Food-contact robotic gripper and handle in metal-detectable nylon on a display tray

Applications · Food contact

Food-line parts that stay sealed and cleanable.

Vapor smoothing seals the porous surface of 3D printed nylon, so parts on food lines are smoother and easier to keep clean. Marel, Tetra Pak and FABULOUS use it on grippers, extruders and filtration parts.

Test your parts, free See the case studies

Key applications

Where food parts are vapor smoothed.

  • Food-line grippers

    A salmon side gripper in metal-detectable nylon with smooth, joint-free contact areas.

  • Food extruders

    Printed, vapor-smoothed parts in place of a welded stainless-steel ice cream extruder.

  • Filtration parts

    Detectable filtration parts for food and pharma lines, sealed by vapor smoothing.

  • Food-contact testing

    DETECT PA11 parts finished with FA5802 (Pure), tested by an independent lab for food contact.

Food-contact testing

Tested for food contact.

AMT and FABULOUS tested vapor-smoothed DETECT PA11 for food contact. The result applies to that material finished with FA5802 (Pure).

  • Food contact

    Extractables well within regulatory limits under US FDA 21 CFR §177.1500

    Independent lab test FABULOUS DETECT PA11 · FA5802 (Pure)

This is a result for those parts, not a certification of Pure; validate your own material and application.

Read the food-contact test

Printers and materials

The printers and materials behind these parts.

Print processes

SLS and MJF

FABULOUS parts are SLS. PostPro smooths parts from MJF, SLS, SAF, HSS and FDM.

Materials

Which system? Compare all four

Case studies

Two stories from food contact.

Each case study is the customer’s published account: the summary here, the full story and the PDF one click away.

  1. Case study 01 / 02
    Gripper holding a salmon side

    A gripper for salmon sides

    Marel and DTI printed a gripper in metal-detectable nylon with smooth, joint-free contact areas. Vapor smoothing reduces surface roughness and improves durability and impact resistance.

    Customer
    Marel, with the Danish Technological Institute
    Process
    Metal-detectable nylon → vapor smoothing
    Result
    Vapor smoothing process reduces surface roughness, improves durability, and enhances impact resistance.
    Published
    , published before October 2024
    Read the case study: A gripper for salmon sides PDF: A gripper for salmon sides (opens in a new tab)
  2. Case study 02 / 02
    Blue detectable printed filter

    Detectable filtration parts for food lines

    Parts on food and pharma lines are made in blue detectable materials so fragments can be found. Printed parts start rough and unsealed; vapor smoothing reduces the roughness and seals the surface.

    Customer
    FABULOUS
    Process
    Blue detectable material → vapor smoothing
    Result
    Reduced surface roughness and a sealed surface, so printed parts can serve on food and pharma lines
    Published
    Read the case study: Detectable filtration parts for food lines PDF: Detectable filtration parts for food lines (opens in a new tab)

All three food case studies in the case-study library

Food contact on video

See it at work

Watch on YouTube: Length 1:31

Food-Grade 3D Printing with DTI | Vapor Smoothing SLS Parts for Food-Contact Applications

Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Next step

See the price. Run the numbers. Hold the part.

Starting prices are public and the cost-per-part math is yours to check, with no email needed for either. The free benchmark puts your own parts, vapor smoothed, in your hands.

  1. 01Quote

    Build your quote

    Pick a system and its options, and send AMT an itemized quotation request. Each system shows its starting price.

    Build your quote

  2. 02ROI

    Calculate your ROI

    Compare your cost per part with manual finishing, using your own labor rate and volumes. Every assumption is editable.

    Calculate ROI

  3. 03Benchmark

    Test your parts, free

    Ship us your parts with a prepaid label. We vapor smooth them and send them back with before-and-after photos and a benchmark report.

    Test your parts, free

    No cost to evaluate · Parts returned · Typical turnaround 2–3 weeks

Prices: starting prices, excluding tax and shipping; everything else is priced in your quotation.

Not sure which system? Help me choose

Questions

Questions, answered.

Can vapor-smoothed 3D printed parts be used in contact with food?

Food-contact compliance depends on the material, the process and the consumable together. Parts printed in FABULOUS DETECT PA11 and smoothed with Pure met the extractables limits of US FDA 21 CFR §177.1500 in an accredited independent lab: a result for those parts, not a certification. Validate your own material and application.

Which materials are used for food-processing parts?

Published examples use metal-detectable nylon (Marel and Tetra Pak, with the Danish Technological Institute) and FABULOUS DETECT PA11 finished with Pure, which met the extractables limits of US FDA 21 CFR §177.1500 in an accredited independent lab: a result for those parts, not a certification.

Can I test my own parts before I buy?

Yes. Send a few of your printed parts to AMT’s benchmarking program and they come back vapor smoothed: no cost to evaluate, parts returned, typical turnaround 2–3 weeks.