3D Printed Christmas Cookies

It is Christmas today and courtesy of Ralf Holleis we have 3D printed cookies for readers. 

 

Holleis' team used an UNFOLD Plastruder to 3D print several styles of Rhino-modeled holiday cookies directly onto wax paper. The wax paper allowed the fragile extrusions to be easily moved into an oven for finishing, erm, cooking. 

 

Be sure to watch the video at the link below, as you can observe the entire process from installation of the plastuder, extrusion, cooking and of course, the eating. 

 

Via Ralf Holleis

Design of the Week: Mobius Sake Cup

This week's selected design is Ovidiu Opresco's Mobius Sake Cup. 

 

How simple is a Sake cup? What could transform such a straightforward object into the unusual? 

 

Ovidiu Opresco's idea was to blend the concept of a an endless Mobius strip with the cup to create a very unusual piece. The cup is functional - and even includes a mobius-filling port on the top, separate from the drinkable vent. Be careful: while the Mobius portion may be endless, the capacity of the cup is not! 

 

You cannot download and print this model yourself, but it is available for purchase on Shapeways. We priced out a beautiful Avocado Green Ceramic version at €48.25, or around USD$62. 

 

Via Shapeways

The Second Generation Imagine 3D Printer

Essential Dynamics has announced a new version of their non-plastic 3D printer to replace their first model. 

 

The Imagine 3D printer is a little different from most commonly available personal 3D printers. It's an extrusion based device that doesn't use melted plastic as its material. Instead the Imagine uses any extrudable substance by mechanically squishing them thru syringes. This means, for example, you could print using food, such as peanut butter, cookie dough or soft chocolate. Or finely minced meat. Yes, meat. 

 

The new device is improved over the original and offers: 

 

• A 8.75" x 8.75" build area
• Lighter weight (now 30 lbs)
• Preloaded designs
• Includes a selection of syringes and tips (optional 25-pack available)
• Resolution is 2x the syringe nozzle diameter

 

We think this kind of device could lead to much kitchen experimentation, particularly as you have the freedom to choose almost any malleable substance at hand. Or available at your local grocery.  

 

The fully assembled unit is available starting August 20th and is priced at USD$1,995. 

  

Via Imagine3DPrinter

Google's 3D Pasta Printer

Incredible as it might seem, Google apparently has a 3D printer in its kitchen - and it produces pasta, according to a report on WebProNews. 

 

In a video interview Google chef Bernard Faucher admits they operate some type of 3D printer in their kitchen to produce unique pasta shapes for hungry Google staffers. Faucher says: 

 

When I cook with it, my food has a distinct and customized shape. 

 

We're wondering about the nature of the mysterious pasta printer. We don't know what kind of 3D printer this might be, but it is likely something others would enjoy using, too. Yes, it's likely such a device could exist: pasta is a very extrudable substance. It could be extruded into a variety of appetizing pasta shapes fairly easily. 

 

But we think there's a problem with this approach. A kitchen like Google's would have to produce a large quantity of custom pasta each day. In fact, even a single bowl of pasta could require hours of pasta-printing to produce. 

 

Perhaps it's just for special orders, right Sergey?

 

Via WebProNews

Ice That 3D Cake

The folks at CNCDudez have been experimenting with cakes. Frosting cakes, actually. With a 3D printer. Spokesman Sean says: 

 

We have seen videos showing chocolate being extruded out of a syringe and also cake dough being extruded to make cookies. But we wanted to see if we could Ice a cakes, buns etc etc. So - we attached an Icing/Piping attachment to a custom bracket we made for our 3D Printer. 

 

The results are, well, messy, but evidently tasty. They had issues with "dry icing" and ended up inventing a "punch and extrude" approach that required rewriting the geode that controls machine movements. 

 

Be sure to watch their videos to see exactly how messy this can be. 

 

Via CNCDudez, YouTube and YouTube

The BurritoB0t

This is a real 3D printer specifically designed to print delicious burritos - we're not kidding! The BurritoB0t, a thesis project by maker Marko Manriquez, extrudes combinations of burrito components to dynamically construct, well, a custom-designed burrito. 

 

Technically, the BurritoB0t is a straightforward modification and combination of RepRap-derived technologies. It's based on the Hadron Bot, which provides X-Y-Z movement on which you can build extruders or other 3D printer parts. Perfect for Burrito extruders! 

