the constraint and the result behind each one.
Printed Tooling Against The Alternative
| Factor | Printed PA12 nylon | Machined or catalogue tooling |
|---|---|---|
| Washdown | Sealed nylon surface sheds water and cleaning chemicals | Corrodes or needs coating maintenance |
| Food contact | Vapour smoothed parts support (EU) 10/2011 requirements | Depends on alloy and finish |
| Product specific shape | Free, the geometry is printed | Machining cost rises with complexity |
| Changeover parts | Printed per format, no tooling minimum | Setup cost per format |
Where This Work Ships
Most food and beverage orders go to Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Everything is printed at our Mississauga facility and shipped as domestic freight, with transit confirmed alongside the quote. Materials are covered on our PA12 nylon page and the processes on 3D printing services.
End of Arm Tooling for Food and Beverage
We do not only print components, we design and build the robotic tooling that handles the product. Every tool below is engineered here and printed in the same nylon.
Questions
Are 3D printed parts food safe?
Raw sintered nylon is porous, so food contact applications use VaporFuse vapour smoothing, which seals the surface and supports (EU) 10/2011 food contact requirements. We confirm the right approach for each application before quoting.
Will printed tooling survive daily washdown?
Yes. PA12 nylon absorbs very little moisture, does not corrode, and once vapour smoothed the surface sheds water and cleaning chemicals rather than holding them.
Can you build a gripper for one specific product?
That is most of what we do here. Bagels, buns, tubs, trays and bottles all get tooling shaped to the product, because printing removes the tooling cost that normally makes bespoke grippers uneconomical.
How do you handle product changeovers?
Either with zoned tooling that covers several formats, or with printed change parts per format. Which one is cheaper depends on your product mix, and we will work it through with you.
Can you handle bottles and jars?
Yes. Our External Bottle Gripper closes printed jaws around the neck ring or cap, and the jaw profile is printed to your exact container, so a new bottle means new jaws rather than new equipment.
What lead time should we expect?
It depends on the size of the build and the finishing required, so we confirm a date with the quote rather than publish a number that will not hold for every job.