Chocolate Medal

A commemorative chocolate medal created as a party favor for my wife's grandmother's 90th birthday.

With an expanding arsenal of tools, I'm driven to tackle increasingly complex and interesting challenges. This project encompasses graphic design, CAD/CAM, CNC engraving, vacuum forming, and confectionery.

I began by commissioning a talented Fiverr artist (ruxandradraws) to convert a photograph into a vector line drawing. After receiving the drawing, I arranged the graphic into the final coin shape.

Next, I set up the engraving in Fusion 360 CAM and machined it with a v-bit on extruded plexiglass. I drilled tiny holes in every depression to allow air to escape during vacuum forming. Using a dental vacuum former, I created five flexible molds for casting the chocolate medals from the plexiglass buck.

The most challenging aspect of the project was tempering the chocolate. Despite several attempts with traditional methods and the sous vide technique recommended by Serious Eats, I only achieved successful pours half of the time. Eventually, I produced enough medals for everyone at the party, but I have yet to master chocolate making.

Tools used: Inkscape, Fusion 360, CNC Router, Vacuum Former, Sous Vide Vector portrait created by Ruxandradraws on Fiverr from a photograph taken at our wedding.

Vector portrait created by LinkRuxandradraws on Fiverr from a photograph taken at our wedding. Finished coin layout, I had to thicken some of the lines to get a deep enough engraving.

Finished coin layout, I had to thicken some of the lines to get a deep enough engraving. CAM layout in Fusion 360.

CAM layout in Fusion 360. It took two attempts to get a good engraving, the extruded plexi I was using is not the ideal material but it was what I had on hand. The engraving was a little fuzzy and required quite a bit of manual clean up.

It took two attempts to get a good engraving, the extruded plexi I was using is not the ideal material but it was what I had on hand. The engraving was a little fuzzy and required quite a bit of manual clean up. I cut the coin out with a band saw and cleaned up the edges on a belt sander. Next time I will adjust the angle of the sanding table a couple of degrees to add a slight draft. The last step was drilling lots of tiny holes for the air to escape fro

I cut the coin out with a band saw and cleaned up the edges on a belt sander. Next time I will adjust the angle of the sanding table a couple of degrees to add a slight draft. The last step was drilling lots of tiny holes for the air to escape from every divot when vacuum forming the molds. This is a little dental vacuum former I have at work, it was the perfect size for this project.

This is a little dental vacuum former I have at work, it was the perfect size for this project. For the mold material I used 3mm dental grade vinyl. It is the material that mouth guards are made from and you can get a pack of 25 for around $30 on Amazon. Here you can see the buck and the finished mold, I made a total of 5 pulls to speed up t

For the mold material I used 3mm dental grade vinyl. It is the material that mouth guards are made from and you can get a pack of 25 for around $30 on Amazon. Here you can see the buck and the finished mold, I made a total of 5 pulls to speed up the actual candy making. After trying traditional methods of chocolate tempering, and failing repeatedly I turned to science and technology. Serious Eats has a chocolate tempering method using a sous vide circulator. Step one is vacuum sealing the chocolate.

After trying traditional methods of chocolate tempering, and failing repeatedly I turned to science and technology. LinkSerious Eats has a chocolate tempering method using a sous vide circulator. Step one is vacuum sealing the chocolate. The sous vide bath is used to precisely raise and lower the temperature of the chocolate to promote correct crystalline growth, tempering the chocolate. Improperly tempered chocolate is soft and melts in your hands making a mess.

The sous vide bath is used to precisely raise and lower the temperature of the chocolate to promote correct crystalline growth, tempering the chocolate. Improperly tempered chocolate is soft and melts in your hands making a mess. The tempered chocolate was poured into the vacuum formed molds.

The tempered chocolate was poured into the vacuum formed molds. The result, a few small bubbles but overall a success.

The result, a few small bubbles but overall a success.