Have you ever dreamt of creating your very own Easter bunny made of Nutella? Well, now you can thanks to the Discov3ry Extruder.

The recently unveiled device is an add-on to existing 3D printers. It allows plastic filament printers, the most common type of consumer 3D printer currently on the market, to make use of a greater variety of materials when printing an object. Nutella is one delicious example, but there are other household items and easily attainable materials it can use as well, including ceramics, cake icing and silicon.

The advantages of using the Discov3ry Extruder are two fold. One, those that use the device with their 3D printer will be able to create objects they couldn’t before; two, the cost to print something will become significantly cheaper depending on the material used.

The Discov3ry Extruder is the brainchild of Structur3D, a Waterloo-based startup operating out of Communitech’s Hyperdrive accelerator. The company was founded by Charles Mire, Andrew Finkle and Josh Mardlin. The three founder recently launched a Kickstarter to help gauge consumer interest and to raise funds for the manufacturing of their invention. Those that contribute $333 or more to the Kickstarter will receive one of the company’s upcoming beta units.

So far, it seems the maker and Kickstarter communities have embraced Structur3d with open arms.

As of the writing of this post, the company’s Kickstarter has raised $51,172 more than its initial goal of $30,000. Structur3D is set to announce $150,000 and $300,000 stretch goals today. It has 28 days to achieve those stretch goals.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and pledge. If the Discov3ry Extruder doesn’t turn out to be the future of manufacturing, at least you’ll be able to make your own chocolate chocolate bunny next Easter.

Lead image courtesy of Structur3d.
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Igor Bonifacic is the managing editor of Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter.

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