3D Printing Rowlet Chocolate Mold

For the 3D Printing project, I designed a 3D-print chocolate mold after my favorite Pokemon, Rowlet! This is a small print that can fit in a cylinder with a diameter of 38 millimeters and a height of 37 millimeters.

1. PLA filament
2. Silicone Mold Mix
3. Chocolate
4. Glue Spray Adhesive
5. Popsicle Sticks

Software/Tools

1. Fusion 360
2. 3DPrinterOS
3. Prusa MK4 3D Printer

I spent a fair amount in the sketching phase to fully understand how I could simplify Rowlet's design into a chocolate. I decided to emphasize on his defining features, such as the half moon facial disks, leafy bow tie, and round body. As seen in the sketch, I finalized on a very round, semicircle-esque body as this would look more soft than a simple ellipse body. There would be no sharp edges to ensure that the draft angles would suffice while giving the chocolate Rowlet a cute, soft appearance. To draw Rowlet's eyes without color, I made an engraving for the darker part of his eyes while making the center pop out. The sketch process was intensive so I could figure out the layers of extruding and cutting form ahead of the CAD process.

In the CAD process, the primary tools I utilized were fillet, taper, and mirror. The fillet tool was key in making the shapes curved. Mirroring was a huge assistance in the sketching process. Taper was necessary in giving the necessary draft angles while carving out the engrave marks, such as for Rowlet's face disks. Additionally, I believe taper helped in giving the model the slight inward tilt that Dove chocolates have, allowing it to mimic similar forms of chocolate.

Using the same model, I printed the Rowlet twice. In the first iteration, I noticed that some detail was lost in the print and that it was super small. Changing the printer settings from layer thickness 0.3 millimeters to 0.15 millimeters, the second print had smoother curves and far more detail. However, the first one clearly fits within the four millimeter clearance but lacks the intricate detail of the second.

After getting the 3D-printed object done, it was time to make the silicone mold! We spray glued the print down onto the cylinder casing, ensuring that the object was secure on the plate. After the silicone mixture was mixed well for around three to five, I slowly poured it over the 3D-print. Ensure that the mixture fully covers the object and keep pouring until there is around a centimeter of silicone above the print. Tap on the print several times to get any bubbles out.

The silicone should cure after roughly five hours, but we waited a day for it to solidify. After carefully prying the silicone mold out of the 3D-print, we were ready to mold our custom chocolates!

After melting the chocolate through heat, we poured the liquified chocolate over the silicone mold. Using a popsicle stick, level out excess chocolate and poke at the mold to ensure the chocolate flows and takes up the entire mold. Tap the mold as necessary to even out the chocolate and get rid of bubbles.

After placing the chocolate in a cooler for an hour, it was ready! Carefully pry out the chocolate out of the mold, and enjoy!

Reflection

All in all, I am very satisfied with the second iteration of the Rowlet print. It might be a little too big for the mold, but I am happy that it retained a lot of detail from the model. In 3DPrinterOS, I changed the model size to be 15% bigger from the original. Next time, I might try with 105% or 110% to ensure that the print fits within the clearance limit while retaining the intricate details.

With regards to casting the chocolate and silicone mold, it came out without any major flaws. The bubbles within the silicone were minor, as usually they were not part of the important areas of the mold. Next time, I believe more prodding and tapping of the chocolate in the mold will be necessary as there were many miniature bubbles across Rowlet. Some things to keep in mind is that a taller height of the print will result in a longer wait time for the chocolate to solidify. Other than that, the chocolate casting was super tasty and successful. I will definitely be making more Rowlet chocolates and ice cubes in the future!

Reading

The idea of a digital design environment containing the knowledge of the physical world’s materials and machines is a fascinating, handy idea. I have definitely gone through the experience of utilizing CAD and the physical object not turning out the way I intended to. Having fabricated numerous physical objects before, I know the process takes several iterations as what I envisioned did not quite align with the physics of the real world. This would definitely be an extremely useful tool in the design process as being able to physically see your vision in the digital world would completely change the trial and error process.

In this project, I had a prototype before the final iteration, illustrating how the design procedure required more than just sending the design to the machine. After seeing the prototype in hand, I could properly gauge the flaws and make changes. Lastly, I made changes to the final mold, such as removing extra threads. Ultimately, this project demonstrates the feedback loop between designer and machine, beating one-step assumption of digital design.