Development of affordable 3D food printer with an exchangeable syringe-pump mechanism

The technique of additive manufacturing has increasing popularity in food research area as well as other scientific fields. However, 3D food printers are expensive options compared to 3D polymer printers. Scientists, that require laboratory scale production capacities, resemble the syringe-pump systems that available in open source and free hardware designs. Present study aimed to develop an exchangeable syringe-pump mechanism (SPM) to demonstrate transformation of conventional 3D printer from polymer to food extrusion. The SPM can print a variety of materials, including miscellaneous foods, pastes, hydrogels and even biopolymers. The complete mechanism relies mostly on 3D printed parts and costs approximately 72$. Therefore, it allows users to obtain a 3D food printer inexpensively and does not require large amounts of technical labor. The SPM uses big volume (60 ml) luer lock syringe and blunt tip needles for greater versatility and user-friendliness. It could also be extended with cooling mechanism, so that the proposed system gains unique attribute among its counterparts. Finally, a standard polymer-printing 3D-Printer was converted into a laboratory-scale food printer, and edible ink was successfully printed in the desired shape.