If there’s one type of food that excels when it comes to 3D food printing, it’s chocolate. Chocolate melts easily and works well with 3D printhead extruders, allowing you to build 3D figures layer by layer much as if you were using plastic or another material.
The problem is that purpose-built 3D chocolate and food printing machines are expensive. Food printers designed to extrude chocolate or other types of food will set you back anywhere from $1,500 to $6,000.
Which is why I find the LuckyBot intriguing. The extruder can be added to a number of different FDM 3D printers on the market to enable 3D food printing. Made by a company called Wiiboox, the LuckyBot replaces a 3D printer’s standard extruder with one designed specifically for printing food material.
You can watch a detailed review of the LuckyBot by Youtuber Printhouse here that discusses installation, operation, and challenges with the system.
Below is a video of the LuckyBot printing a piece of chocolate:
The LuckyBot first showed up on Kickstarter (and raised about ~$65 thousand) and is now available via the company’s website or Amazon for $159. However, before you rush out to buy one, I’d suggest you watch the installation video and realize the LuckyBot doesn’t exactly look user-friendly. As someone who’s played around with low-cost 3D printers with poorly written instructions, I can attest to how frustrating the whole process can be. Adding a new printhead is probably doubly so.
That said, if you’ve been itching to become a CAD-powered chocolatier and don’t have $4 thousand to drop on a Foodini, you might want to give the LuckyBot a try.
