Once again, some nifty printing, this time with food, came at the behest of a need for efficiency. With a party on the way, there was no time to put creative designs into jell-o shots by hand, and a homemade 3D printer was assembled for the job. For those uninitiated with the common party beverage, a jell-o shot is jell-o combined with alcohol in small to medium containers, usually cups, for fiestas and jovial gatherings. While the practice of printing designs into jell-o shots is impressive and one of those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that” ideas, the DIY construction and coding is even more impressive.
In order to print food dye into jell-o, the party planner needed x, y, and z-gantries. Using old CDROM drives for linear movements, a makeshift skeleton for printing stood on a sturdy piece of wood. Mimicking the by-hand approach, the syringe functioned as the deposit for the food dye, but is connected to thin tubes better suited to the weight capacity of the gantries. A stepper motor provided precise laser positioning. The x-gantry positioned the shot glass.
There were some specific qualifications needed for software due to the DIY nature of the food dye injection, but not too complicated. The software had to fit the 2K of the controller. The stepper motors are controlled using micro-stepping. For those at home looking to imitate, the steppers used have a maximum of 8 angles by sending DC through the coils. A bit of hacking is involved, but worth the extra effort for time and money, things we all need.
Admittedly, what drew me to this story is the headline – 3D printed jell-o shots – yet what fascinates me is the homemade ingenuity at play. It filled a need, party favours, and is something new — an instant conversation starter. However, the ability to throw some parts together, write some code, and design such a machine simply astounds.
Source: SpritesMods
