Soap Press

thingiverse

I shower every day; I even use soap. Bar soap. Why do I use bar soap in an era of heavily scented body wash? Because men don't use loofahs. We just don't. Don't argue; you know deep down it's true. At this point, loofah-using gentlemen, you might want to rethink your life choices. And, it bugs me to no end when I get 80% of the way through a bar of soap, and it breaks into unusable slivers. I try to use the slivers anyway, because I hate to throw away something that is still useful, but they slip from my hands constantly. Eventually, out of frustration, I toss them into the trash. So much for trying to not be wasteful. I have noticed that sometimes, under the right conditions, these soap slivers can miraculously adhere to each other again. So, what if there was a device that could apply consistent pressure to soap slivers to make them reusable? This is my answer to that question. Time and pressure turns coal into diamonds; time and pressure can remold soap. To use: 1. Place cap on end of body. 2. Place moistened soap chips into body. Water improves ductility. 3. Place plunger into body. 4. Compress mold end to end with clamp or vise. I have found that it may take a couple of compressions/removal cycles to properly form the new soap bar. You want to get good adhesion between soap slivers by pressing out air pockets. Also, if the hoop stress exceeds hoop strength, the body of the press will crack. I reinforced mine with a wrap of Gorilla brand duct tape before compressing hard. 5. Let sit overnight. Really, let it sit. 6. Remove cap from body. 7. Use plunger to extract newly formed bar of soap. If a clean edge is desired, use a knife to cut soap bar free from plunger. 8. Allow new soap bar to dry for a day or so before using. Note: This has been designed to bake a bar that is 1 inch x 2 inches x 2 inches maximum (25mm x 50mm x 50mm). That's pretty small. Like hotel bar soap small. But it was designed to use the soap shards from just a couple of bars and make a bar that could be used for hand washing at the sink. Scale up to your liking.