A cost-effective technology recently emerged in the form of a 3D pen, offering easy entry into the world of 3D printing. Those familiar with a hot glue gun should grasp the concept of a 3D pen; a plastic rod, heated by the pen, melts and extrudes “ink” from the pen’s tip. Unlike a glue gun, however, 3D pen plastic hardens almost instantly and supports its own weight, so unlike a conventional pen, there’s no need for a substrate such as paper. The artist creates lines at any angle, working in a three-dimensional medium.
The heated plastic method — Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) — matches the method used for many 3D printers. It’s not, however, the only 3D pen technology. Photopolymer ink begins in liquid form and hardens upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. This is ideal for children, since there’s no risk of burns. LED lights at the nozzle firms the photopolymer into solid form, yielding similar results to FDM pens. This is commonly known as “Cool Ink” 3D printing.
Here, we take a look at the 10 best 3D pens in [year].
10 Best 3D Printing Pens
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Hi everyone. I’m quite new to 3d printing and I have a lot of questions on the subject, so I hope you will not get mad at me for asking here at least couple of them. I think before I’ll get seriously into designing I should focus on the software itself, and that’s what I would like to ask you about. Mainly, should I start with the most simple/crudest program there is or would it be better to start on something more complicated? I’m worried that I’ll get some unwanted habits while working on less complex software. The second question is about the CAD software as well: should I look for software that will let me design and slice it in it, or should I use a different software for each of them? Will it even make a difference? Surprisingly, I couldn’t find the answer to that, as it seems like most sites want to focus on the very basics (like what is 3d printing and so on), and while the answers to those questions are fine, it seems like no one wants to go into the details (it looks like some of them even plagiarise each other! I swear I’ve found the same answers to the same questions on at least 3 different articles) but I’m getting off-topic… The last question is about 3d pens. Would it be possible to somehow convert whatever I draw with a 3d pen to a 3d model in a CAD software? For example, if I’ll draw a horse with 3d pen, would it be possible to get its design in a program? I’m not sure how that would even work, but the very idea sounds appealing to me. Anyway, I think I’ll stop here just in case no one will answer me and all of this writing will be for nothing. I apologise that I’m using your content to ask questions, but I hope you can relate and help a rookie like me. Anyway, thank you for posting. I learned something from this and that’s always appreciated. Thank you, and I hope to hear back from you very soon 🙂