The RoVa-Paste 3D Food Printer

By on September 12th, 2014 in printer

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A new and inexpensive 3D food printer has been launched and it could be yours. 

The RoVa-Paste 3D Food Printer appears on Kickstarter, where the company, ORD Solutions of Ontario, Canada, hope to raise USD$25,000 to get their production line going. 

The company has previously built ā€œnormalā€ 3D printers capable of printing plastic, but the RoVa-Paste is designed for food extrusion. It is based, however, on their RoVa3D platform and comes fully assembled for only CAD$899 (USD$816). 

The RoVa-Paste includes a single syringe-based extruder capable of precision placement of almost any squishy substance, including foods. While the machine uses typical 3D printer mechanicals, there are a number of features specifically for food processing: 

  • An ā€œoven readyā€ build sheet is magnetically attached and can be removed for ā€œoven processingā€ after prints complete. It even has an oven mitt-sized handle!
  • Extruder/Nozzle/Tubing sets are easy to clean and replace, suggesting you can have an arsenal of pre-loaded foods ready to quickly swap into the machine
  • A ā€œhigh-torqueā€ paste extruder pushes the squishy material to the syringe, removing the requirement for external air pressure services
  • Tons of stainless steel ensure the machine will be easily cleanable when you inevitably spill chocolate paste

This offering seems like a reasonable deal to us; it is simple, based on known mechanicals and is at a decent price, particularly during the campaign launch. 

One aspect not specifically addressed by the company, however, is software. Our experience with food printing tells us that the ā€œengineeringā€ of printed food is somewhat different from standard plastic builds. Thus you must learn by trial and error the best ways to design your food prints. Thatā€™s quite ok if you happen to be a kitchen-tech-geek. 

Weā€™re sure you are. 

Via Kickstarter

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!