3D chocolate printer

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Temper in Chocolate - What it is and why it matters

Any chocolatier worth their cocoa butter will tell you, real chocolate needs to be “tempered.” But what is temper and why is it important? To answer these questions, we should start by understanding a little more about the composition of chocolate, and how the various ingredients interact.

Custom Chocolate Making Process

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Using your own chocolate with Cocoa Press

There are two ways to get chocolate for printing with Cocoa Press. If you want a simple, proven method, you can buy our pre-tempered chocolate refills. The printer is not locked into these chocolates, so the other way is to use your own! This blog post will show you how to use your own chocolate, and what to keep in mind in the process.

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The Daily Pennsylvanian: Craving chocolate? This Penn alum’s 3D printing business can make you some.

Tech Crunch: Meet Cocoa Press, The Philly Startup Making a 3D Printer for Chocolate

How to Start Printing Chocolate

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Cocoa Press Combines Forces to Fabricate 65,000 Face Shields

Ok Xoomer: Shaping the Future of Chocolate With 3D Printing

Turns out the future of 3D printing is pretty delicious. In this episode of Ok Xoomer — Zoom chats with creative engineers and more — Aaron Lichtig, the Xometry guy and former Jeopardy champion, interviews Evan Weinstein, recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and owner/founder of Cocoa Press, on the future of chocolate 3D printing and why it's a great time to be a mechanical engineer.

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NPR Radio: Hosts Cocoa Press

NPR Radio discusses Cocoa Press with CEO Evan Weinstein.

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Mashable: Chocolate lovers may fall in love with this 3D printer — Future Blink

A sneak peek at the innovations that will change our everyday lives in the future. Appropriately named “Cocoa Press,” the printer molds chocolate into any shape.

Daily Mail: Now anyone can be a chocolatier!

Student develops 3D printer that creates custom artisanal chocolates on demand Watch the Cocoa Press, created by Evan Weinstein, use its 3D printer with chocolate to create chocolatey and edible works of art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn Today: Evan and The Chocolate Factory

Engineering student Evan Weinstein fixated on the idea of liberating bespoke chocolates from the confines of both the bar and the mold. Rather than cast a chocolate shape, why not build it? Cocoa Press is his solution.

Penn Today

The Edge of Tech: 3D Printing Chocolate!

I was at ERRF, the East Coast Rep Rap Festival, and I came across a 3D Printer that prints Chocolate!! It was awesome and the Chocolate was great!

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Xometry: Case Study, The First Commercial 3D Chocolate Printer

From a high school project to a commercial-grade product, Evan Weinstein’s Cocoa Press will allow bakeries, chocolatiers, and consumers to print their sweetest desires

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Hackaday: MAKER FAIRE NY: COCOA PRESS CHOCOLATE PRINTER

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the hype over desktop filament printers is pretty much over. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t new avenues worth exploring that use the basic FDM printer technology. If anything, the low cost and high availability of 3D printer parts and kits makes it easier to branch off into new territory. For example, experimenting with other materials which lend themselves to being “printed” layer by layer like a thermoplastic. Materials such as cement, clay, or even chocolate.

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Philadelphia Inquirer: Flying robots, hot glass, Google, 3-D flesh, NextFab: Philly’s first Maker Faire at Pennovation

Cool nerds from across the region convened Sunday for a first-of-its-kind carnival for start-ups in Philadelphia. More than 1,200 engineers, investors, students and artists signed up to spend the sunniest hours of the weekend challenging and celebrating more than 100 start-ups and small businesses that showed off prototypes and perfected products they hope to bring to mass production.

Maker Faire: Exhibit Cocoa Press Chocolate 3D Printer

In 11th grade I joined my school's FIRST robotics program. I had heard of 3D printers, but I had never seen one. By the end of the semester, I had become "the 3D printer guy" at my school, helping to maintain the various printers in our lab. I slowly realized the potential of these machines and decided that I wanted to dig deeper into the mechanisms behind the magic.

