3D Sugar Painting Printer

• Liang Liu
• Xin Liu
• Yujie Zhou
• Yanyue Wang
• You Xu

Sugar painting is a traditional Chinese folk art in which people create three-dimensional pictures by using hot, liquid sugar. Unfortunately, it is difficult for people to learn this unique skill and spread it to the whole world due to its manual complexity. In order to overcome this disadvantage, as well as improve sugar painting production efficiency, we have designed a 3D sugar painting printer. After brainstorming many different possible solutions and utilizing methods such as decision matrices and fishbone, we decided the most acceptable design option which is a 3-axis CNC sugar syringe machine by using V-slot linear rails as the main structure that was functional and affordable. We used Grbl and Arduino to realize the control system. In an effort to reduce costs and manpower, we used off-the-shelf automation components and designed custom 3D models of the remaining components of the printer by using Solidworks. We assembled them together properly and then our team performed the structural analysis through Ansys simulations to ensure the product was safe to use and the printer would work as intended. Before purchasing and manufacturing all components, a cost assessment and financial decisions were performed to ensure the cost is reasonable. When the whole printer was assembled the printer was tested, and validation was performed many times to ensure there were no issues and the device worked as intended. The final design is designed to comply with the requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).