Wilton Candy Melts?

[smccurdy]

Long story short, I’m required to put candy melts in the laser, a la the promo video. We will not be eating the end result.
I know it’s a long shot, but does anyone have an idea of where to start on cut settings?
I’ve made a mold that will give me a consistent 3mm sheet.

[evansd2]

So the trick here is that they actually ended up making a mold and molding the chocolate instead of cutting it.

As for settings I’d recommend using my testing method to figure them out.

New material cut test method

Don’t know what settings to use on a material? The only way to be sure is to test. Good news! You can effectively test on a thin strip on the edge of your material, it’s fast and easy. I use this shape to do so (SVG attached): [Material_test] Click here to download/save Or click here for the ZIP: Material_test.zip (3.3 KB) To use: Set the first operation to score (the numbers). You’ll use these to identify your cut pieces later. Set each of the curve shapes to a power/speed combo t…

[ElsieH]

Ditto what @evansd2 said. I would be very interested to hear what ends up working as well!

[deirdrebeth]

@evansd2

molding the chocolate instead of cutting it

They did cut it - just not the one she ate:

Engraved foods

Out of an abundance of safety, the chocolate rocket the girl in the marketing video put in her mouth was actually cast from a laser-cut acrylic mold lined with plastic wrap, so the chocolate never touched anything laser-made directly. But the chocorockets were laser cut, although the settings and chocolate formulation took a week to get dialed in!

That being said - see if this helps:

Cutting chocolate

I tried a couple of settings tonight. Cut a normal Hershey bar, fresh from the fridge, at 100/50 at .325" which included a sheet of cardboard under the chocolate. I bet if I played around more I could dial it in better, but I ate the other half of the bar. A speed of 250 wouldn’t cut through at 75 power. I’m betting I could find a cleaner cut at somewhere between 150 and 200 though maybe around 75 power. Anyway, it’s definitely doable. Just going to take some experimentation. Let us know …

Obs not the same chocolate, but it’ll get you into the area!

[caribis2]

I don’t recall seeing anyone ever cut food, other than the promo video, just engrave it.

Pick something and try it, ready to lift the lid and douse any fire with a wet dish towel.

[ElsieH]

Gingerbread cuts at full power, speed between 105-150 depending on how thick it is. Gumpaste was full power, speed somewhere between 125 on the thicker side to 150 on the thinner side. It doesn’t melt as fast as chocolate though, so I would think probably higher speeds with full power might do it.