Artist 3D Prints a Working ‘Low Poly’ Gumball Machine & You Can Too

I remember how excited I would get when my mom would tell me it was time to go grocery shopping with her. No, it wasn’t for the free samples of cheese and meat at the deli, or the fact that I would get to help pick out the food I would be eating for the upcoming week. It was because of the plethora of various gumball and candy machines that were located at the front of the store, ensuring that every kid would see them both on the way in and way out. My mom had a rule; if I behaved myself while she shopped for our groceries, then once everything was paid for she would give me $1.00 in quarters to use however my heart desired.

I would usually go for the mini jawbreakers or the chewy Spree candy, but sometimes I would get crazy and spend it all on gumballs or plastic toys.

For one technical artist, currently working in the games industry, named Tanya Wiesner, after working to create 3D designs for 10 years, she finally started to take 3D printing up as a hobby. Only seems fitting, right?

In her latest project she decided to create her very own candy/gumball vending machine.

“Normally I create character based items for 3D Printing,” Wiesner tells 3DPrint.com. “As I like to keep candy around my work space, I decided to try something new and create a generic candy machine that could dispense a variety of sized candies.”

Using Autodesk 3ds Max, she set out to design a candy machine that didn’t look like anything else that has previously been 3D printed. So she decided to create a “low poly” looking machine. Once her design was complete, she 3D printed it on her Printrbot Simple Metal 3D printer, a process that took approximately 30-40 hours to complete. She elected to print it at a layer height of 0.2mm – 0.3mm with a 10% infill.

“Due to the size of the print volume on my printer,” Wiesner said, “I divided up the candy machine into 7 pieces for print ease and to reduce print supports. Once assembled, candy machine is 114 mm x 125.73 mm x 242.76 mm.”

As for the candy machine itself, it can be filled by pouring candy into the top. To dispense the goodies, you simply hold your hand in front of the opening and twist the lever. Candy fills the dispenser barrel as the lever turns and the candy drops down the shoot and into your hand.

We’ve seen other 3D printed candy machines before, but none as unique as this one. Wiesner has made the design files for this machine available for anyone to download free of charge from Thingiverse. What do you think about this 3D printable candy machine? Discuss in the 3D printed candy dispenser forum thread on 3DPB.com.