A 'This Is Where It Started' Moment

[major_clanger]

The CandyFab 4000 - a home-made rapid prototyping machine that builds objects out of sugar.

This is one of those times when you can say "look, a bit of the future is starting, right here".

To make an analogy with the history of computing, if existing rapid prototyping techniques (such as stereolithography) correspond to mainframes and minicomputers, then the CandyFab corresponds to the Altair 8800. The Altair was the first hobbyist computer; it was very limited in what it could practically do, but for the first time allowed an enthusiast to try out real programming techniques. You're not going to make your own household robot with the CandyFab, but machines like this will create the cadre of knowledgeable hobbyists who will provide a market for the next generation of fabricators.

Comments

[cuboid-ursinoid.livejournal.com]

If an engineer is someone who can do for sixpence what any fool can do for half a crown, then these guys are REAL engineers.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I've seen a couple of other attempts out on the net, in the last year ior so. One of them used blobs of silicone sealant.

There was a lot of experimentation at the time of the Altair. Microprocessors were around, but using them for actual computers was the unusual bit. I get the feeling that this may be a slightly earlier stage.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

And pretty new out there, a few thousand dollars worth or hard ware with a hint of vapour to the page (www.desktopfactory.com). Not for sale yet

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I want one! And cad software for making edible aeronefs, USS Enterprises, Serenities, etc...

Wonder if they've tried using fine powdered sugar instead of granulated, more expensive but the resolution might be better. Of course the hot air source might blow it away.

I suppose in theory you could build a REALLY big version using something like a paint stripper gun as the heat source - you'd need a table that could be lowered and something like the giant computer-controlled flatbed milling machine they use to make tombstones, which can handle granite slabs up to about 8 ft. wide.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced the technique they've adopted, that of fusing/sintering a granular solid, is the best given the solid they're using. I reckon you could build something similar that forced sugar through a heated nozzle to build up shapes from spun sugar.

[cuboid-ursinoid.livejournal.com]

The problem with that is it means anything with an internal void is impossible as at some point you are trying to lay down a layer in mid air.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Not a problem - you lay down a support structure for those layers which would otherwise be unsupported, in much the same way that you use kiln furniture to support porcelain while firing.

Looking at some of the commercial fused deposition modelling kit out there, it seems to be quite common to build the supports from a different structure to the object you're building; the support can be removed either by using a solvent that won't affect the built object, or by using a support material with a lower melting point. Not entirely sure how you could do that when your main material is sugar, though...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced that the structure would be rigid enough without the surrounding sugar, especially on something like the torus thing that is all curves that wouldn't connect until the last layers formed. The surrounding medium must be very useful for absorbing vibration. From the look of it very little sugar is wasted anyway, it just goes back into the feed hopper (presumably through a mesh sieve to avoid contamination and lumps) for the next run.