Any-bag piping tips

Time for you to become the 3D printer!

Kindly ask your 3D printer to give you these 3 parts:

• MAIN Coupler

• MAIN Ring - You can use a version with or without a cone

• TIP - Any of the various available

  • 0,5, 1 and 1,5mm round HIGH FLOW tips are the most versatile

And then show it who's boss with your favorite sugar filament!

 You can find all of these files in the recommended folder!

This set has made cookie decorating much easier and more precise! It's also great that i no longer need any special piping bags. Any bag works! Grocery store bag or free bags from supermarket bakery work perfectly well. Heck just use stretch foil if you want to! Switching the tip without changing the bag is also a great feature!

NOTICE:

FINAL UPDATE:

• Only print the basics!

  • Most of the tips turned out to be not so useful. If you want to experiment, give some feedback or ideas, feel free. My results are below.

  • For the most basic set truly use just the coupler, the ring and any HF round tip.

• I highly recommend printing the tips in TPU if you can and then cleaning the hole with a PCB drill. TPU has the best layer adhesion (tiny tips are easy to break). 

  • The other two parts can be any material

• Do not forget the larger thread is in left direction!

• Make sure your filling is properly sieved and pure or the narrow tip will get plugged!

• While it works with any bags, weaker bags may burst on you, especially with the very narrow tips. I suggest to double them up.

HOW TO USE:

1. Place the MAIN Coupler inside the bag and position its tip to where you want it

   

2. Place the MAIN Ring over the coupler on the outside, so that the thicker side of the MAIN Ring is towards the tip 

   • Without cone, leave it there loosely for now

   • If you are using a corner/tip of your bag, skip directly to step 4 - A corner will center itself

   • The ring has a left thread, turn the other way

   

3. Fix the bag in place by screwing the TIP on the coupler 

   • No need to tighten firmly yet

   • This is done so that the position is fixed if you want a hole on any place of a bag

   

4. Stretch the bag to your liking and fix it in place by screwing the MAIN Ring to the Coupler, 

   • Its thicker side will seal the bag

   • Be aware, the MAIN Ring has a left thread

   

5. Release the TIP if it was screwed on and pierce the bag with anything pointy 

   • Use a pencil a stick… or even the TIP itself

   • With a slim bag the threads are able to cut it and you can use that to your advantage too

   
   

6. Fold the bag around the opening of the coupler, so its not on the top

   
   

7. Screw the TIP back on and tighten it against the MAIN Ring 

   • Since the MAIN Ring has a left thread, they tighten each other easily

   • No need to overtighten

   

8. ENJOY!

   

9. If you wish to change the tip, hold the middle structure to unscrew the TIP without loosening the MAIN Ring. Then hold it again to attach a new TIP

   • This is what the ribs are for

HELPFUL TIPS:

• Make sure you clean the prints properly before first use - leave no stringing or residue in your cookies!

• Small hole diameters (under 1.5mm) might need same sized drill for clean up.

• For small diameters, make sure your icing is VERY FINE - Grind and sieve the sugar properly and use fresh icing! Clogging can happen otherwise. Just in case have a pin or a needle on hand to clear the clog out.

• If your bag is very thin or you managed to break it - double down! Feel free to use two or more bags inside each other.

• Want to use it for LARGE CAKES? Scale it up in your slicer! Or should i make an XL version too?

LIST OF CONTENT:

Missing something? Feel free to request it in the comments!

MAIN Coupler: The main body which connects everything together

MAIN Ring: Large ring used to attach the MAIN Coupler to the plastic bag

TIPs:

• ROUND

  • 0.5 mm *

  • 1 mm *

  • 1.3 mm *

  • 1.5 mm

  • 2 mm

  • 3 mm

  • 4 mm

  • 5 mm 

    • sort of useless since the MAIN Coupler's hole diameter is also 5mm

  

• ROUND HIGH FLOW (labeled H F)

  • High Flow takes more filling closer to the tip before extrusion, hopefully making it easier to use

    • My testing has found no disadvantage in using this version, so i replaced thse sizes in the round folder

      • left normal right high flow

      

  • 0.5 mm *

    • Can be pretty slim with practice, on the picture top left and top right are this nozzle

      

  • 1 mm *

  • 1.5 mm *

    

• TRIPLE ROUND (labeled: T)

