3D Printed Heart - for Chocolate Molding

I made a 3D printed heart design.

PLA filament was the material used. The object was printed using a PRUSA maker. Fusion and 3D Printer OS were the programs used for the digital design portion. For the molding portion, Gorilla spray glue and chocolate chips were used.

As soon as I heard the word 'chocolate casing,' my mind immediately went to a heart design. Hearts and chocolate are two things that have gone together for a long time, but as someone whose favorite holiday is Valentine's Day, how could I not choose a heart? The object's "double heart" design was inspired by the special chocolates Dove comes out with during Valentine's Day, as pictured above. Furthermore, I knew I wanted a skinnier, more curved heart shape rather than and wider or more geometric heart. Additionally, as you can see here and in my digital design process, I was going to attempt lettering like the Dove hearts, but it eventually became a thrown-out concept, which I will discuss further later.

This shows my process in fusion. Honestly, creating the heart turned out to be a little more difficult than expected. I had drawn a heart at first and then realized I somehow did not parameterize anything, which is insane, as a huge part of the class is working on parameterization. Afterward, I decided to delete the heart and rework it. I had created a V shape initially using diagonal lines with a 15mm length. Then I used a construction line going across the top of the two lines, forming an upside-down triangle shape. From there, I used a 3-point conic curve, which started at the midpoint of the construction line and ended connecting to the left side of the form, creating the first half of the heart, and then I just repeated that step on the other side. Then, to make sure it was even, I used parameters on the conic curves, making both 10 mm in width. Furthermore, after the sketch, I completed it and extruded it. Then I used the fillet tool to round out the curves and set the taper angle to 5 degrees. After I used the lettering technique to write the word Love. Then I applied another sketch on top of the first to create an indent heart pattern. For the smaller heart, I used parameters that had 10mm as the line length and 6.5 mm as the curve widths. In theory, I had completed my work, but I was unsure if I had done everything correctly as it is my first time 3D printing so I had emailed Devon, after getting feedback I was alerted that I had initially extruded the figure wrong as the widest part was my top, but it was supposed to be the bottom to get a positive draft angle. I was also told the lettering may not work out, and to begin with, I was irritated that the letter carved into the outer heart and could not figure out how to detach the lettering from digging into the outer heart while still having it on the curve of the inner one. So after I had gotten feedback, I went back into fusion and extended backward, making the widest part the bottom and changing the extrusion form from 25 mm to -25mm while also removing the lettering, then I made sure to redo the inner heart since I extended the other way, it was now on the bottom, so I had to switch it.

Then it was time to send my print to the printer. I used 3D Printer OS to send my print to the printer, and I could see the form sketched in there before it was printed, and see the model print. Thankfully, the print did not need any supports and was able to print fine as shown in the video above.

Here is my final heart! I printed two since I knew one might get gross from the slip casting, and I wanted one for myself. The heart came out so cute, and the heart indent was adorable. However, if I were to redo this project, I would have made my final heart a little bigger, the heart indent more indented, and tried to figure out my issues with the lettering.

After the heart was made, it was time to silicone cast! Using a casing that my instructors have printed, the goal was to glue down the heart and encase it, then pour the silicone over it. I started with spraying the bottom side of my object with Gorilla spray glue and adhering it to the plate of the casing, then clicking the plate of the casing into the tube of it. Then the silicone was mixed and poured into the casing, keeping in mind to pour 1 cm of silicone above the object. However, as you can see in the final photo, I did get a messed-up casing, so it did not completely close, and the silicone started spilling out of the bottom.

The next day, we got our molds back. The mold actually came out okay despite the spillage. It was very difficult to pop out the object, and I could not pop out the silicone from the casing, but I was told that it should not cause problems with the chocolate molding. If you looked inside the silicone, you could see the lines from the 3D printing. We then melted chocolate chips outside. After the chocolate was melted, it was poured into the mold, and I used a wooden stick to smooth out the chocolate over the top of the mold. Then I lightly tapped the container to get the bubbles out of the mold. I then set the mold in the fridge, and 2 hours later, I popped out the chocolate. In the final version, you can see that the chocolate did not get perfectly down all the way to the bottom, but I was excited that the double heart came out as good as it did. And you could really see the print lines in the final design.

The reading influenced my fabrication process as it helped shape how I approached 3D printing. I was not all that excited to 3D print myself. I feel like I just need the most control over my projects, and sending something to the printer and not being able to directly see the fabrication of the objects makes me very anxious, so 3D printing did not seem the most enticing. However, I think 3D printing is so cool, and there are so many ways it can be used, and it is unique. The reading highlights how 3D printing can be used for functional objects, but also the rise of the maker movement. While, the movement had its drawbacks, and some people bring up its inequalities, which it does have, as Devon had shown us in lecture, 3D printing is honestly not as out of reach as we have made it out to be. The reading helped me become more excited about my design process and what my object could turn out to be.