Hello,
I am Senior Director of Hake Plastic Molds in Alden NY, and owner of The Chocolate Butterfly and Chocolatier; since 1998, in Canada.

While there are many different pumps on the market, I have come to the conclusion that they’re rather expensive. Some can cost upwards of US$7000 each.
We at Hake Plastic Molds, manufacture a series of Chocolate equipment made affordable to the average Chocolatier.

The Hake Power Pump, costs a reasonable US$2300.00 each and can be used on most tempering machines, similar to that of Hilliard’s that have either a rotating or fixed bowl. The Hake Power Pump can be mounted on the side of the machine.
It draws the Chocolate through an Food approved Stainless Steel cylinder and can dispense a metered dose in quarter ounce increments upto 6 ounces.
The Hake Power Pump, is easy to disassemble. It includes a supplied wrench and comes apart for easy cleaning when you remove a few nuts.

The Hake Power Pump has been used for nearly 30 years, in most instances Pumps from the early 1980′s are still working smoothly.

We also are re-developing our Chocolate tempering tanks which will be available for the Philadelphia Candy Show, in Atlantic City in 2010.

Hake Plastic Molds, manufactures a series of Vibrating tables made of heavy weight Aluminum, and cost considerably less than our competition. The sizes include: 10″ x 12″ designed for European and hobby molds, 16″ X 16″, and a large 32″ X 16″ to accommodate our large 3 foot tall Santa Claus and Easter Bunny Chocolate Molds.

We also manufacture the Hake Magnetic Rotational Molding system, using our Proprietary Zip Lock Unit; which can hold a series of molds for hollow casting.

Now, when it comes to my knowledge in melting chocolate, I would suggest melting the chocolate and using the “drip-feed” method on adding the chocolate to your tempering machine, making certain to check the temperatures prior to adding; so that you don’t put in too hot of liquid chocolate.
Not too long ago, I created a warming oven, with 2 oil-filled heaters, a stainless steel rack and hotel pans. The entire rack was wrapped with mylar bubble wrap; normally used to insulate water heaters.
On a typical evening, I was able to melt some 300 pounds of chocolate ready for production the following day.

Feel free to e-mail me,
Shawn Alter – Chocolatier (The Chocolate Butterfly)
Senior Marketing Director – Hake Plastic Molds – Alden NY 14004
thechocolatebutterfly@3web.com
Tel: 416-912-2304