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The 4 Best Chocolate 3D Printers 2022

Chocolate is a $50 billion market worldwide, and over half of Americans say that chocolate is their absolute favorite flavor. With the demand for more exciting designs and ways of presenting chocolate ever increasing, more people are turning to chocolate 3D printers for deluxe chocolates.

The Best Chocolate 3D Printers and where to buy them

Name	Speed	Max Print Volume (mm)	Price	Where to buy for the best price
FoodBot S2	15-70 mm/s	150 x 150 x 73	$2,100	3DPrintersOnlineStore here
WiiBoox Sweetin	15-70 mm/s	90 x 90 x 70	$1,599	Amazon here
Zmorph VX	120 mm/s	235 x 250 x 165	$4,299	Amazon here
Mmuse Touchscreen Chocolate 3D printer	30-60 mm/s	160 x 120 x 150	$5,700	3DPrintersOnlineStore here

The Best Chocolate 3D Printers

Note: this is an article about chocolate 3D printers. If you like this article, we also have:

A general ranking of the best food 3D printers.
A complete guide to 3D printed food.
Our complete guide to 3D printed meat.

What is chocolate 3D printing?

The standard process for creating the everyday chocolate bars found on store shelves involves pouring melted chocolate into molds and cooling them until they solidify.

This is the most effective way we have of mass-producing chocolate, but due to the complexity and limits of molds there are limitations on the intricacies of chocolate shapes.

Chocolate 3D printers can create far more intricate shapes unable to be created using molds.

Incredibly detailed chocolate can be created using 3D printers. This design with hollow parts could not be made using traditional molds, and can only be made using 3D printing. Source: sugarlab3d.com

However, chocolate 3D printers are not yet the industry-crushing, mass-production beasts that can take on Nestle and Mars — they print slowly and are not scalable. They are however the best option out there for low-volume, very detailed, customized and intricate chocolates.

This makes 3D printed chocolates ideal for families who want to have fun experimenting with food, with the end product both delicious and beautiful for either eating for displaying.

“[Chocolate 3D printers are] the best option out there for low-volume, very detailed, customized and intricate chocolates”

For businesses, it’s potentially a great marketing tool that nobody is capitalizing on. You could print a set of 6 chocolates with yours or your client’s brand on them, and send them as a thank-you gift. Or hand them out during a pitch to increase the chances of getting that contract. Most people would surely rather receive a delicious and delicate branded chocolate than another branded pen or other piece of office stationery.

How does a chocolate 3D printer work?

Chocolate 3D printers work very similarly to standard FDM 3D printers. FDM 3D printers melt and extrude plastic filament through the print head, and chocolate 3D printers perform a remarkably similar action, depositing melted chocolate layer-by-layer to create a finished chocolate piece.

The chocolate 3D printing process is almost identical to FDM:

Design or download the 3D CAD model you want to print in chocolate — you’ll need an STL file.
Import the model into a 3D slicer and slice it with your chosen print settings.
Start printing on your chocolate 3D printer as you would an FDM printer.

However, chocolate 3D printers don’t use filaments like FDM printers, instead using plastic cartridges filled with chocolate deposited by a syringe.

The chocolate is heated to a specific temperature before being deposited through the print head. This exact temperature must be maintained so the chocolate is not so liquid that it loses shape once it has been printed, and not so solid that it can’t form the required shape.

A chocolate 3D printer creating a circular chocolate piece.

The chocolate cartridges and syringes are designed so there is no contact with the outside world prior to printing. This ensures the printers are hygienic, clean, and printing is efficient.

High-quality, machine-tempered chocolate is recommended – a great excuse to go out and buy some delicious Belgian chocolate! In fact, Belgian chocolate contains high levels of cocoa and works well with chocolate 3D printers.

It is recommended to use models that are quite small, and models without overhangs that on an FDM or resin 3D printer would require supports. Additionally, if you’re printing a complex, intricate chocolate model, reduce your chocolate 3D printer’s speed to allow the chocolate more time to dry and harden before the next layer is deposited.Some elegant 3D printed chocolate designs.

