Coffee Latte Art 2D Printer (CafeMaker) Review

In February this year, Antarctic Bear released a 2D printing coffee latte art machine. It finally came. In the post about printing a portrait coffee in 20 seconds, many bear friends came to consult. It seems that there are quite a few fans of the latte art machine, which also reflects the applicability of the latte art machine from the side. The latte art machine finally arrived at the Antarctic Bear headquarters, so Antarctic Bear couldn't wait to unbox and review it~ Without further ado, follow Antarctic Bear to take a look at the machine~

Bear lovers who follow the Antarctic Bear evaluation module can feast their eyes first ~ Antarctic Bear has recorded the process from milk foam to latte art for all bear lovers (if you are interested, please contact Antarctic Bear QQ and WeChat 3125836244).

First, let's take a look at the appearance of the latte art machine: the structure is similar to the Chinese character "工", and the metal body makes it look very sturdy. The overall sealing of the latte art machine is still very good. All you need to do during operation is to put the coffee cup on the coffee cup holder and short press the yellow button in the upper right corner. The operating environment is safe and hygienic, eliminating many worries.

The side view of the lathe machine shows that it looks very good

There is a golden CafeMaker logo in the upper left corner

This yellow button is very useful: before printing, you need to click it once to make the coffee cup rise to the specified position before printing can begin. Click it again and the coffee cup will fall. During printing, the yellow button also serves as an indicator. If it keeps flashing, it means that the machine has a fault and you need to troubleshoot it.

There is a flap on the latte art machine, and you need to flip the flap to install the food box. You can also observe from this position during the printing process.

The coffee cup holder uses a motor to drive the screw to rise, and there are 4 circular holes on the cup holder, which makes it convenient for users to personalize the coffee cup fixing device.

This is what it looks like after the lid is flipped. It is actually a two-dimensional "H"-shaped structure. At this point, we can imagine the printing process. Before printing, the cup is raised, and then the print head starts to draw the pattern on the milk foam. After printing is completed, the cup is lowered. This is also a reference to the principle of a flat inkjet printer.

We can take a look at the circuit inside. The layout is quite neat, and the print head part uses flat cables.

During the transportation of the printer, the Y-axis is fixed with foam and cable ties to ensure the safety of the transportation process.

Below are the accessories that come with the printer. In addition to the power cord, data cable, ink, and food box, the machine also comes with four syringes for adding ink to the food box, and a pair of sensor cables that can be replaced if there is a problem with the sensor. Finally, all the printer-related documents, such as instructions, tutorial videos, printer drivers, and CafeMaker software are included in the CD.

This is the ink and the food box. The ink is a black liquid with a shelf life of two years. The instructions indicate that it has passed the National Food Center Safety Certification. In order to prove the safety of the material, Antarctic Bear specially found the manufacturer to find relevant certificates. The food box is small, with a sponge inside. The ink is squeezed out by squeezing the sponge. Please read the filling of the food box later.

Let’s take a closer look at the internal structure of the lathe machine, the Y-axis optical axis, and the belt drive.

Fix the circuit wire with tape

Let’s look at the parameters of the machine:

Print size: 110*110mm

Coffee cup height: 80-180mm

Printing accuracy: 600*600DPI

Printing materials: Special printing materials

Color: Brown

Print speed: 10 s/cup

Connection method: USB

Power supply: AC220V

Operating system: Win7-10

Printer net weight: 18KG

Printer size: 410*430*470mm

Packing size: 530*500*540mm

Total weight: 26KG

Regarding printer parameters, Antarctic Bear has a few points to remind you bear friends:

1 The printing consumables are special inks provided by the manufacturer. The ink is in liquid form, not powder. One bottle of ink can print about 1,000 cups of coffee.

2 The latte art machine needs to be connected to a laptop for printing. The operating system supports win7-10. If it is an Apple laptop, you can also install the windows system.

3. The latte art machine has certain requirements for coffee cups. Bear friends must confirm the height of the cup before printing. Another thing to note is that the maximum diameter of the cup mouth is 110mm.

Food box filling:

Remove the protective cover from the food container and open the top cover with the logo.

After drawing ink into the syringe, place the nozzle of the food box downward on a paper towel and fill the ink in the syringe into the sponge. Be careful to fill as slowly as possible to prevent the ink from overflowing. When filling for the first time, fill a slightly larger amount until the food flows out evenly.

After filling the food box, put a paper towel in the iron frame on the right side of the machine, so that you can confirm whether there is food in the food box before each printing. It is recommended to replace the paper towel every time before starting the machine. Then you can put the food box into the right print head.

Note: Before installing the print head, check that the chip contacts on the food box are not stained with ink, otherwise there will be a risk of machine errors or even mainboard burnout.

Software operation: Cafemaker software is used with the latte art machine. Before using the software, you need to install the driver according to the product manual, which is the same as installing a normal printer. After the installation is complete, you need to set the printer preferences. After setting the print quality to the best, the printing effect will be better.

After the driver is installed, connect the laptop and printer, open the operating software, and the software display interface is as follows. It can be seen that each function is relatively intuitive and easy to operate. Cafemaker software comes with a gallery, but the number of pictures is currently limited.

Before clicking the print button, you must go to the settings interface to set the printer port, otherwise the software will not be able to find the printer. After the settings are completed, return to the main interface. In the settings interface, you must also measure the size of the coffee cup and fill it in the corresponding position in the upper right corner, otherwise the image printed in the coffee cup will deviate from the center. Note: Do not modify the size of 35 and 25 in the lower right corner

OK, let's try the pictures in the built-in gallery. Click on the cartoon cow picture, and the corresponding pattern will appear in the picture display area on the left. Slide the long bar on the right side of the picture display area up and down, and the cartoon cow to be printed will be enlarged or reduced accordingly. After adjusting the picture size, drag the picture in the picture display area to adjust its position. After the adjustment is completed, raise the coffee cup to the specified position and click the print button to start printing.

Next, try DIY customization. After clicking the customization button, click the black upload button to upload via WeChat. After scanning the QR code with WeChat, you will automatically jump to the picture upload interface. After selecting the picture, the uploaded picture will appear below the software. Antarctic Bear uploaded the Antarctic Bear logo, and I am looking forward to what the next printout will look like.

Click on the Antarctic Bear logo, and it will appear in the image display area. After adjusting the position, raise the coffee cup and click the print button to start printing. Note: When uploading photos to WeChat, the phone and laptop must be connected to the same wireless network.

Antarctic Bear would like to add a few more words: In addition to uploading via WeChat, you can also take photos and edit text with the camera, and you can save the edited text, photos, WeChat pictures, etc. to your own gallery, so users don't have to upload pictures when they want to print them.

The Antarctic Bear Latte Art Machine can customize the pattern and make a cup in less than 10 seconds~

After watching the entire recorded video, I believe that all bear friends will find that the entire latte art machine is easy to operate, prints quickly, and is environmentally safe, so bear friends who are entangled in such problems can buy it with confidence~

Antarctic Bear believes that this latte art machine is very suitable for coffee shops, milk tea shops, bars or small physical retail stores. Such an eye-catching product will definitely attract a lot of customers for you~