Topic Tag: edible

Hey everyone! Since we are working on biodegradable and edible materials for version 4 we stumbled into a few challenges working with the „classic“ precious plastic machines we have at the workshop. Most biodegradable materials harden by water evaporation and unlike plastic need heat or air to dry. In addition to this it seemed to make sense to separate edible materials from plastic machines. Simply health wise ;) So we started to wonder what a machine for molding biodegradable materials could look like and after first experiments and building different molds from wood and welded metal to use for our materials from bran and potato peels (find out more about the recipes here:  https://davehakkens.nl/community/forums/topic/experiment-with-future-plastic-alternatives-v4/)  it turned out that they all worked well under heat and pressure, however molding the materials into a more three dimensional shape like a bowl seemed to be harder, since the material struggles to spread up the walls of the mold.So we wondered, do we have to build a giant vibrator to put under the press, so that the material spreads better while being pressed? Or do we simply need more pressure? The latter in mind I spend the last week making a solid mold from aluminum to be able to apply a lot (like 10 metric tons) of pressure with the manual press we have here. In addition to it I added a heating element (a hot plate from the scrapyard in combination with a PID Controller) to be able to heat it up while pressing. Kind of trying to build a low tech version of a machine like they have at biotrem, I guess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn6sYHb2w80 Last night we finally finished all the milling and put everything together, so I’m really excited to see how the first molding test will turn out today! I'll keep you posted on the results and let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions! Love from Eindhoven!