How much does a chocolate printer cost?

This depends on the maximum print area size, resolution and quality of print, cost of the chocolate filament materials, and a host of other factors.

The cheapest 3D printer for chocolate printing we recommend retails at around $1,500, with premium chocolate 3D printing machines costing around $5,000. There are some lower cost chocolate 3D printers but most have been dogged by reliability issues.

Best Chocolate 3D Printers

FoodBot S2

Chocolate 3D printer price: $2,500 — Available on Amazon here / Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
Max print volume: 150 x 150 x 73 mm
Chocolate 3D printing speed: 15 – 70 mm/s
Accuracy: 100 microns

Mainly a chocolate 3D printer, the FoodBot S2 can also print biscuit, jam and toffee. You will immediately notice the marvelous design; the futuristic, sci-fi build and colors will really bring your kitchen into the 22nd century.

It’s designed to be super simple to print with, featuring a 5.2-inch touchscreen and clear UI. It can print between 15mm/s and 70mm/s depending on the intricacy and model detail — print at the lower end if you want more precision for your chocolate prints.

The 100-micron accuracy is more than enough for most small chocolate prints, and you can switch the nozzles out depending on your printing priorities between 0.3 and 1.5 mm sizes. The FoodBot S2 comes with its own 3D slicer software so you don’t need to worry about installing any other software if you’re a 3D printing beginner.

It’s hygienic — the food filament never actually touches the printer — and easy to clean as you only need to clean the nozzle. Overall, it’s a fun and relatively cheap chocolate 3D printer to print your favorite creations with.

WiiBoox Sweetin Chocolate Printer

Chocolate 3D printer cost: $1,599 — Available on Amazon here
Print volume: 90 x 90 x 70 mm
Speed: 15 – 70 mm/s
Accuracy: 100 microns

Definitely one of the most accessible chocolate 3D printers, both in terms of price and simplicity to use. Not only are you free to download any STL files or design your own 3D CAD models, but the WiiBoox Sweetin comes with a host of its own models to print out straight away.

As with the FoodBot S2, the 100 micron accuracy is fine for all but the most minuscule details. It prints with a 0.6mm nozzle, and comes with its own slicer, though you can use other slicers with it if you prefer. Some owners have recommended leaving the chocolate prints to stand for around 10 mins after printing before trying to remove them, giving the chocolate extra time to cool and solidify.

Overall, it’s the lowest cost chocolate 3D printer we recommend that offers great accuracy, reliability and hygienic printing.

ZMorph Fab Full Set with Thick Paste Extruder

Price: $3,999 for the Full Set — Available on Matterhackers here / 3DPrima Europe here
Maximum print volume: 235 x 250 x 165 mm
Thick paste extruder add-on costs an extra $250 here

The Zmorph Fab is much more than just a 3D printer, able to transform into a CNC router, laser engraver, or a chocolate 3D printer. When purchasing the printer, if you buy the Full Set version you get both the single and dual extruder 3D printer versions, the CNC and laser tools, and a thick paste extruder. If you only want a chocolate 3D printer, you can buy the basic Zmorph Fab model and then buy just the thick paste extruder for $250.

The thick paste extruder can print chocolate as well as sweet materials like icing and cookie dough. The great thing about the Zmorph Fab is that since it’s built to be an accurate FDM 3D printer system, all the precision carries over to chocolate 3D printing. It’s stable, and with up to 50-micron layer resolution you’ll have no trouble printing extremely intricate chocolate structures. It is recommended to only use this for smaller, wide prints rather than tall and thin chocolates.

For those looking for a chocolate 3D printer for commercial opportunities, this won’t be the chocolate 3D printer for you. It’s strictly for home use — Zmorph don’t certify that the printer’s chocolate and other food prints are eatable, so be wary of this. The thick paste extruder is however still a fun add-on for families at home making fun chocolate designs together, and for a $250 add-on (the Full Set with CNC mill and laser engraver is far more expensive altogether) it’s a nice extra to have.

