3D Printing Pens have increasingly been used by many designers, architects, hobbyists, and teachers lately. It is quite interesting to make use of a concept with which you can literally draw in the air. One can do 3D sketching or make mini-models of large architectural structures before actually implementing their designs.
The concept is built first in 2012 by Maxwell Bogue and Peter Dilworth in Massachusetts. They developed this idea after struggling with a 14 hour long job of 3D Printing.The product was developed by WobbleWorks, Inc.
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What is a Printing Pen?
A Printing Pen is a pen which works like a glue-gun that heats up and brings a thin plastic string over the surface on which it is used. The plastic cools down as soon as it comes in contact with the outside atmosphere. This is how you can create beautiful 3D images used for various types of designing requirements.
The plastic thread which is used is made of chemical components like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polylactic acid (PLA), or FLEXY, thermal polyurethane (TPU).
The latest upgradation in Printing Pens is going towards a sleeker body of the pen along with various options of changing the size and the shape of the nozzle tip and a relatively less noise producing mechanics.
Top five reasons why you must buy a 3D Printing Pen
Designers always face tough challenges of whether a particular model will be user-friendly, convenient and presentable in terms of the look and feel. Through the use of Printing Pens they can actually see their product live before themselves and thus can better take care of the changes, modifications required if any. Even if the Printing Pen is being used as hobby, a 3D image will be any day better than a 2D image over a sheet of paper.
Below is a list of the top five reasons to buy yourself a good Printing Pen.
- Explore your artistic ability: You can easily use 3D Printing Pens in creating craft models through melting Plastic to give them an embossed look. Though there is no specific reason so to mention for a Printing Pen, it is for the artist in you to decide of what best you can create out of a Printing Pen.
- Understand 3D Printing: A 3D Pen is a great way to understand as to how exactly 3D Printing works. Seeing 3D printing actually while practice can create wonderful ideas as compared to reading about it or watching somebody else do it.
- Lower cost alternative to 3D Printing: Creating a 3D model through the traditional 3D printing process can actually be very costly as compared to using a 3D Printing Pen which comes at a cost of anywhere under a $100.
- Architectural imagination:It is very difficult to understand the specifics of an architectural model without viewing a 3D picturisation of the same. Using a 3D pen, you can easily portray your imagination, build and destroy at the same time to understand what works best for your purpose.
- Easy to use: A Printing pen is an almost a fuss-free tool without any complicated attachments and tough to handle usage. Moreover, 3D Printing using a 3D printing pen is as less time-consuming as using a normal pen to write.
Factors to consider before buying a 3D Pen
If you are buying something for a specific purpose, you would want to ensure that your very purpose of buying it is solved. If a gadget is not solving it, then it would be a total waste of money. You will be left with no option other than using it just for fun. So, there are a number of factors which you must take care of before choosing the best 3D Pen your requirements.
- Comfortability of use: The Printing Pen you are buying should be comfortable to use. There are many brands of Printing Pens which are coming in the market, and you should buy the one which is most comfortable to use.
- Make of the Pen: The Printing Pen shouldn’t be very thick in the make because generally for the purpose of art, you would need the exact precision of where you want to draw that ‘extra line’, so any sort of handling challenges can be irritating and wasteful.
- Longer Life: Some gadgets tend to create problems if they are used after a long time or if they have been used continuously for a particular period of time. Whatever the case is, your printing pen should be durable enough to satisfy your usage style.
- Filament size and shape of the Nozzle Tip: For beginners, an ABS filament is recommended as compared to the PLA 3D filament as an ABS filament is a bit stronger in comparison to PLA and is less brittle and easy to bend.
- Customer reviews: For a product such as a Printing Pen which is not very commonly used,it is very important to research carefully about the customer reviews and the manufacturer ratings before choosing the best printing pen that would suffice your purpose.
Top 4 Best 3D Printing Pen Reviews of 2020
1. MYNT3D Professional Printing 3D Pen with OLED Display:
This product comes with a stylus for precision art. The adjustable outflow of the filament and temperature control mechanism makes this product ideal for constructing geometric shapes. Following are the detailed features of this product:
- This product can be used for Sketching and printing the sketch in various colours using coloured filaments.
- Temperature of the filament can also be adjusted depending upon the outside environment temperature if required.
- The product comes with a large OLED display to check the temperature of the material inside from time to time for optimal effects.
- The product kit includes a stylus along with three colours of ABS plastic filament with an A/C adapter.
