can one use chocolate as Material to be used

Hi,

I am more than new to the fabing world.
It all looks very interesting and I was reading Fernandos Topic on different Materials.

Now, I wonder if one could use this "shaping system" to shape something with/in chocolate?

I understood, that the time-to-soludify is an issue when fabbing. Chocolate will become solid then preped right (tempered: [en.wikipedia.org]) and keeped cool. Would that be possible?

Many thanks for your input in advance!

I know there is a thread here somewhere where Viktor makes Star Wars chocolate for his kid but I think he first made a form in which to pour the chocolade,

Will an extruded filament stick to it?

I'm going to guess not. The hot filament seems likely to melt a thin layer of chocolate underneath it, which would lubricate it some what allowing it to be dragged out of position when the toolhead turns a corner.

It would be a very simple experiment to try though.

The second problem is how quickly the chocolate will set once extruded. If this is too slow, it won't be doing the part any favours. This is slightly less important than the sticking problem though, which is what I suspect will kill it.

... someone printed objects from chocolate with a heated syringe on a fab@home-printer.

It's not so complicated, but you have to adjust the temperature and extruding time very precise.

With my chocolate-moulding i noticed that the melting- and recrystallization-parameters of different chocolades vary in different manors, so you have to change the parameters for every piece separately ...

Viktor

Blargh, I've just realised this wasn't a support material question after all. Apologies. I'll go sit in the corner for a bit.

I get the vague impression that tempering chocolate is a complex process, and therefore not something you'd be able to do to a freestanding chocolate sculpture. Not that you have to temper it of course, but it does make the end result a little nicer

It would perhaps be better to do as Viktor did, and produce a mold.

... look here in the f@h-gallery: [www.fabathome.org]

Here are some samples of fabbing with chocolate, frosting, chesse or such ...

Viktor

Thank you very much for your answers.
I feared that it would not be an easy task. I am used to work with molds, for business cards for example. I hoped the fabbing method cold add a new twitch to my program.

I will keeo an eye on the development. :-)

again,
Thank you guys!!