How To Get 3D Printing Into Your Kitchen – Food Printing

diy 3d printer

Now and then you come across a story about 3D printed food but where are we at now? What can already be printed in the kitchen? How do we get started? Here are five examples that can help you on your way to becoming a master 3D printing chef 😉

1. BotBQ Extruder

The BotBQ is the open source 3D printing BBQ (eventually..). Right now you can download and modify the extruder to fit your own requirements to make it compatilbe with your 3D printer extruder if it isn’t a Wades already (btw… a parametric version in the works!) You could easily be printing your own burgers in your favorite shape and thickness in no time with the help of the BotBQ extruder and a couple modifications to fit your 3D printer. The BotBQ extruder was designed to be simple to use and you don’t even need to disassemble your printer to attach it, only remove the idler block and replace it with the BotBQ extruder.

The BotBQ Extruder is now available as an open source release for anyone to experiment with.

2. Make a mold out of your prints

3. OctoPrint Cookie Cutter

 

Gina Häußge (@foosel) has had a tremendous impact on my journey through open source 3D printing and I just have to spread the word about her OctoPrint and even better when it’s related to food! Thanks to telepath for the creation of this!

If you aren’t aware, OctoPrint is a FREE wireless open source interface for your 3D printer. It’s very easy to use and what’s better than kicking off a print from your couch on another level of the house, and then monitoring it through the local camera you have connected to it. You can go to OctoPrint.org to learn more and while your learning about it go ahead and throw a batch of OctoPrint cookies in the oven!

4. Replace your Kitchen Utensils

Make magazine has already cataloged many useful kitchen items you can print off right now and begin eating off them.. just make sure to use PLA as it may be a bit safer* (safer as in you still need to be careful what you put in your body.. use at your own risk!).

5. Cook an Egg!

You’ve now got some ideas of just how you can bypass all other rules of the kitchen and move your 3D printer right next to the KitchenAid mixer as I did:

But that’s not all!

3DFP needs your help!

Have you ever wondered what a 3D printed burger, chocolate picture of your spouse or gluten free sauce-infused noodle cube tastes like? Do you have “other-than-normal” ideas about the shape, texture and flavor of food? Did you ever feel like bursting into the kitchen and confronting the chef at your favorite restaurant to either shake his hand with gratitude or ask him where his passion is?

If you answered Yes to any of the above questions then you are the type of person we’re looking for input from to help us shape the future of our #3DFP (3D Food Printing) workshop. Luis Rodriguez (@3DigitalCooks) and myself (@BotBQ) are putting together.

3D food printing and digital cooking are new to many but the ideologies of thinking outside the box with food is not. We know we’re not alone in thinking about food differently and that’s why we’re asking for your help to let us know what you’d like to learn/do at a 3D food printing X digital cooking workshop.

How can you help?

We’ve created a survey that is short and sweet here: https://3digitalcooks.typeform.com/to/hZK5mV and with your input we can create exactly what you’d want in a hands-on learning environment about 3DFP. The survey is only a few questions and will only take you maximum 90 seconds to complete. You can do it on mobile devices as well.

Your responses will help shape the workshop and ultimately help people get involved in 3DFP or further their own knowledge in the realm of digital cooking. We could really use your help in this effort.

Information credit - Jason Ray