Laser cutting drink stirrers

[Steve Gallo]

I have a client interested in custom acrylic drink stirrers.

Can I cut any acrylic, in any color for this? Or is there a specific food safe material I must use?

Thanks

[David Somers]

Steve...as far as I am aware, all acrylic is the same in terms of food safety. For your use, if you are cutting only and the material is not really thick there may not be any difference in terms of the behavior of cast or extruded acrylic. If you also need to engrave it you will want to use cast only as it engraves much better.

I looked and found a number of documents from the FDA that list acrylic in a long list of materials considered safe as a food handling material. Of course...if you search the web generally you will find tons of people saying acrylic, and literally any other material leaches something into your foods or the environment that is harmful. I hate to sound skeptical about all the claims, but they are so wide ranging it is amazing. I even had someone complain to me once about using bare wood when I made salad bowls. A person had requested unfinished bowls, not even an oil or mineral oil finish. They told me the wood cells were leaching harmful chemicals into whatever I placed in the bowl. After talking with them I even doubted that my hands werent leaching dangerous chemicals into my food if I ate without any containers or utensils at all. I supposed my last alternative before simply starving myself was to treat all my food as if I were dunking for apples. Lean over it with my hands behind my back and rip at it with my bare teeth!!! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr! Hmmmm. I wonder what my teeth and saliva are poisoning me with??? <grin>

Seriously though. It looks safe from the FDA standpoint. The rest I leave up to you.

Dave

[Gary Hair]

to treat all my food as if I were dunking for apples. Lean over it with my hands behind my back and rip at it with my bare teeth!!! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr! Hmmmm. I wonder what my teeth and saliva are poisoning me with??? <grin>

But what about all the nasty stuff in the air? No matter what you touch it with you will still have to deal with airborne nastiness...

[Steve Gallo]

Steve...as far as I am aware, all acrylic is the same in terms of food safety. For your use, if you are cutting only and the material is not really thick there may not be any difference in terms of the behavior of cast or extruded acrylic. If you also need to engrave it you will want to use cast only as it engraves much better.

I looked and found a number of documents from the FDA that list acrylic in a long list of materials considered safe as a food handling material. Of course...if you search the web generally you will find tons of people saying acrylic, and literally any other material leaches something into your foods or the environment that is harmful. I hate to sound skeptical about all the claims, but they are so wide ranging it is amazing. I even had someone complain to me once about using bare wood when I made salad bowls. A person had requested unfinished bowls, not even an oil or mineral oil finish. They told me the wood cells were leaching harmful chemicals into whatever I placed in the bowl. After talking with them I even doubted that my hands werent leaching dangerous chemicals into my food if I ate without any containers or utensils at all. I supposed my last alternative before simply starving myself was to treat all my food as if I were dunking for apples. Lean over it with my hands behind my back and rip at it with my bare teeth!!! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr! Hmmmm. I wonder what my teeth and saliva are poisoning me with??? <grin>

Seriously though. It looks safe from the FDA standpoint. The rest I leave up to you.

Dave

Thanks Dave

[Kev Williams]

Acrylic may be the same to start with, but after cutting it with a laser beam is a different story.

Short version: focus on CAST acrylic, NOT EXTRUDED. Cutting extruded plastic leaves sticky residue on the edges, that remain sticky indefinitely unless removed with chemicals or abrasives. I'm no Walter White but a sticky edge on something that wasn't sticky to start with tells me that the act of laser cutting it changes it.

[Keith Downing]

I don't see how you're going to get these things to look anywhere near like what you'd see in a store without flame polishing them.

IMHO, this project would only be worth it if they're going to be a custom shape that can't possibly be found in stores. And if you're charging enough to put in some serious R&D time.

Good luck though, and let us know how it turns out if you do go through with it!

[Steve Gallo]

Acrylic may be the same to start with, but after cutting it with a laser beam is a different story.

Short version: focus on CAST acrylic, NOT EXTRUDED. Cutting extruded plastic leaves sticky residue on the edges, that remain sticky indefinitely unless removed with chemicals or abrasives. I'm no Walter White but a sticky edge on something that wasn't sticky to start with tells me that the act of laser cutting it changes it.

Thanks for your input.

[Steve Gallo]

Thanks, I will let everyone know how it turns out.

The stirrers are for a wedding with the bride and groom's initials at the top.

[Ivan Pavletic]

I'm not sure about drink stirrers made from acrylic because you can break it very easily, especially when you cut it thin. And it is very sharp at the break point

[Bill George]

Its also one of those things where the customer thinks it will be really neat to have.... until you tell them the cost. I am wondering if you just can't take something already made and put initials or something custom on a to personalize.

[Steve Gallo]

Ok so here's how a couple turned out..They were very pleased.
unnamed.jpg

[Bert Kemp]

Very cool whats was the cost to make these?

Ok so here's how a couple turned out..They were very pleased.
unnamed.jpg

[Keith Downing]

Ok so here's how a couple turned out..They were very pleased.
unnamed.jpg

Not bad.

Just curious, did you clean them or soak them before using? Or do any kind of test on the chemical residue? I know I tend to end up chewing on the stirrers a lot of times, like the ones they give you in the drinks on an airplane.