7 ms·
3Doodler: The World's First 3D Printing Pen
- brittohalloran 14y agoInteresting, but I think it's stretching the term 3D printing a bit.
- nmcfarl 14y agoYeah - this is 3D drawing.
- brittohalloran 14y agoI actually like that term and think it would have worked well for them.
- erickhill 14y agoPretty decent thread on this previously, with the link to the kickstarter page. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5243271 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5243271
- mbell 14y agoSo its a hot glue gun with a fine tip and auto-feed?
- mercuryrising 14y agoThe 'hot glue' is thin enough and needs to be hot enough to let you 'float' what you're drawing in mid air, hot glue would stay viscous for too long to let that happen.
- joshmlewis 14y agoYeah I think this is what a lot of people are missing with the glue gun comments. With a glue gun you can make a blob at the base but you can't string a piece along like this, much less string a piece along in mid air. This also has the fan which helps in that matter.
- mbell 14y agoThats caused by the material, not the gun. The kickstarter says they use standard ABS/PLA 3mm plastic for the material. The first rep-rap 3D printer used a tweaked hot glue gun as the extruder.
- ajasmin 14y agoI'd like to see more mid-air drawing in action. The video only shows how to make a spiral, a cube and some finishing touch on the dinosaur. Though they are showing photos of objects that must have been created this way, it's not clear how well this goes in practice. It seems the Eiffel Tower is made by drawing over a CAD printout and welding the pieces together.
- digikata 14y agoIt's more like a standalone "print head" out of a 3d printer.
- yorak 14y agoPerhaps could even be reutilized as one? I see it is a 50 USD off-the-self extruder for your DIY 3D printer. Add steppers with electronics, draw by hand some fixtures, add "vitamins" (nuts, bolts etc.) and and go.
- Kliment 14y agoNot really usable as an extruder because you need to be able to control extrusion amount precisely. At that price, there is definitely a DC gearmotor inside with absolutely no way to control position or speed.
- qxf2 14y agoI don't think they mean to impress the techies. The product's market is clearly creative/artistic people. Creative/Artistic people did not have easy access to a medium like this. I see this company popularizing an artistic medium (like canvas, paper, stone) by providing an easy-to-obtain tool to make the art. I can see a few moms and schools wanting to buy something like this for their kids. This will also be a hit at kids' parties just like the fancy shaped balloons. Also, I doodle badly and I want one :)
- WestCoastJustin 14y agoNot very often you see an idea, and think, this is so simple, why didn't this already exist?! Going to be a massive hit in art class! I'd like one just to bring my drawings to life.
- Kliment 14y agoCool. I only wish they weren't trying to patent it. Prior art exists in the form of http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2010/09/19/repurpose-your-old-mk4-plastruder-into-a-plastic-welding-gun/ http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2010/09/19/repurpose-your-old-m... at the very least. I've emailed the EFF 3d printer patentbusting group to see what they can do about making sure the patent does not get issued.
- adrianhoward 14y agoWhat's the patent for? I'd tend to think that it's not just "hand held plastic extruder"...
- Kliment 14y agoNobody knows. The application is not public yet. All they are saying is "patent pending" with no specifics.
- nvr219 14y agoI think calling this a printer is somewhat of a misnomer... Would you call a glue gun a printer?
- habosa 14y agoI think the hot glue gun comments are misguided. This is a really amazing product, as you can see by the professional "3doodles" from the Etsy artists. I do agree that this isn't "3D printing" because you're not printing from a model, but it's similar in intent. I'm not anything close to an artist but I'd love to have one of these, and if I had artistic talent I'd buy one immediately.
- bmmayer1 14y agoThe comments on this thread are ridiculous. This product is awesome. Who cares that they call it a 3D printing pen? I'd like to see you try to make one...
- largehotcoffee 14y agoBut... it's a glue gun.
- coldarchon 14y agoBut, I don't care, take my money guys!
- simias 14y agoIt looks like a bit more than just a glue gun because of the way the plastic seems to cool almost instantly. I suppose they need to control the temperature very precisely. That being said, in their video the actual "3D" drawing (i.e. in the air) seems extremely imprecise and for their eiffel tower demo they just make 2D sides that they glue together, so in this case it's probably fair to call it "just a glue gun", or rather a "stand-alone 3D printing head/glue gun".
- smackfu 14y agoIf a glue gun has no glue, is it still a glue gun?
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- laumars 14y agoSometimes I think it's easier for people to pick faults with other peoples products than it is for them address the inadequacies in their own output.
- andrewfelix 14y agoAwesome product, but ridiculous product description. Also; "I'd like to see you try to make one..." is a silly counterpoint. If we applied that line of thought to everything we wouldn't be able to critically analyse anything. There would be very little discussion in HN comments. I'm sure you've made criticism of products or services in the past that you personally would be unable to produce or deliver.
- aviswanathan 14y agoI'm pleasantly surprised that this product passed Kickstarter's (increasingly) stringent guidelines for acceptable projects
- etrautmann 14y agoIt's clear that a product like this will sell, though I'm hard pressed to think of applications beyond making small sculptures.
- 10dpd 14y ago3D Printing Pen, Glue Gun, whatever... my question is, what is it useful for? Although I'm not sure its worth dismissing the product if the answer is for art students, this in itself would be an interesting market for a hardware product.
- brador 14y agoAny ideas on the cost difference of having this made in China vs. US?
- tathagata 14y agoI see an immense potential for a product like this. Art and architecture come immediately to mind. Because it makes a physical wire-frame quickly, it can also be used for prototyping and brain-storming product ideas. I am sure people will come out with extraordinarily creative things to do with this once they get them in their hand.
- vanni 14y agoPrevious discussion: 3D printing pen lets you draw sculptures in thin air (newscientist.com) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5243271 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5243271
- sirwitti 14y agoI like the idea. But what happens with all that plastic after it's been drawn. Can you reuse it somehow? Otherwise this looks like a huge source of waste?
- uxp 14y agoI'd personally love to see the next "generation" (if you can even call the evolution of 3d printers "generations") input a hopper of plastic pellets instead of an expensive filament spool. A simple grinder/shredder could easily recycle old printed models into new raw material.
- revdinosaur 14y agoThere is a product aimed at doing just that: http://filabot.com/ http://filabot.com/ Closing the loop and attaching the output of the Filabot directly to a 3d printer wouldn't be too difficult.
- laveur 14y agoI am amazed at how much news this has garnered... I personally know the people involved in this project through the larger Boston Burner community, was surprised to hear that it was from one of our own.
- taneliv 14y agoI wonder if the glue is too hot to draw on human skin. Could make unique jewellery, very tight fitting (if ephemeral, I don't think they would last too long). Maybe for some special events, like weddings and other ceremonies?
- showsover 14y agoIt looks awesome and I want one. The only problem now is that I can't draw. Perhaps there's a market for making tutorials for drawing with the pen?
- smackfu 14y agoI think that's why they are pushing the part about drawing a flat framework over a printed stencil, and then assembling them in 3D space, like the Eiffel Tower in the video. Shouldn't require much artistic skill.
- smackfu 14y agoI bet it's a lot harder technique-wise to draw in empty space than the video makes it appear. If you go too fast, it won't be self-supporting, and if you go too slow, the already drawn part will be in the way and probably get pushed aside.