Flapjacks taste infinitely better when they’re machine-made. Well, that’s true for [Mexican Viking] who built an automatic pancake maker to the delight of his family.
Obviously, the building material of choice is Lego. The machine consists of a base with two linear gears on either side. A gantry is held high above this base, travelling upon geared towers to either side. The writing nozzle, fashioned out of ketchup bottles, can move back and forth along this gantry for a full range of motion along the X and Y axes. Lego pneumatic pumps supply pressurized air which forces the batter out of the bottle reservoir. This dispensing system is extremely clever and worth reading a bit more about. But if you just want us to make with the good stuff, you can see it grilling up pancakes in the video after the break.
The only thing missing is automatic flipping.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aux0ZQJVBk&w=470]
[Thanks Hackadayisgreat via Gizmodo]
Flippin’ Great !
Is that not PBDU then?
nice, wish i had one of these when i was a kid!
Ha, looks like you switched B and D in the title
Wish I had one now lol. Cooking is my true passion above all others and that would be a great toy for my kitchen.
Need a dispenser here!
Oh boy, this is so cool and unnecessary. I want one. Sort of.
Clever, far from perfect, made “because I can”… Yep, that’s a hack :D
Besides the auto-flipper, it needs:
* A tank or two to store pressure and a valve to control it, so it can dispense (and begin dispensing) more quickly
* A valve on the ketchup bottle to prevent drips
* A second bottle with a larger nozzle for “flood filling”
* An automatic batter mixer that can load the “feeder” bottle(s)
I still prefer the automatic waffle maker featured a few months ago, though, simply because I prefer waffles to pancakes :)
now watch, Disney will come in and yank the video because, damn, those ears sure do look familiar. great build. i bet flipping those is a bitch.
@Amos
Thanks so much for the tips! I’m hoping to improve upon it so your suggestions mean a lot.
Miguel
Some hacks just make you smile, this is one of them. It’s also an awesome way to get the next generations of hackers engaged. Great hack.
You could reverse pressure to prevent the dripping. A bit of under-pressure should suck those drops back into the bottle.
Amazing project though. Love it !!! :D