If you were in the market for an FDM 3D printer anyway, and feel 3D printing food and chocolate would be a fun bonus, then the Zmorph may be an ideal choice for you.The Zmorph VX adapted to print chocolate using the thick paste extruder.

Mmuse Touchscreen Chocolate 3D printer

Chocolate 3D printer price: $5,700 — Available on 3DPrintersOnlineStore here
Print volume: 160 x 120 x 150 mm
Speed: 30 – 60 mm/s

A specialist chocolate 3D printer with a larger maximum print size and slightly more comfortable at higher speeds, the Mmuse touchscreen chocolate 3D printer is perfect if you’ve got the budget. A premium machine, it is not sold as a chocolate 3D printer, but a chocolate-making experience.

It’s designed with simplicity in mind, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. You can 3D print chocolate models via USB, SD card, or by WiFi using your phone or laptop. Additionally, the Mmuse chocolate 3D printer’s “intelligent temperature control technology” keeps a very closely regulated temperature to ensure chocolate is extruded at the perfect consistency — neither too liquid that it loses shape, nor too solid that it struggles to extrude properly.

It comes fully assembled and almost ready to go, so no stressing about DIY skills necessary. The sleek touchscreen makes getting started super simple, and the 3D printer’s nozzle is designed with hygiene in mind — it’s very east to clean and replace, so you shouldn’t have any issues with hygiene, even after years of chocolate printing. Overall, if you’re a professional chocolatier or want to start making beautiful chocolate creations and money isn’t an issue, this could be the ideal chocolate 3D printer for you.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Chocolate 3D printers

Chocolate 3D printer benefits

Very accurate and intricate chocolate shapes and designs
Great for business events and other business applications, as well as having fun with your family
Saves money vs buying high mark-up chocolates at stores

Chocolate 3D printer limitations

Slow to produce chocolates, so not useful except in very short runs
Temperature needs to be maintained very carefully or the chocolate loses some of its properties, either becoming too liquid and losing shape, or becoming too hard and creating extruding problems
Different types of chocolate have different properties, so need to adjust for this

Choc Creator 2.

0 plus chocolate 3D printer review / Sudo Null IT News

We spent a lot of time looking for a stable working chocolate 3D printer, so that, among other things, it was easy to use, affordable and could work wonders out of chocolate. And finally, we found the perfect option that satisfies us in all respects.

We are talking about a super-helper for chocolatiers and confectioners, and just chocolate lovers - the Choc Creator 2.0 Plus 3D printer.

The printer was developed as part of the Choc Edge research project, organized by the University of Exeter, with the aim of creating a 3D printer that could print on a material that had never been used for this purpose before. The choice fell on the most delicious material in the opinion of many - chocolate.

When developing Choc Creator 2.0 Plus, the creators took into account and eliminated all the disadvantages of the previous version 1.0, improved design, convenience and printing technology. Indeed, "Chocolate Maker" 2.0 captivates with its ease of use, compactness, performance and almost limitless possibilities in working with chocolate.

Design

Choc Creator 2.0 Plus has a sleek and stylish design, compact body and light weight, which leaves a pleasant impression. The body of the printer is made of a durable aluminum frame, the printing platform is made of stainless steel, which indicates wear resistance and reliability.

Small size (425x450x420 mm) solves the problem of finding a place to install a 3D printer, it can easily fit in a small kitchen, bar counter, on any flat surface.

Another plus in the design is the open printing platform, which allows you to watch the process of creating chocolate figures with interest. The developers have significantly increased the size of the construction area to 18x18x5 cm compared to previous models. Now Choc Creator easily creates both miniature elements for decorating cakes, cookies, and large and bulky chocolate products.

The printer is equipped with an LCD touch screen with a convenient 5” LCD display.

