October 1, 2025
Description
I designed a 20-piece toy set to play “taquería” (taco shop) in a truly authentic way! As a Mexican designer of all things whimsical, this is a love letter to the most popular food of my country.
A taquero (pronounced “tah-KEH-roh”) is a noble profession responsible for feeding millions of Mexicans. Taquerías may be a shop or a cart on the street corner, open until the wee hours of the morning. Tacos may be of bistec (beef steak, get it?), carnitas, birria, tripa, even ojo (eye) and lengua (tongue), but the most popular is pastor, portrayed here in the classic “trompo” (spinning top), similar to a döner kebab because it was brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. It is a stack of marinated meat pierced by a rotating rod, so it can get roasted. Paired with pineapple slices!
The set includes a most comprehensive list of taquero necessities:
WARNINGS - Not suitable for children under 3, do not mix these toys with real food or encourage contact with the mouth. Do not wash with hot water, dishwasher, or abrasive chemicals.
Parent guidance suggested.
I am not responsible for damages or injury resulting from use. Only digital files are provided. Parents accept these responsibilities when downloading and printing these toys as all settings and materials are up to them.
Because they are toys, use 3 perimeters and 20% infill, not lightning. Better to make them last and resist tear and wear of child use than to break and have to reprint.
All parts print without supports. The maximum overhangs are 30-35 degrees. If you experience sagging, add paint-on-supports where needed. Avoid automatic supports everywhere.
I did not use brims or rafts, but you can if you experience adhesion issues.
Use a lighter or heat gun to remove hairs, strings or sagging.
All parts print with the flat large area on the print bed for orientation:
0.2 mm layers, except for the Stump and Salsa bowl, which used 0.28 mm layers and fuzzy skin. The meat pile “trompo” could also be printed with fuzzy skin.
Use a pencil or chopstick to assemble the Fire, Meat pile and Pineapple
The circular onion & cilantro and the salsa sit flush on their containers, you can choose either the bucket or the molcajete bowl. They fit either.
Adjust the scales of anything you want, larger or smaller. These sizes fit the print bed of a Prusa MK4. If you scale the stump, make sure to also scale the butcher knife so it fits well in the cutout slot.
The tortillas are intentionally thin so they can bend. If scaled in Z to be thicker, they may no longer bend.
Filaments that I used:
An alternative tortilla that works well is “sample circle 15x15” of 3D Printed Fabric by Print-in-Place_Fun .
All parts made in parametric software and some tweaks in Tinkercad and PrusaSlicer. No AI or remixes.
Everything printed in a Prusa MK4, except tongs and bucket, done in a Prusa CORE One.
Special thanks to H the fantastic model (facial hair is not real, believe it or not), and Mr. P for the tongs and bucket.
Any similarity with reality is mere coincidence.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — NoDerivatives
Dany Sánchez
