Silicone Kitchen Tongs Mold and Handle

thingiverse

This is a printable mold for silicone tongs and its handle. The reason for using silicone tongs instead of just printing it all is to make it a useful cooking tool that can withstand high heat. Just like regular kitchen tongs it has a lock at the end so you can lock then at the end of your use. The silicone tongs will snap in-place into the handle and will lock in. Additional hardware needed: - An M3-16 screw (min of 16mm required, but 18mm can work as well) - An M3-Hex nut to hold it - A Torsion spring to have the Tongs open properly For the Torsion spring you have a few options: - These on Amazon are cheap enough and if you use 2 or 3 together they will do just fine: https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Buttons-Springs-Version-Controller/dp/B075WT2JY6 - If you search Torsion springs on ebay or Ali Express you will find plenty options available at decent prices. - Being a maker, my favorite option is to make them! Luckily, someone already did the heavy lifting here and created this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:88569 to make Torsion springs. I would recommend this type of wire for this application: https://www.amazon.com/Hillman-Group-123106-Galvanized-Steel/dp/B000BPEQAE The Torsion spring maker and the wire are very handy for many other applications and projects! keep in kind the inner diameter of the spring!! It needs to be at least 3mm (0.12") to fit on the M3 screw. An inner Both parts of the mold can be printed as is without any need for supports. mold has room for silicone spill over. You will need to just snip the spill over. use a few rubber bands to hold the two mold parts together while the silicone cures. I would recommend to use food grade silicone for this type of application. Something like this should be good: https://www.amazon.com/Smooth-Sil-Grade-Making-Silicone-Rubber/dp/B00EOA25X2 Plenty of quantities for lower prices. A quick remark about Silicone Mold mix. There are a few hardness levels for silicone mold mixes, measured as "Shore A Hardness". A quick google search for "silicone mold hardness" will show you multiple images to see the different options. For this specific application a hardness level from A40 to A60 would do the job! You can review the rest of my Silicone Mold series here: Silicone Ice Cubes Tray Mold - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3190694 Silicone Ice Balls Tray Mold - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3204617 Silicone Oven Mitts Mold - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3190512 Silicone Trivet Mold - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192029 Silicone Spatula Mold and Handle - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3198168