Complete set

When you open the box with Choc Creator 2.0 Plus, you involuntarily visit a pleasant feeling of care of the manufacturer for its consumers. The printer is already in the most assembled state, there is no need to waste time reading extra instructions and the actual assembly itself. In a small transparent suitcase there are all accessories necessary for work. A few words about the main ones:

30 ml stainless steel chocolate syringe.
( Additional syringes can be ordered separately if needed. Very handy if you are going to work with multiple chocolate colors or want to speed up your workflow )

2 Nozzles 0.8 mm in diameter with special cleaning needle.
Magnets for securing paper. You can place regular baking paper on the printing platform.
5 loading heads.

8 Gb USB flash drive in a stylish gold design.
Height calibration disk and hexagon for platform adjustment.

Among other things, useful additions are attached to the printer: a brush for cleaning the syringe, a touchscreen stylus, a container for chocolate, and more.

Print material

Choc Creator 2.0 Plus is suitable only for high quality chocolate raw materials without additives and fillers. The manufacturer strongly recommends using Belgian Barry Callebaut No. 811 chocolate with a cocoa content of 54.5%. When tempering Callebaut chocolate, a structure is obtained that allows maximum precision in modeling.

We experimented with Barry Callebaut colored milk chocolate. Our verdict is that due to the different melting temperature, it is very problematic to print 3D models from milk chocolate, the figures quickly begin to melt. But if you apply such chocolate on a dark chocolate base, you get an excellent result and the products keep their shape. You can also decorate with colored chocolate using a syringe that comes with a chocolate 3D printer.

Modeling Capabilities

The Chocolate Maker is ready to bring the most daring ideas of the confectioner to life with the help of 2D, 2.5D and 3D printing.

2D printing allows you to create any bas-relief art image from chocolate, be it a logo, a portrait, an inscription, a pattern, and any other object. This printing method is ideal for decorating cakes, cookies, gingerbread or decorating dessert plates in a restaurant.

Will save time for the confectioner, and will also do the work that is difficult or impossible to do by hand. Approximate printing speed of the 1st product is from 3 to 8 minutes.

The 2.5D models create a huge field for culinary creativity. 2.5D products are not as fragile as 2D, so in addition to decoration, they can be used as a standalone chocolate product. Choc Creator 2. 0 Plus has no equal in the field of sweet business souvenirs, thanks to the possibility of identical repeated repetition of any model. Approximate printing speed of the 1st product is from 3 to 15 minutes.

3D is the most unique and amazing way to print chocolate.

You can print a finished 3D model, turn a 3D scanned object into reality and recreate a mini copy of almost any object. 3D printed models cannot be copied by hand, this is exactly the case when the machine surpasses the human. A great option for creating author's chocolate products, sweets, sweet souvenirs and gifts. Approximate printing speed of the 1st product is from 20 to 40 minutes.

Printing software

The 3D printer software is already loaded with a library of print-ready models. Also, especially for Choc Creator 2.0 Plus, simple, ideal for beginners web applications were developed:

Mix&Match : a base of templates that can be printed in finished form, or you can add your own inscriptions and elements.

ChocoText : converter of any text with or without a background to STL format for further printing (the only negative is that texts can only be created in English at the moment).

Choc Draw is a mobile graphics application for Android that allows you to create your own drawings that are sent to print with a flick of the wrist. Quite an interesting and creative way to create models that even a child can use.

In addition, the Choc Creator 2.0 Plus 3D printer supports any 3D graphics software (Autodesk, Tinkercad, Google SketchUp, etc.). This fact is important when creating your own author's 3D models.

Download models for printing to the printer via USB-port or Wi-Fi, no extra wires required.

Working with the printer

Choc Creator 2.0 Plus is very easy to operate, the main steps of the printer preparation process and the printing itself are briefly described below.

The 3D printer must be installed on a flat surface, turned on.
The syringe reservoir is filled with tempered chocolate.

Important! When refilling the syringe, the ingress of air bubbles from chocolate is unacceptable, otherwise the layer of the model may go astray during printing. If you hear a characteristic sound when the chocolate is sucked into the syringe, it is best to remove the chocolate from the syringe and repeat the filling process from the beginning.

