
3D Printed Sugar - nikhilpandit
http://the-sugar-lab.com
======
TeMPOraL
What's really interesting is that their printer can, apparently, do full-color
prints like these:

[http://the-sugar-lab.com/gallery/color-floral-single-surface...](http://the-
sugar-lab.com/gallery/color-floral-single-surface-set)

[http://the-sugar-lab.com/gallery/3d-printed-sugar-i-love-my-...](http://the-
sugar-lab.com/gallery/3d-printed-sugar-i-love-my-chefjet)

[http://the-sugar-lab.com/gallery/blue-floral-single-surface-...](http://the-
sugar-lab.com/gallery/blue-floral-single-surface-sugar)

[http://the-sugar-lab.com/gallery/3d-printed-colorful-sour-ca...](http://the-
sugar-lab.com/gallery/3d-printed-colorful-sour-candy)

~~~
nikhilpandit
Not sure if they print the whole thing with colors or if the printed piece is
colored later on.

~~~
azdle
At least in the non-food printers, it's printed in color. They use dyes mixed
into the binder and print it out exactly like an inkjet printer does.

------
kephra
[http://pwdr.github.io/](http://pwdr.github.io/) <\- this nice and cheap DIY
3d printer can print on powder sugar, gypsum and other powders.

------
Renaud
Not yet available apparently, but they mention[1] the printers are capable of
printing chocolate, sour apple, etc.

The fact that they can get such vibrant and detailed printing makes this even
more interesting. I can see a market for high-end restaurants, cake shops and
confectionery shop to propose custom-made pieces.

What I wonder is how long it takes to print various pieces. The Pro version of
the printer has a large printing volume of 10x14x8”. I imagine printing in
full colour must add a significant amount of time as well.

Now the question is: how much are people ready to pay for a lump of sugar,
however beautifully crafted it is?

[1]:[http://www.3dsystems.com/chefjet](http://www.3dsystems.com/chefjet)

~~~
zachkatz
This could be the first step towards entire 3D-printed meals.

------
lowglow
You want ants? Because this is how you get ants.

~~~
jblock
I wish this was the top comment :(

~~~
lowglow
I'll never get top comments because I'm in this weird ban from hacker news.

------
mdturnerphys
The folks at Evil Mad Scientist started the CandyFab project [1] a while back.
The printing method is different so the resolution isn't as good, but it's
open source.

[1] [http://candyfab.org/](http://candyfab.org/)

------
asperous
The style of archetecture, food, decore, etc. used to be hand made with
complex ornate patterns.

Then "modern" (I'm sure there's a more specific term here) came and things
that were flat, "same-y", 90 degrees, and facuets that look like this: [1].
Mass production. A reflection of the industrial processes that were developed.

I am curious to see if 3d printing can bring back some of the ornate patterns
of old. This time without the hand work.

[1] [http://www.homedesignbee.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/mini...](http://www.homedesignbee.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/minimalist-bathroom-decor-with-unique-sink-
faucets.jpg)

~~~
sp332
Sometimes, people use mass production to make really nice things at scale.
[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-japan-copied-
americ...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-japan-copied-american-
culture-and-made-it-better-180950189/?all) under the Work Wear section.

------
arh68
From the recent Globe & Mail article posted here [1], I can only hope we can
all soon enjoy in this part:

 _Perhaps the story should have ended there. The delights of sugar were
largely in control of the rich, it’s true, and their patronage of an exclusive
ingredient meant that its identity was bent to their showy, needless ideas of
extravagance. Instead of feeding the poor, the malleable carbohydrate was
turned into a medium of edible and ornamental sculpture. Banquets were eaten
off plates spun from sugar. Master confectioners perfected the art of sugar
boiling and produced trees and elephants and even crackling tablecloths out of
lowly cane syrup.

“Obviously it was overkill,” says Elizabeth Abbott, author of Sugar: A
Bittersweet History. “For the very rich who had money to waste, sugar was the
perfect form of conspicuous consumption. And if a little was good, then more,
more, more was really good.”_

I want myself a sugar Eiffel Tower..

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162545](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8162545)

------
soup10
If the machine works decently these will sell really well(if not the next
generation model or a competitors will). Every overpriced coffee shop, bakery,
and restaurant that can think of something creative to do with it will want
one.

------
Evgeny
Does that mean that in addition to resisting the processed foods that are
specifically designed to encourage people eat more of it, while delivering
little, if any, nutritional value, now we shall also have to resist the
temptation of eating foods visually designed to be most attractive?

I understand the aesthetic pleasure and interest from the hacker point of
view, but I'm also looking from the point of view of obesity epidemic and
other "diseases of civilisation", which spread now all over the western world.

------
html5web
OMG! This is awesome! [http://the-sugar-lab.com/gallery](http://the-sugar-
lab.com/gallery)

------
aaron695
I think 3D printed food might be the first step to the new age.

Driver-less cars could be it. But the food industry employees millions as
well.

Food that's consistent, cheaper and better(impossible) than what a human can
create won't be a small thing, plus it's easier than cars to integrate in
current society.

------
robszumski
I'd love to see more innovative ways of having the sugar interact with the
glass. The included example in the middle of the set was really cool and shows
you how unique this could be for a coffee shop or restaurant.

------
readerrrr
Is there any advantage in printing food? Apart from making the meal better
looking and more expensive, I don't see any.

~~~
imaginenore
It sells better. People like good-looking food. There are whole businesses
built around just that, like Edible Arrangements or GoGoCake.

You can also shape it into something that hasn't been possible before.

[http://mocoloco.com/fresh2/assets_c/2013/04/3d_printed_food_...](http://mocoloco.com/fresh2/assets_c/2013/04/3d_printed_food_janne_kyttannen-
thumb-525xauto-53049.jpg)

[http://cdn.wonderfulengineering.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/...](http://cdn.wonderfulengineering.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/06/NASA-3D-printing-food-1.jpg)

------
dlsym
Sweet!

------
notastartup
Absolutely amazing. I wonder if it can also print gummy candy in whatever
shape.

Even more crazy would be if a 3d printer could actually print the molecules to
create any type of material, even sugar.

------
leigh_t
Whoever made your site. Don't fire them, shoot them.

~~~
bellerocky
What's wrong with this site?

~~~
leigh_t
I apologise for my impulsive reply. I should have better discipline (usually I
don't reply at all because I know I'm pretty dickish)

This is how the site looks to me:
[http://s13.postimg.org/uduowd0if/sugar.png](http://s13.postimg.org/uduowd0if/sugar.png)

In my opinion this is pretty terrible. We all know the importance of first
impressions (case in point, people reading my initial response).

~~~
Yardlink
With a resolution that high you must be used to small fixed pixel width sites.
Pity they can't all just be doubled or quadrupled in size.

------
Theodores
I found many of these creations to be remarkably similar to diatoms:

[https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=diatoms&tbm=isch](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=diatoms&tbm=isch)

Also the concept of coloured sugar reminded me of the coloured sugar cubes my
grandmother put out for tea with guests. These were proper bought ones and
commonly available many decades ago but I have not seen them since.

Generally if someone has a taste for sugar (in tea) they really have no taste.
So sugar sculptures as edible food items are going to be 'playing with food'
to a certain extent, not that 'yummy' to most people. Maybe sculptures such as
'diatoms' is where this technology can excel rather than 'food'.

