12-Slice Cake Plate Holder

Commonwealth Culinary Creations needed a new holder for the plate that sits under a cake while their machine cuts it into 12 slices. We rebuilt their existing holder in 3D, improved it, and 3D printed white PLA samples to test on the machine.

The brief

The client gave us their original holder and asked for a version we could make. It had to keep the plate centred while the knife comes down, let the knife pass without hitting the holder, line up with the bolts on the machine, and make the plate easy to lift out after cutting.

How we made it

We measured the sample and modelled it in 3D. The first round showed three ways to hold the plate: a solid raised rim with slots for the knife, separate raised blocks, and a ring of small round pegs. Joe Lim, the client’s Operation Manager, approved the design on 30 June, a week after the first deck. The chosen holder has 12 raised blocks around the edge to centre the plate and 12 rounded lift slots between them.

We printed it in white PLA and tested it on the machine on 6 July. It fitted, but the mounting hole needed to line up with the cut. Two days later the revised design was ready: the starting angle was turned to match the bolt, the plate slot was made wider, and a sloped inner wall was added so the knife meets a slope, not a flat face. That keeps the blade sharp and the holder intact.

The last change was small. The inner diameter went from 222 mm to 226 mm, giving the cake enough room to fit and to lift out at an angle. The client approved it on 16 July, just over three weeks after the first deck.

Printing samples first let the client test the fit on their own machine before any production tooling.

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