LG
02-20-2013, 12:11 AM
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/6798/331e2ddfe188f7cc1e5ae68.jpg
Maxwell Bogue and Peter Dilworth have created a prototype 3-D printing pen that works similarly to a hot-glue gun.
For better or worse, 3-D printers have received plenty of press lately, with the capability of printing out components for planes, cars, medical prosthetics, human tissue and even parts of a gun, moving swiftly from the realm of "futuristic" to "available now."
Two inventors saw what was missing in this list — fun — and sought to fill the void with a prototype 3-D printing pen, appropriately called, "3Doodle."
The lightweight pen allows a user to draw in the air, using common 3 mm ABS or PLA plastic strands as "ink." When the plastic is fed into the back of the tool, it is heated enough to melt and be extruded through the tip, cooling and hardening almost immediately as the user creates. The pen runs on a universal power supply, so anyone with 110- or 240-volt plug is good to go.
Created by Maxwell Bogue and Peter Dilworth of WobbleWorks, a new toy company dedicated to launching products that appeal to the young and young-at-heart, the 3-D printing pen could also be used in professional capacities such as design and architecture — but the real hope is to set artists and doodlers free into a 3-D creative landscape.
As a bonus, the 3Doodler can also be used as a welding tool to repair broken ABS plastic items.
The 3Doodler isn't designed for children under age 12, or for those who can't seem to keep their hands off the pen's heated tip, which reaches temperatures up to 518 degrees Fahrenheit.
That said, for those who can handle the heat, looks like a successful Kickstarter campaign for WobbleWorks will soon have these 3-D printing pens rolling off the assembly line and ready for public creative consumption.
msn
Maxwell Bogue and Peter Dilworth have created a prototype 3-D printing pen that works similarly to a hot-glue gun.
For better or worse, 3-D printers have received plenty of press lately, with the capability of printing out components for planes, cars, medical prosthetics, human tissue and even parts of a gun, moving swiftly from the realm of "futuristic" to "available now."
Two inventors saw what was missing in this list — fun — and sought to fill the void with a prototype 3-D printing pen, appropriately called, "3Doodle."
The lightweight pen allows a user to draw in the air, using common 3 mm ABS or PLA plastic strands as "ink." When the plastic is fed into the back of the tool, it is heated enough to melt and be extruded through the tip, cooling and hardening almost immediately as the user creates. The pen runs on a universal power supply, so anyone with 110- or 240-volt plug is good to go.
Created by Maxwell Bogue and Peter Dilworth of WobbleWorks, a new toy company dedicated to launching products that appeal to the young and young-at-heart, the 3-D printing pen could also be used in professional capacities such as design and architecture — but the real hope is to set artists and doodlers free into a 3-D creative landscape.
As a bonus, the 3Doodler can also be used as a welding tool to repair broken ABS plastic items.
The 3Doodler isn't designed for children under age 12, or for those who can't seem to keep their hands off the pen's heated tip, which reaches temperatures up to 518 degrees Fahrenheit.
That said, for those who can handle the heat, looks like a successful Kickstarter campaign for WobbleWorks will soon have these 3-D printing pens rolling off the assembly line and ready for public creative consumption.
msn