3D pen - what can you do and why?

What is a 3D Pen?

This is a miniature pocket 3D printer, or, to put it smartly, it is a compact portable device that allows you to create three-dimensional shapes and patterns from a special plastic thread or photopolymer mass.

With the help of such a gadget you can draw as a template, for example, over a sheet of paper with a stencil, and in the air, creating voluminous figures yourself, which for children and adolescents will not only be interesting, but useful, because such exercises help develop creative and spatial thinking. In addition, 3D pen can become a useful device for more adult owners who are studying or already working in creative fields, for example, related to design, architecture, jewelry, drawing and sculpture.

Well and one more a little non-standard, but sometimes very useful way of application of such device - if suddenly at you something unexpectedly broke, and breakage needs to be eliminated in waltz tempo, and reliable glue or a glutinous pistol is at hand ... Yes. So it can also be applied. Just believe that several drops of melted plastic are sometimes the most necessary thing in the household.

What are the 3D handles? Types and features

3D handles are "hot" and "cold" type, they are very different both in principle of work and in their capabilities.

Hot 3D pens

Models of 3D handles that work with plastic heat it inside the gadget, and the volume line is created from a semi-fluid hot mass, and the resulting design or the drawn picture cools and solidifies within a few seconds of formation. Speeding up this process is helped by a special fan on the case of the device. The operating temperature of 3D handles can range from 50 ° C to 240 ° C, depending on the type of device and the type of plastic, so some precautions should be taken when working with it. Accordingly, such toys will suit, more likely, adolescents and adults, than kids.

Pros and cons of hot pens

This type of pens for modeling is simple and convenient to use, they have a small weight and size, and the cost of both the device itself and the consumables for it is quite budgetary. What can be attributed to the drawbacks of the design is the presence of a plastic rod / coil protruding from the upper end of the handle, and a power wire attached to the gadget - some users find this uncomfortable.

Cool 3D Handles
The second kind of 3D handles works with photopolymers - these are ultraviolet models. Gadgets of this type, for example, produces the Singapore brand Creopop. Devices that work with photopolymer mass, are excellent for children's creativity, because to create 3D models and drawings of such material does not need heat.

Pros and Cons of Cold Handles

Most models of cold 3D pens are somewhat larger than their hot "brothers", but they can be used to practice children's creativity with almost no restrictions - such a pen can not be burned, so that it can be safely given to a child for games. By cons, you can consider the higher cost of both the pen itself and the consumables for them, as well as not the highest strength of photopolymers, especially the budget segment - plastic models will still be stronger.