February 20, 2013 11:01 am
This Plastic-Printing Pen Lets You Draw In 3D
Yesterday, start-up company Wobble Works was looking for $30,000 to help fund the manufacture of a pen that lets you draw in three dimensions using malleable melted plastic. In just a day, the company found itself with more than $600,000 dollars from interested donors. In a Kickstarter campaign, now far more than fully funded, the company laid out their new device.
Reminiscent of a hot glue gun, the pen melts and extrudes plastic. New Scientist:
The pen’s key component is a tiny fan that cools the plastic as it leaves the nib. “This makes it solidify very quickly,” says company spokesman Daniel Cowen. Intricate “drawings” of a peacock and the Eiffel Tower in the launch video show how well it works.
TechCrunch’s John Biggs shows off his creation using the plastic-extruding pen:
The device is an interplay of two different crafting media—the mighty pen and the increasingly-ubiquitous idea of 3D printing. Technology Review:
3-D printing has always been about empowering smaller artisans, about taking what is traditionally the realm of major manufacturers, and bringing some of that power closer to the creators.he journey of 3-D printing, in many ways, has been bringing technology that’s traditionally been too expensive for individuals or even small businesses, and making that (or similar) technology available to the little guys.
… The 3Doodler is far cheaper and easier to use, and though less capable in some ways, it has the curious effect of leapfrogging the technology that it’s descended from… As a result, many people may be introduced to a “3-D printing pen” before they even know what a 3-D printer is to begin with.
More from Smithsonian.com:
How Spray-On Everything Could Radically Transform Manufacturing
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I love art and could really use a pen like this. Absolutely amazing. I will empty my bank account for you.
Comment by Jacqueline Parks — February 20, 2013 @ 4:41 pm
Awesome! I’d like to know more.
David Hynes
Comment by David Hynes — February 24, 2013 @ 12:46 pm
Hi Guys, please support jobs in the USA and don’t have your product made by Chinese people in China.
Just so unemployed people like me can buy your genius product.
Good Luck.
Comment by Evrim C. — February 25, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
There are so many vacant factories in the U.S.A. and unempoloyed people too. Why not manufacture here?
Then you would also be called a HERO in this country
Comment by Florentine Barnett — February 26, 2013 @ 10:17 am
Hi there –
Terrific new product. I can hardly wait to see what the artists among us will do with it. Is there any valid reason to use American creativity to give China more jobs? Have a little courage – support your own fellow Americans whose tax dollars probably funded part of your education. The real genius here will be to avoid having China steal your technology or didn’t you know that has become a major problem in our economy?
Comment by Judy N — February 26, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
Great idea!!! But how about adding one very important feature to the ‘packaging’. How about MADE IN AMERICA and not made in COMMUNIST China!
Comment by Mike H. — February 27, 2013 @ 2:09 am
I wonder if it uses, or can use, recycled plastic? Also, is it possible to have a larger one, more like a 3-d paintbrush? If yes to both of these questions, I have an upcoming, large-scale, environmentally-related, public art project that I could definitely use this for. This is the sort of application that will enable stateside employment, more so than the location where the pen, or hopefully paintbrush, is actually manufactured.
Comment by JazzZyx — February 28, 2013 @ 10:04 am
Just make it pressure sensitive and more ergonomic, and perhaps someone can make an electronic “eraser/corrector”, and I’m buyin’!
Comment by shadi — March 3, 2013 @ 11:37 am
are these pens on the market yet?
Comment by ksden pesavento — May 8, 2013 @ 8:52 pm