It is possible to do some free-hand drawing with the 3D pen as well. For example, adding textures to a hard surface or even filling in a gap, and this sort of thing could be particularly useful to cosplayers adding little details, or for applying a quick fix.
You can, in some circumstances, draw lines going vertically off the surface, but there are some pretty major caveats. These vertical lines need to be well anchored to the ground and it’s only possible to do straight lines (well, saggy lines are more likely), and generally, these lines have to be between two objects, rather than just terminating in thin air.
Another use for the pen is finishing 3D prints. Since it uses the same filament as printers, you can use the pen to join parts together. If you use the filament that you print with, the colour will match perfectly, and the temperature should be hot enough to weld the parts together creating a strong, seamless joint.
Getting started
The control options on our pen allow you to control the speed the filament feeds out and the temperature of the print head. The model we got requires the pen to be plugged in while in use, though there are other models that run on battery power. It might be a little easier to use the pen unhindered by wires if you’re drawing large or complex models, but we didn’t feel particularly restricted by being tethered to the socket.
After about five hours of use, our pen stopped working. A bit of investigation showed that the panel that covered the buttons and display had slipped out of place and was holding one of the buttons down. This panel had only been glued on using weak glue. We prised it off and the pen continued to work, but it highlights the quality – or lack thereof – of the materials used in the manufacture of such a cheap device. Perhaps, if we had two pens, we could have doodled a new cover for the display, but we left it naked and didn’t run into any further issues.
The pen we bought was marketed as ‘For Kids Birthday Christmas Gift’. However, while children would no doubt enjoy the process of building up models using such a pen, the high temperature of the plastic extruded from the nozzle makes it impossible to recommend for younger makers. PLA comes out around 170 °C, and we lightly burned ourselves more than once while testing this out, (mainly due to our ability to forget that molten plastic is hot).
We don’t consider the 3D pen particularly dangerous (particularly when compared to other maker tools, such as power drills and soldering irons), but it’s certainly possible to hurt yourself if you’re not careful. Low temperature pens that either use a different plastic or use UV curing are available.
Overall, the 3D pen is fun to use and it can be used to create some interesting looking things. However, it’s not particularly suited to making anything practical. They’re often sold as 3D printer pens, and this oversells the usefulness of the device.
