Oh, the joys of 3D printing with food. It’s such a delectable thought, such a height of epicurean savvy, that often when we are 3D printing with other materials—especially around mealtime—you can’t help but wish you were instead extruding a deep rich Belgian chocolate or maybe spending some time delving in whimsy and making your own decorative pink chewing gum or an intricate and beautiful 3D printed marzipan flower. This is all an amazing reality now—not to mention fun and fulfilling, by way of Bocusini, who will be launching their new food 3D Printer on Kickstarter tomorrow with hopes of raising €30,000 (around $33,400 USD).
Bocusini has a great product, offering 3D food printing through a very realistic and comprehensive vehicle: that of the heated food printing head mounted to a standard 3D printer and employing food cartridges, or capsules. Their assortment of 3D printing food cartridges allows you to set up your own kitchen around the 3D printer with a variety of creative recipes and options that allow you to make incredible 3D printed food that’s also all natural.
With the materials offered so far, you could feasibly whip up everything you need to fill a patio full of hungry bellies at an early summer party or any get together. And just imagine what you can do with 3D printed Christmas goodies.
The Bocusini cartridges, to be purchased at their website, come in the following food groups so far:
- Confectionary (chocolate, marzipan, chewing gum, fondant, jelly)
- Snacks (potato crisps and ‘savories’)
- Meat products (pâté and other spreads)
- Fruits and Vegetables (fruit purees, fruit sauces, fruit jellies or gelled vegetables)
- Dairy products (cream cheese or yogurt)
Kickstarter funds are needed for:
- Finishing product design
- Refining user-friendliness
- Completing optimization and finishing development of the foods, including storage processes
- Finishing development and streamlining of smart app
Ease for the user is paramount in this 3D printing food system, with a turnkey, plug and play system, which includes use of the cartridges. It offers a wifi-compatible system and will be able to operate from an app, as well as the traditional web-based platform.
Capsules contain 60 ml foodstuff each, and operation is as easy as plugging in the cartridge, selecting settings, and starting the standard 3D printer. Further specs are as follows:
- Printing temperature: 20-70 °C (68-158 F)
- Nozzle size: 0.3-2 mm
- Junior: 100 x 100 x 130 mm
- Pro: 150 x 150 x 150
Bocusini also, very importantly, offers retrofitting setups for open-source 3D printers.
At €249, supporters receive the heated Bocusini printer head, wifi control, user interface, two Bocusini capsules, and five sustainable Bocusini food refill kits of their choice. At that price, supporters also receive the Hackers DIY kit if they have an open-source 3D printer. At the €549 level, you receive a full Printrbot food printing system also, with the addition of everything else as well as 10 sustainable Bocusini food refill kits filled with available food of your choice. At €666, you receive a fully turnkey Printrbot system with everything else, plus 20 food refill kits.
Is this a system you are interested in ordering? What sorts of foods do you see yourself 3D printing? Tell us your thoughts in the Bocusini 3D Printed Food forum over at 3DPB.com.