3D Printed Chocolate Mold

I decided to make a flower as a mold for 3D chocolates!

1. CAD software (Fusion 360)
2. access to 3D printer
3. PLA filament

For the mold part:

1. silicone
2. chocolate

My design was pretty straight forward and I had no technical issues with my software luckily. I decided to design a flower because that is usually what I choose to design. I made one arc and then used the "circular pattern" feature to create 6 flower petals around the circular axis.

I used the "revolve" feature to add dimension to my sketch. I then needed to make sure the shape fit in the cylinder casing and with that it was ready to be exported and printed. This entire process went extremely smooth unlike my past projects with some minor setbacks. I am super excited to see how the chocolate will turn out!

Once I had my 3D print I glued the bottom to the casing. I then poured silicone mixture into the casing making sure there was a thin stream with no bubbles.

After the silicone set for an entire day, I was able to pop out my mold pretty easily. I think this had to do with how shallow my mold was and because it didn't cover the entire diameter of the casing. Having no positive draft angles wasn't a problem as the silicone was pretty stretchy. I then poured the chocolate and was able to eat it after about an hour!

This reading was influential on my thoughts behind 3D molds and CAD design as a whole rather than this specific project. While gathering ideas for my final project, I came across Nervous Systems so it was interesting to read about them more in depth. One section of the article discusses different materials used for molds and castings and I think this topic is very important when it comes to the fabrication process. Many materials are not suited for direct digital fabrication and so this article helped me consider how to use digital tools to make molds or casting instead. I also think that the article did a great job of touching on manufacturing constraints such as draft angles, uppercuts, and parting lines. As I begin designing more pieces to be 3D printed, these constraints are very important to consider, not only for molds but for supports and such.