Long gone are the days when 3D anything sounded like a figment of some sci-fic obsessed nerd’s imagination. With every passing day new 3D based technology is dropping into the market scientists and inventors are coming up with new and innovative ideas to make 3D technology accessible to everyone.
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One such technology attempt to make 3D technology more handy was made by Maxwell Bouge and Peter Dilworth, 3Doodlers when they created the first 3D pen which is like a compact 3D printer.
We can all agree that 3D printer is an amazing machine and a solution to so many problems , but one thing about this machine is that is kind of complex to use and requires a lot of skill.
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How it all started:-
In 2012 the idea of creating a 3D pen occurred to the founder of 3D doodle when they were attempting to come up with a toy for Kid’s.
They would use a 3D printer for creating prototypes for any new toy they had designed so that they could analyze it.
One night they spent 14 hours printing out the leg of a dinosaur only to realize that it was a failed attempt as the printer had failed to print out a small part of the leg this deeply upset them. They wanted something that could just fill up the gap so that they do not have to waste time printing out the whole thing all over again.
So, in an attempt to create something like that they took apart a 3D
Printer separated its nozzle and added a computerized chip to it to control it like a pen to fill up the void that was not printed. As they filled out that gap that day they realized that they were on to something, something revolutionary.
They quickly made a prototype of the Doodler using a 3D printer (Is it not like a 3D inception of some sort) .Just like a mother creates her baby a 3D printer(mother) was used to create all the parts of a 3D doodler (child)
“We printed the shells and the casings and everything that’s held together,” Bogue said.
In the final product they used the hot nozzle of that very 3D printer in the pen what a perfect way to bookend the process isn’t it. The design was then refined further over the next 8 months in order to create the fully complete final product .
How does the 3D doodler pen works?
If you observe you would realize that the 3doodler work like a sophisticated glue gun . Just like a glue gun secretes molten hot glue the doodle secretes molten plastic .
The main challenge faced here was that unlike hot molten glue molten plastic clumps way quicker, making it much harder to work with . So, they had to develop a system that would ensure a steady flow of the plastic which lead them to invent a pen with a motor to propel the plastic filament.
The heater inside the 3Doodler works at a temperature of about 355 degrees to 460 degrees Fahrenheit (180 to 240 degrees Celsius) which not only melt’s most common plastic filaments (known as PLA and ABS) pretty effectively , but, also prevents the plastic from cooling down for a much longer time making it impossible to draw in the air say the inventor. As a result, Even though it is necessary that the plastic to stay hot to remain in the molten state it needs to cool down a little bit to about 280 degrees to 300 degrees F (140 to 150 degrees C) when it leaves the pen .To serve this purpose they added a fan cooler at the point where the plastic leaves the pen .
And Now …….: –
Initially the he inventors ran Kickstarter campaign that was widely successful to raise money for this project. They ended up collecting a whopping $2.3 million from over 26,000 very keen investors
They have not stopped since and are coming up with a new and better version of the pen every now and then. The pen is now in its third version, known as the 3Doodler Create which is capable of churning out whatever you want be it clothes and pretty much anything you want .
But despite its early success, the initial versions of the 3Doodler failed to satisfy Bogue’s original mission. “This would be an awesome kids toy, but it’s too hot,” Bogue said.
The problem with 3Doodler Create is that it exceeds the 127-degree F (53 degrees C) maximum temperature limit allowed in children’s products, as assigned by the EU toys safety directive .
So in an effort to create something much more friendly for the kids, the company combined efforts with materials scientists to develop a completely new kind of plastic. A completely biodegradable, food-safe plastic that melts at between 113 degrees and 122 degrees Fahrenheit (45 to 50 degrees C) was hence developed 3 years later making it so safe and perfect for the kids that it would not cause them any harm even if they got it on their skin. And now we can call it as the best 3D printing pen till date.
More about the 3D doodler :–
The latest version of the pen aptly known as the 3Doodler Start, is designed specially considering the safety and needs of kids ages 8 and older. It comes with a rechargeable battery and 16 different colors of filaments making it ideal for both recreational use as well as classroom use. The creators have also added that they hope to see the introduction of this pen would encourage the STEM based education more than before. If you also want to test its amazing features you can buy it from Amazon.
I hope this article would be really informative for you. If you have already used the 3D printing pen, let us know your about your experience in the comment section. And if you haven’t used the 3D printing pen from 3D doodler buy it from Amazon now.
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