- The product uses FDM technology in all applications including drafting and three-dimensional crafting.
- It is provided with an adjustable feed to regulate the speed, and control the flow of filament coming out of the pen nozzle. So you can increase the flow of the filament for deep fill areas or decrease where you want to merely give a light sketch.
- This printing pen works with any 1.75mm Filament including wood or bronze infused filaments. The filaments has to 1.75mm in width and should be able to melt between 130-240°C. The Recommended temperatures of ABS and PLA filaments are however 210°C and 175°C respectively.
- The device has an Ultra Slim Design which makes the controls in reach when it is used and also a slim design helps in carving out the intricacies of a design better.
- This device is USB powered, so you can easily use it with battery power banks while on travel.
- The pen has an easily replaceable nozzle.
2. 3Doodler Create 3D Pen:
The 3Doodler is the first ever company to have come up with the concept of a printing pen. The device is greatly upgraded with the newer versions coming into the market. It gives an easy to handle and the smoother operational system. The key features for this product are as follows:
- The device comes with a light bar.
- It has better grip for precision crafting.
- This 3D pen offers a range of plastic materials, which is absolutely safe and non-toxic to use.
- The product provides for changeable nozzles for creating different types of art designs.
- There are a lot of free stencils available online complementing 3Doodler pens.
- The product box includes 3Doodler 3D Pen, 50 plastic strands of various colours and materials, a power adapter, and various other aiding tools like the unblocking tool, nozzle removal tool, and a screwdriver.
- The product is suitable for various DIY projects, arts- projects, and creating scale models and a host of decorative items.
- The product has a great range of materials for 3D printing including matte, glossy, transparent, glow, flexy, and sparkle.
- The portable JetPack which comes with the device has a set of nozzles for every form of 3D printing required.
- The device comes with a project Book packed with 26 step-by-step projects.
- Also, the product comes with a DoodlePad to serve as a doodling surface to suit freehand creation.
- The product dimensions are 6.3 x 0.7 x 0.7 inches and weighs 12.8 ounces.
- There aren’t any batteries required for the product.
3. 7TECH® 3D Printing Pen with LCD Screen
- Ver.2015 3D has a 1.75mm filament for producing 3D designs.
- It can be used for tracing objects on paper or to draw in the air.
- This device comes with many user-friendly functions which makes it quite handy to use.
- You can control extrusion speed and the temperature of the filament.
- The product has one of the lowest weight-65g in this category of products.
- It is suitable for children who are above 8 years old and adults for all kind of creative requirements.
- The product has advanced unclogging technology which prevents repetitive jamming and hence is easy to maintain.
- The product dimensions are 7.3 x 1.6 x 1.1 inches.
4. Titanium Micro RP600A with USB 3D Printing Pen:
- It is easily compatible with PLA / ABS Filament.
- The product dimensions are 8 x 5 x 2.6 inches.
- It is light, slim and very comfortable to use.
- It is suitable for everyone, from kids to adults alike as it is totally mess-free to use.
- The product makes use of eco- friendly plastic, has a very subtle design, and is available in various colours.
- The product is created wellin compliance with the basic toy safety standards.
Knowing about the technology called a Printing Pen would be surprise for some but a wonderful addition to the tool-box of creative artists. Hence, this creative technology is increasingly becoming popular among this league of people. The creation of sleek designs with detailed minute intricacies has finally become possible with the help of Printing Pens. Since it is suitable for all surfaces, there is no limit on the number of ways you can use it for various designing needs.
Spending money on a 3D printer would not be a wise alternative unless you want it to use it for a large-scale project specifically requiring 3D printing. One would obviously want to consider the cost-benefit analysis of a 3D printer as purchasing them requires unbelievably lot of money for a mundane task such as printing. Hence, a 3D pen is very cost-effective.
You can give direction to your imaginations using Printing Pens. Printing pens are being used for school projects by students at a wide scale. Students also use them for preparing science models used in school exhibitions. Thus, a whole range of printing pens are available in the market and it has become very important to understand the purpose of a printing pen before actually going to buy one for yourself. Thus, always try to go for a good quality Printing Pen by careful research among the many available in the market.
The 3D printing pen is adding another dimension to the world of art. The product innovations are progressively improving with every new product coming into the market. Manufacturers are banking on the ever increasing demand and are continuously manufacturing different varieties with different specifications. A keen consideration on the product types should be made to best suit your printing purpose.
