Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
clips hold the printing nozzle irmly in place and users can reload fresh food
into the nozzle using a twist-off cap.
The nozzle pushes out the food material using pressure made by an attached
air compressor. A Frostruder is capable of handling up to 100 pounds of pressure
per square inch—enough to pump up a bicycle tire. However, the company's
website warns users to “never exceed 100 PSI.” They don't specify exactly what
would happen, but I can imagine a small explosion that would spray the kitchen
walls with peanut butter, Nutella, or some other similarly sticky goo.
Different recipes call for different degrees of mechanical force. Sometimes
room temperature affects the low of food paste through the nozzle. The size,
or diameter, of the printing nozzle is critical. If the nozzle is too small, the
food paste won't come out fast enough. If the nozzle is too big, the printed
goodie will appear crude and rough.
Even if the printing nozzle is the right shape and the food is lowing at the
correct rate, some raw food stuffs just don't behave themselves in the syringe.
Sometimes oil will pull together in clumps. Or water in a food paste will sink
to the bottom of the syringe, resulting in a misshapen piece of printed food
that looks nothing like its creator intended.
One of the most confusing aspects of 3D printing food is the way it's cooked.
People frequently misunderstand the process and think that the print noz-
zle will somehow deposit a ready-made fried chicken breast or baked bread.
However, today's 3D food printers don't have the technical capacity to sauté,
grill, or fry what they print. It is possible to bake cookies, however. A printer
“bakes” cookies by using a heated build platform that sits under the print head.
As each cookie is printed out, the heated platform bakes the raw cookie dough.
High res and low res . . . shortbread cookies?
3D printed food that holds its shape and looks attractive is all about resolution.
In the old days, when people used the words “resolution” and “food” in the same
breath, they were usually referring to the struggle to stick to their diet. In the
brave new world of 3D printing food, when experts talk about resolution, they're
talking about how well a printed food holds its shape. According to Brandon
Bowman, a former journeyman blacksmith and now a student in the Solheim
Additive Manufacturing Lab at the University of Washington, shortbread cookie
dough is an ideal raw material for 3D printing. When shortbread dough is baked,
it “can hold its resolution enough to print out the individual teeth on a gear,”
