News: a pen that can "print" 3D drawings in mid-air has attracted nearly $500,000 in one day from Kickstarter backers (+ movie).
The $75 3Doodler by U.S. toy and robotics company WobbleWorks is described on the crowdfunding website as the world's first 3D printing pen.
It works like a hot glue gun to extrude plastic filament in a fine line, which quickly cools and solidifies into a stable structure.
With no need for software or computers, the 3Doodler acts as a handheld version of the extrusion element found in many 3D printers.
WobbleWorks suggest it could be used to make 3D models, jewellery and ornaments as well as to personalise objects like phone cases.
The designers are also working on a selection of stencil kits allowing users to draw out shapes on a flat surface before connecting them into 3D objects.
The pen currently has over 5500 backers on Kickstarter, with 32 days remaining for new backers to pledge their funding.
We've been following all the latest developments in 3D printing, including the race to build the first 3D-printed house and plans to 3D print buildings on the moon with lunar soil – see all news about 3D printing.
Photographs are by WobbleWorks.
This has to be one of the coolest ideas I have ever seen. I am really amazed.
If you’re amazed by this you should see my 3D printing machine – its called a piece of wire.
Want. Want now.
I used to do what this pen seems to do with thin steel wire when I was a child.
Is this not just a glorified glue gun?
It is.
Yeah, but glue guns don’t dry this fast and aren’t self-supporting. This looks a hell of a lot easier to control than a glue gun, and the pen shape makes it much more of a sketching tool. Brilliant idea and after Colossal posted this yesterday and Dezeen today, their pledges have skyrocketed like half a million dollars in two days!
Really cool idea, but one thing worries me: what happens to the plastic filament or the objects later on, can they be recycled? Melted and used as a “3D ink” again? I sure hope they don’t end up filling the wastelands.
Okay I was agreeing with the glorified glue gun theory but seeing it in action; I’m wowed. Sketching in 3D, wow! I want one yesterday!
Why make this in China, guys!? Find a factory in America! We are backing you. Back your country and it's citizens.
Oh really, what if most backers are from China or Europe?
It’s just sad to see American companies take their products to China or other countries to be produced. The “backers” are donating via the Kickstarter program. And looking at their Kickstarter page, the mass majority of the 9500 backers are from America. Really. I don’t have anything against China or Europe, I just think it would be nice if the US toy and robotics company WobbleWorks could keep their business local.
If you don't like the inevitable effects of capitalism then you're in the wrong country.
That is such a short-sighted comment. I would rather pay a little more and support my local economy then pay less and watch my regional business women and men struggle to keep afloat. They are the ones that pay the taxes that make our countries (Canada and the States) the choice place to live.
Why wasn’t this around when I was growing up?
I saw this on another blog, and I'll leave the same version of comment. Melting plastic is as toxic as you can get, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of these in use. Has anyone even thought of the health implications?
It’s not like you’re supposed to lick it.
Highly toxic to breath. Personally I value my lungs and I would not advise anyone to use one of these without a gas mask on, much like they wear in factories.
Just curious, so don’t take offense. Do you wear a gas mask when outdoors, driving a car, riding a bus, in a mall? I ask similar questions of anyone I know that run for their health and yet run along a busy street.
It would be interesting if this could work with some kind of sugar-based compound instead of plastic. It would be eco-friendly and edible. The pâtissiers would love it.
Glad to see someone is thinking beyond the video and how cool it would be to doodle with one of these. Using plastic is just the wrong material. I like the idea of a sugar-based or other material that’s safe to use in the home environment.
Someone would complain about obesity or something. But I’d love it!
Niche market: ssing this to do 3D cake/candy/cookie decorating.
Can someone explain to me what’s the big deal with 3D printing? Really!
At the moment: nothing. In the future: everything.
Not trying to be a jerk so, check out http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-a…
Have you read ANYTHING about it, or do you just ask and expect others to inform you? The reason I ask is that if you’ve actually read any lengthy material/info about it I would think that you would understand what the “big deal” is.
News: looking like it will be double that now.
Cleverer than Sir Lord Foster’s 3D printing on Uranus.
This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
Looks like a poncey glue gun?
In 1976: The Instrument and its Work by Luis Camnitzer.
What is interesting is this is an established company that used Kickstarter to raise the capital for this new product VS using their own capital. Let the consumer pay for the development of the product and then sell the product to them for profit! Brilliant.
$1.5 million and counting, this is absolutely crazy! I interviewed the guys yesterday. They were cool. http://www.prsnlz.me/articles/exclusive-interview…
The idea is not new. Could see a laser-cutter pen soon.
From a philosophical point of view I like this product.
I hate rapid prototyping because it’s quickly becoming a force that infantilises adults. It convinces them that they need a computer to imagine and build objects. Not the thing that will set us free, but the thing that will enslave us to libraries of companies’ mesh models. Seriously, at college nobody would dare make anything by hand because it didn’t look like it was a mass-produced form, so they just RP it.
This product chops the arm off the machine and lets people make things themselves again. I think it’s massively superfluous to an adult’s making potential, but at least it’s not connected to a computer program owned by [insert company like Apple here].