A 3D Printer Machine for Pizza Printing

NASA, a 3D printing company, built a machine that can print edible pizza.

Last year, NASA contracted material engineer (Arjan Contractor) to build a 3D food printer. The printer now exists and can print edible pizza.

The machine prints out the pizza in layers, topping the dough with ketchup and cream cheese. It then is cooked by a heated surface. Definitely still needs work, but at least it's edible.

NASA has released their creation, admitting that they haven't quite yet perfected the 3D printed pizza.

3D Printed Sugar

A 3D printing company (3D Systems) hasworked on a kitchen-ready printer that would let you print out elaborate confections.

In January this year, 3D Systems announced that it was getting ready to sell ChefJet, kitchen-ready 3D printers to create edible products.

The printer was showcased at CES and is targeting the average consumer, who probably doesn't have much experience with 3D printing.

A complimentary 'Digital Cookbook' will let users easily select a design to print out in a variety of materials, including chocolate, vanilla, mint, sour apple, cherry, and watermelon. They're aiming to launch two printers by the end of 2014 with the monochrome version in full-color, larger printer.

The Latest 100% 3D Edible Printed Food

While it may sound futuristic, 3D printed food are now in the market. A lot of the work is still in its early stages, with researchers at Cornell and MIT developing 3D printers made specifically for edible products. But there are also some commercial projects underway.

Barilla, Hershey, and Mondelez International are just a few of the consumer food brands exploring the potential of 3D printing. At this year's SXSW, Mondelez International 3D printed custom Oreosbased on what was trending on Twitter with the hashtag #eatthetweet. SXSW attendees could choose from 12 flavors including banana, mint, birthday cake, and lime, and then select either a chocolate or vanilla base for the cookie.

The Oreo would then be printed in two minutes. Apparently the cookies tasted like regular Oreos, but they fell apart a bit too easily. The 3D printing machine was created by MAYA Design using a Delta Bot 3D printer, but at this point it will probably still just be a fun marketing stunt as opposed to something you'd see in a grocery store.

3D printing startup Structur3D created a 3D printer add-on called Discov3ry, which can create a paste from all sorts of materials, including plastic, silicone, wood filler, and yes, Nutella.

Some of the Coolest Things You Can 3D Print

• Camera And Lens You can 3D print a fully-functional SLR camera in 15 hours. Assembly, with instructions, takes just one hour. The camera is capable of taking quality pictures and is compatible with any photographic lens. If it's too tantalizing to have a near-complete 3D printed camera, you can actually print a lens, too. The picture quality isn't great, but then again it can give you some really cool effects.

• Custom Busts With that new 3D printed camera and lens, you'll be able to take some stunning portraits. But 3D printing lets you up the ante: you can print accurate busts and figurines of yourself, your family, and your friends.

• Bike Hacks(Bottle Mount, Valve Cap) If you're into bike customization, 3D printing is a goldmine. Here are some highlights: a mount to make a plastic bottle fender, abike carrying handle, or personalized valve caps. And the imagination needn't stop there.

• Musical Instruments They aren't exactly professional quality, but the fact that we can 3D print instruments at all is astounding. So far, we've seen flutes,violins, and guitars. In addition, the MIT researchers who printed the flute have bigger dreams: designing and 3D printing previously unfathomable instruments, like a multi-pipe trumpet.

• Gadget Upgrades Another plethoric realm of 3D printing is gadget accessorization. There are countless examples, but here are a number of beauties: clever iPad stands, multi-purpose iPhone cases, an iPhone wall mount for charging, andgear wraps for your malicious, ever-tangling cords.

• Phone Amplifiers(Megaphone, Amplifier) No one actually enjoys the sound quality of their phone's built in speaker. Sure, it can come in handy for sharing videos with friends, but as an actual attempt to listen to music it tends to only come out in dire situations, like overnight camping or power outages. But you can change that with amplification, as these 3D printed upgrades do. There's a classy megaphone or this more directed amplifier, and the accompanying video demonstrates the difference that it makes.

• Flying Things(R/C Sailplane, Quadcopter, Gliders) Paper airplanes are passé: Print out some gliders and go to the biggest field you can find, and give them a whirl. If you're looking for something with a little more firepower, you can print out the body for a crazy remote-controlled sailplane.

• Vacuum Forming Machine You can 3D print necessary parts for a vacuum former. And a 14-year-old designed it. This product would allow you to create molds of practically anything, then fill them with chocolate (or urethane). Just imagine the power.