 

A MakerBot heated build platform presumably cooks the extrusion into a real burrito. However, we're told they are not particularly tasty, likely due to the fact that all the extruded material must be very finely ground in order to fit through the extruder. 

 

The burrito materials are extruded with a MakerBot Frostruder-inspired air compressor powered syringe, capable of reliably squirting out all manner of squishy materials. The design is apparently capable of extruding any of these: beans, rice, cheese, sour cream, corn, chunky salsa, salsa verde and of course salsa picante. 

 

Manriquez has used up his funds at this point and is considering launching a KickStarter campaign to create assembled units you can purchase if there is sufficient interest. We think there will be, since there is no end of discussion about 3D printed food where ever we go. 

 

It's amazing, it's silly and groundbreaking. But why on earth would Manriquez build it? His answer, which makes a great deal of sense to us, is simply this: 

 

Somebody had too.

 

Via BurritoB0t (Hat tip to AssentWorks)

Chocolate 3D Printer Now Available

The folks at the University of Exeter who were experimenting with 3D printed chocolate that actually tastes good have spun off the technology into a commercial venture, Choc Edge. Their first product, the Choc Creator V1, is now available for pre-order.

 

What is it? It's a true 3D printer that is specifically designed to print chocolate. The device uses cartridges containing malleable chocolate that are squished through a syringe. The company says you can "use any other materials in their printer for as long as the material can flow out of the printing head".

 

The Choc Creator V1 has a build envelope of 175x175x70mm, the shortest vertical build we've seen in any recently announced 3D printer. Each cartridge holds 10ml, which isn't all that much, particularly when you realize you'll be eating the printout. Two sizes of nozzles can be used for different print quality. 

 

Software is said to be open source, but there are few details currently available. We'll have to see how the software can produce 3D models that can be efficiently printed using two nozzles. 

 

Their approach to raise money is quite interesting: They're auctioning off the first few units on eBay and then offering pre-orders for "regular" units. The pre-order price is steep:  £2,488 or USD$4000. Evidently the pre-order price is a discount over their proposed regular price of £2,888 or USD$4600. Note: the fine print says: 

 

Choc Edge is in the process of obtaining food grade certification for the Choc Creator printer. Pre-order Choc Creator printer is not currently food grade certified. The printed chocolate is therefore suitable for printing trials and demonstration purpose only and not suitable for consumption.

 

Obtaining food safe designation should not be an issue as they've been researching this aspect for some time. It's not clear whether the eventual food safe designation would apply to all pre-order models or just new units built after that point. It's even possible there could even be a food safe upgrade option in the future for pre-order units. 

 

We think this is a terrific development as many people will be attracted to the notion of a 3D printer in their kitchen that can produce food items, particularly chocolate. However, we think there may be a few challenges: 

 

• The device visually appears quite mechanical and will definitely be out of place in a kitchen. Perhaps future V2 or V3 models could have spiffy white plastic cases? 
• 3D printing is always quite slow and after watching Choc Edge's video, the Choc Creator seems even slower than typical plastic 3D printers. This may surprise uninformed buyers. 
• The low vertical build height suggests there might be issues with tall, stacked chocolate prints. Does chocolate slump? What restrictions on 3D model design exist? 
• 3D Printing workflow is difficult as several complex software tools must be used together. This is beyond the capability of most people and won't change in the kitchen. 
• The syringe size implies prints will be of limited size. Probably this is OK until someone wants to print a full size solid bunny - and it is Easter, isn't it?

 

Nevertheless, the time for kitchen 3D printing has now officially arrived and there is only one thing to say: Yum!

 

Via Choc Edge

Insects Au Gratin

What might you expect to find at an exhibition entitled, "Insects Au Gratin".

 

Why yes, you guess correctly.

 

This exhibition details 3D food printing, but with a twist: the print material is a flour made from "dried insects combined with soft cheese." Why would anyone do this? Because:

 

"Insects Au Gratin looks for new ways of consuming insects and debates the nutritive and environmental aspects of insects as human food."

 

Ok. 

 

Are you ready for 3D printed 20mm insect protein cubes? 

 

Via Scientist Live and Science Gallery