Print In Chocolate, Sugar, And Clay With A Universal Paste Extruder

With a glut of Easter candy acquired over the last week, you might be thinking what to do with mountains of chocolate and other sugary delights. How about sending them through a 3D printer with [RichRap]’s universal paste extruder?

[RichRap]’s extruder uses a common 10cc syringes slowly squeezed by an off-the-shelf stepper motor. Chocolate wasn’t the only goal for this build;  [RichRap] also tested out cake icing, corn chip dough, muffin and sponge cake batter with his new toy. The most interesting paste in our humble opinion is porcelain ceramic clay. [RichRap] was able to make some very nice 3D printed greenware, but we’ll withhold our judgement until the ceramic parts are fired later this week.

After the break you can check out the introduction video for the Universal Paste Extruder, as well as a quick glimpse of [RichRap]’s very cool porcelain clay prints. We’re very interested in the ceramics printed with this extruder, if only for printing reprap parts that will be exposed to plastic-melting temperatures.  Of course, all the files to build your own paste extruder are up on Thingiverse.

Tip ‘o the hat to [Josef Prusa] for sending this one in.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Moiyvq8P2Vs&w=470]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8ILdNDrXrc&w=470]

11 thoughts on “Print In Chocolate, Sugar, And Clay With A Universal Paste Extruder

  1. ooooh, if one can get the PMC (precious metal clay) to extrude, one coudl then kiln fire their prints into 3d gold/silver/copper creations! very exciting. not to see if the guys at Quelab prusa mendel 3d printers have the right mounts!

    1. I’m glad to know mine wasn’t the only mind that went this direction… If you check with suppliers like Fire Mountain or Otto Frei, I’m pretty sure they have PMC available in syringes already, (I think it’s meant to give the look of wire work) but I having never used it before, I can’t say for certain if it would be the right consistency.

  2. I’m thinking the clay may not fire well, it seems to me he built up solid pieces. IIRC the thicker the clay, the more likely a steam bubble will break the object in the kiln.

  3. i want a 3d printer now, and a metal lathe…you 3d print whatever you want in porcelain, include sprues, cast aluminum in it, and then just break the porcelain with a hammer.

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