The machine like any other cotton candy machine it was designed to make cotton candy out of sugar powder, the makers advertise you can use hard candy but I think you must just use a specific type of hard candy, I used a hard candy I got from a store in Chucago and it just got melt down and got sticky everywhere witout making any cotton candy, I used powered sugar again and it made cotton candy just like the county fair, just follow the instructions to the letter and try to not make experiments with candy that hasn't the consistency or the ingredients specified by the manufacturer.