  • Draw three lines at once

    • The lines for gingerbread tend to stick together into a single one. I prefer the extra wide bellow

  • 0.5 mm *

    

  • 1 mm *

    

• TRIPLE ROUND Extra Wide (labeled: E+T)

  • Should help with the issue of the three lines sticking together into one

    • Adjusted so its easier printable with 0,4 nozzle and forces two clean perimeters

  • 0.5 mm *

  • 1 mm *

    

• HEXA STAR (labeled: H)

  • 3 mm * 

    • (This is too tough to print for FDM printers with 0,4 nozzle or larger and results in more of a hexagon honestly)

    

  • 5 mm *

    • You can sort of make imprints of tiny stars, other than that it behaves more as a thick round nozzle

    

  • 8 mm 

    • The middle flows so freely that it never goes to the edges… May be useful in a larger scale

• CLOSED HEXA STAR

  • 5mm * 

    • very complicated shape, make sure its sliced as clean two perimeters around without breaks in the side.  Still it might need some post processing with a sharp pointy knife

      • I did NOT manage to make this one useful or print it properly… Have not tried Arachne yet but it might help a lot with this one

  • 8mm 

    • Placed some filament in the middle of the Hexa 8mm and somehow it works and prints actually well!

    

• PENTA STAR (labeled: ★)

  • 3 mm * 

    • slightly better than Hexa but still not really a star with FDM, expect a pentagon

  • 5 mm *

• PETAL (labeled: P)

  • 5 mm

    • For gingerbread this seems to have no effect but the shape is clean i am sure it can be useful for other jobs

    • Picture shows different directions of the same nozzle. This filling does not hold its shape very well.

    

• FILLER (labeled F)

  • Should be an extra long and narrow tip that allows you to reach places inside however, they usually need larger holes than 5mm

  • I made it for fun but its pretty much pointless

• * GRASS

  • Not available - I tried and did not find a way to make all the holes cleanly printable in this size. Use the triple instead.

*  These models are more difficult to print and could need some post processing or slicer settings adjustment (drilling / knife clean up of the hole)

HOW TO PRINT:

All models are tested on 0,4 nozzle with 0,2 layer height and adapted to work. They also seem to work fine with 0,3 layer height. The complicated shapes can be messy in the slicer:

Check your thin walls min width setting! The tips, especially the stars, need to be printed with a single continuous line for the best result. Adjust this value until your slicer shows you a clean shape.

Bad star - printed with 6 separate lines and some mess around (min width 33%)

- good star - one continuous line (min width 99%)

• For some reason for certain values it could place a bit of filament into the smallest diameter holes. Check for that. I eliminated it simply by changing the values from 100 to 99%.

  

  100%

  

  99%

• Do NOT use XY hole compensation as it also ruins the threads!

• Be aware that both of these settings might break some of the complicated shapes so pay attention to if the lines are closed and create a single loop.

• If all else fails, find your tip in the thicker variant, that should have two perimeters and prevent thin walls.

• Arachne might be helpful for these tiny details

Other than that the only challenging part in this model could be a support-less overhang inside of the tips - check if it printed correctly, should be no issue given its tiny size. It is used as a stop for the thread, so you cant overtighten it.

Thread tolerances are incorporated in the model, no need to scale the parts separately from each other!

For tips smaller than 1.3 mm:

• The hole could be printed closed 

  • i recommend drilling with an appropriately sized drill 

  • OR Try the high flow type where i made the holes 0,1mm larger

  • OR try the thicker wall type, which prints more perimeters and could be better

  • In the end you can just pick a size larger too. In my experience 1,5mm prints as 1 for example.

Origin story:

Inspired by TripleGWorkshop's idea: https://www.printables.com/model/290093

• As their version did not work very well, i decided to take matters in my own hands.

• I created this model from scratch, using the original only as inspiration, improving everything i could think of.

• After hours of work and many iterations it now works as good as i imagined it should, is simple, comfortable to use and it can be used with really ANY plastic bag, not just piping bags!

Look at the result of just the nozzle improvement yourself:

1. TripleGWorkshop's 1mm model (I really did try my best to keep it thin but it sticks to the nozzle)

2. My model 1mm

3. My model 0,5mm 

…

Hey Printables, why can't i make folders inside of folders? Organizing this many STLs is a pain!