Food 2D-Printer: Gravy Biscuit Pet Treat

This Food 2D-Printer prints an outline of 1) a Gravy Biscuit pet treat, and 2) a Ketchup Heart.  The outlined gravy or ketchup print is on a food-safe silicone mat.  Therefore, by removing the print plate, the treat could be enjoyed by a dog or cat licking the sauce off of the silicone mat.

A Food 2D-Printer:  Gravy Biscuit Pet Treat

4X Speed:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The recipe used for the gravy for the Gravy Biscuit:

1. Combine one 24 gram package of McCormick Brown Gravy Mix with 138 ml water in a bowl.
2. Thoroughly stir and put in a microwave on high for one minute.
3. Stir thoroughly
4. Put back in the microwave for another minute.
5. Stir thoroughly
6. Using a food thermometer, wait for the gravy to cool to room temperature or 70 to 77 degF.
7. Load the gravy into the syringe.

Functions:

1. A food 2D-printer used here to print a Gravy Biscuit and a Ketchup Heart outline on the build plate using brown gravy and ketchup, respectively.
2. Arduino is programmable in order to print any pattern desired.

Hardware:

1. Arduino Uno R3 and included USB cable
2. CNC Shield with Quantity (3) A4988 stepper motor drivers with heatsinks
3. Quantity (3) Nema 17 stepper motors
4. 6-inch T8 Trapezoidal Lead Screw and Quantity (2) T8 Nuts, Pitch 2 mm Screw Lead 8 mm
5. 60 cc easy glide luer lock disposable syringe
6. Approximately 300g PLA (black and orange parts in photos) (See .3mf files)
7. Approximately 125 g PETG (blue parts in photos) (See .3mf files)
8. Separate 12V, 5A power supply for the CNC Shield
9. M3 fasteners of length 8 mm, 10 mm, 16 mm and 20 mm with nuts.
10. Appropriate electronics wiring supplies
11. Thin food-safe silicone mat for print plate
12. Super glue
13. 60 cc ketchup or gravy or a more appropriate food substance

Software:
Arduino IDE and Autodesk Fusion 360

Wiring Diagram:

The CNC Shield is mounted directly to the Arduino Uno R3 and the three Nema 17 stepper motors are wired as shown in the diagram above.  The three A4988 stepper motor drivers are installed as shown in the diagram.  The 12V power supply is also wired as shown in the diagram.

Arduino Code:

The attached PDF file contains the Arduino IDE code for printing the Gravy Biscuit and Ketchup Heart outlines:

Arduino_Code_for_Food_2D_Printer_Ketchup_Heart_and Gravy_Biscuit.pdf

Printing Instructions:

All printing instructions are including in the .3mf files for each part including material, supports, layers, etc.

Assembly Instructions:

1. 3D-Print all parts provided in the attached files using the material, supports, and printing parameters specified in the corresponding .3mf files.
2. Fasten Y-axis stepper motor to Plate Mount using two M3 8 mm fasteners and two M3 16 mm fasteners.
3. Insert one Plate Gear onto Y-axis stepper motor.
4. Align and fasten Overhang to Plate Mount using two M3 20 mm fasteners.
5. Fasten X-axis stepper motor bracket to Overhang.
6. Fasten X-axis stepper motor to X-axis stepper motor bracket.
7. Insert one Plate Gear onto X-axis stepper motor.
8. Fasten Plunger stepper motor to X-axis Sled.
9. Slide X-axis Sled into Overhang aligning it with the grooves in the Overhang.  Be sure to slide gear rail on X-axis Sled underneath the X-axis motor gear.
10. Insert Syringe with Plunger containing food into hole in X-axis Sled pushing it all the way down.
11. Fasten one T8 Nut to Plunger Motor Adapter.
12. Insert Plunger Motor Adapter onto Plunger stepper motor.
13. Thread T8 Trapezoidal Lead Screw into T8 Nut on Plunger Motor Adapter.
14. Fasten one T8 Nut to Plunger Adapter.
15. Thread Plunger Adapter onto T8 Trapezoidal Lead Screw with cap facing down.
16. Position cap on Plunger Adapter firmly against top of Plunger.
17. Using super glue, attach rectangular section of food-safe silicone mat to top of Plate.
18. Slide Plate into slots on Plate Mount aligning the gear rail on the Plate with the Plate Gear on the Y-axis stepper motor.
19. Manually position the tip of the Syringe at the center-forward location of the Plate.
20. Assemble Arduino Uno R3, CNC Shield, and A4988 motor drivers.
21. Connect the steppers motors to the CNC Shield as shown in the wiring diagram.
22. Connect the 12V power supply to the CNC Shield as shown in the wiring diagram.
23. Connect the Arduino Uno R3 to a computer using the included USB cable.
24. Compile and download the Arduino code to the Arduino Uno R3 using the Arduino IDE software interface.
25. Watch the Food 2D-Printer in action!

Demo and Usage Instructions:

You can see a demo in the provided YouTube video link at the top of this listing.  To program other 2D patterns, you will need to adjust the step-coordinates sequencing for the X-axis and Y-axis motors in the main control loop.

Experiment with other foods changing the viscosity to get good consistent flow from the syringe tip without overflowing.

Additional Notes or Tips:

Currently the gears need improved as it tends to skip a little likely because the gear teeth are not deep enough.  The Arduino code currently tries to compensate for some skipping when printing the Heart-Shaped pattern.

Be ready with some paper towels to clean the build plate in the case of food overflow from the syringe.  The pressure on the plunger is very sensitive.

A few remixing ideas:

1. Change the gearing to have larger teeth
2. Add a vertical axis of motion
3. Add a storage section for the electronics

A Food 2D-Printer:  Ketchup Heart

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________