Video: 3D-doodling pen lets you draw your own objects
Free yourself from the tyranny of paper and boring 2D. With a $75 pen you can draw in thin air.
The 3Doodle pen, developed by , works much like a handheld 3D printer. It contains a mains-powered heater that melts the plastic beads used in such printers.
You can draw normally using the colourful plastic as your ink 鈥� but with a fantastic twist. Lift the nib in the air and a length of plastic exudes from the nib and solidifies, allowing you to create 3D objects by building up multiple wispy strands of plastic.
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The pen鈥檚 key component is a tiny fan that cools the plastic as it leaves the nib. 鈥淭his makes it solidify very quickly,鈥� says company spokesman Daniel Cowen. Intricate 鈥渄rawings鈥� of a peacock and the Eiffel Tower in the launch video show how well it works (see video).
The firm launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund $30,000 towards its development programme this week. If it raises enough money, the 3Doodle should be ready for sale later this year. A battery-powered version should follow, says Cowen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 power usage means that a lot of work is needed for a wireless version 鈥� but that is in the works.鈥�
Still, you need to be careful: although using it is child鈥檚 play, the pen is a craft tool rather than a toy. Its nib melts plastic at a toasty 270 掳C 鈥� as hot as a soldering iron.
In the future, WobbleWorks might also make a version for creating food, letting people make lattice-structured sweets and candies. 鈥淲e could in theory use the pen to melt sticks of sugar,鈥� says Cowen. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 want to get into food safety issues just yet. We will be running some [food] tests soon 鈥� and we鈥檇 have to lower the temperature in the pen, too.鈥�
