3D printing is a hot trend. You can make almost anything and it’s becoming more accessible all the time. One thing that’s still hard to 3D print is food.
While there are some commercial 3D food printers on the market, such as the PancakeBot, it’s still very experimental. So why not make your own? Evan Weinstein did just that with his Cocoa Press.
Weinstein is now a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, but he started building the Cocoa Press while a senior in high school for an introductory engineering class.
Over the course of 3 years, he learned a lot about building 3D printers and the specialized parts necessary to successfully print chocolate. His machine melts Hershey chocolate bars and extrudes the chocolate, much like a clay printer or other paste 3D printer, using a pneumatic syringe.
The Cocoa Press uses 6 Peltier coolers to cool the melted chocolate immediately after extrusion. Weinstein milled his own custom-built extruder from aluminum.
Unfortunately, when Weinstein showed the Cocoa Press at Maker Faire NY this September, the near 100˚ F outside temperature prevented the chocolate from cooling properly.
Like any 3D printer, it performs best in a temperature-controlled environment. Despite the challenges of 3D printing chocolate under a tent at Maker Faire, the printer was very impressive seeing it in person. And I wasn’t the only one who was impressed with the project; it won 3 ribbons at Maker Faire NY.
The Cocoa Press is a work-in-progress and Weinstein installed a water-cooling system, much like those found in high-performance PCs to help cool down the Peltier coolers, so they could operate more efficiently. He plans on changing the design of the 3D printer and using it to print in other materials.
Michael Parker