The filled syringe is inserted into the printer compartment, fixed in a special recess and the stem is adjusted. In the syringe, after being placed in the printer, the selected temperature mode of chocolate is constantly maintained.

Next, the distance from the nozzle to the printing platform is adjusted, which allows you to print on a plate or cookies.

The temperature mode, the selected model, the print size are selected on the display and the Start button is pressed.

The process of tempering chocolate should be carried out in a certain temperature regime.

At the beginning, dark chocolate is melted at a temperature of 50 degrees, then cooled to about 27 degrees and then heated to 30-31 degrees (for white and milk chocolate, a slightly different temperature regime is observed). Tempering can also be done at home using a microwave or water bath, but you should have a thermometer on hand to measure the temperature. Proper tempering will give the chocolate figures a hardness and shine when cooled.

To achieve good printing results, you should not forget about the temperature regime for the printer itself. In the room where printing takes place, the air temperature should not exceed 22 degrees, ideally, print at 19 degrees - this is the optimal temperature for working with chocolate.

Total:

We can say that the Choc Creator 2.0 Plus 3D printer is a kind of innovative breakthrough in the world of 3D food technologies. It captivates at first sight with its visual and technical characteristics. Special thanks to the developers for the incredibly convenient and accessible interface for everyone.

We showcased the Choc Creator at CONDE NAST Digital Day and at the 2017 Palm Branch Restaurant Concept Festival, the 3D Choc Creator won the hearts of HoReCas with its print quality, performance and versatility.

The chocolate 3D printer aroused great interest among representatives of event agencies, including organizers of master classes and children's events. This is due to the fact that in our time it is very difficult to surprise the customer. There are very high requirements for holding events and holidays, and the set of entertainment programs is quite monotonous. Choc Creator opens up new possibilities in the field of digital entertainment for both adults and children.

Undoubtedly, the new version of Choc Creator will be appreciated by professional chocolatiers, confectioners, restaurateurs, bakeries and edible souvenir manufacturers, and perhaps even simple chocolate lovers.

It gives a huge scope for imagination and creativity, and also allows you to realize chocolate ideas that are difficult to create with your own hands.

Traditionally, a minute of advertising. Buying equipment from our company, you get 10 advantages:

Opportunity to use the Trade In program.
Warranty - 12 months
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Opportunity to buy a printer on credit through TKS, OTP, Renaissance banks.
10% discount on plastic forever.
The opportunity to get acquainted with the printer in our demo room.

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3D chocolate printing: benefits and pitfalls

Additive manufacturing has made a difference in many food markets, so it's no surprise that 3D printing has affected the chocolate industry as well. Companies such as Hershey, Nestlé, Mars Inc. and Mondelez International have been experimenting with 3D printing chocolate over the past few years. As a result, edible chocolate creations of art appeared on the market.

How it works?

Most chocolate 3D printers work with CAD files like other 3D printers. Instead of filament, chocolate 3D printers use a syringe filled with chocolate. The extruder head moves and deposits the molten chocolate in the desired shape in layers. Chocolate cools down over time and becomes hard. The syringe loading system is food safe, ensuring the safety of sweet raw materials.

Printing Difficulties

Resin is much easier to print than chocolate. The sweet mass has completely different melting and cooling properties, so melted chocolate cannot harden as quickly as plastic.

The type of chocolate used also matters. Milk, black and white chocolate have different viscosities. For best results, it is recommended to use high quality and tempered chocolate (such as Belgian dark). In some cases, makers add significant amounts of pectin to make 3D printing easier. Since chocolate cannot be rolled into a solid thread due to its too soft texture, the melted chocolate is stored in a cartridge and pressed with a syringe.

The main problem with chocolate 3D printers is temperature control. The printing process can take a long time due to temperature complications. The chocolate must be hot enough to melt, and at the same time, it must be cold and dry enough to retain its shape.

Advantages of

The first advantage is, of course, the ability to print sweets of any shape. In other words, additive manufacturing enables ultra-personalization of finished chocolate products.