My 3D pen arrived in the post so I thought I would start some experiments and post a sort of review if anyone else feels tempted to try one.
I got a MYNT3D pen to start with. It seems to be a fairly reasonable version priced at somewhere around $60 plus postage for us so about 40 pounds I imagine. It comes with everything you need and is powered by a standard USB charger. On the top of the pen is a little display that shows the temperature. I chose to work with PLA filament which melts at about 175 degrees C and is the most ecological type with no smelly vapeurs. ABS is the other common filament type, this melts at about 220 degrees C but also emits some chemical type odeurs so SWMBO would not like that. It is small and light to operate.
On one side of the pen is a speed adjustment for the rate of extrusion and on the other side is the extrude and reverse buttons for drawing or to remove the PLA filament.
I bought a reel of PLA for about $25 I am told that it contains about 300 meters. I suspect that this stuff gets used up fairly quickly.
The pen is manipulated like a regular drawing instrument and so the results are a little dependent on your drawing skills. One thing is certain and that is it is very difficult, if not impossible to obtain smooth finished models with such a device. If you can imagine it is like sculpting with thin floppy spaghetti. Having said that I still think it can perform a number of tasks quite well. As a first experiment I decided to have a go at making an approximately 1/35 scale tree. I drew on a paper surface then lifted the plastic off to assemble the tree. Assembly is very straight forward since the pen works like a simple spot welder and individual pieces can be stuck together or unstuck with a little touch of the nozzle.
Here is my first attempt. In order to shape some of the branches or to 'smooth' the surface I used a pyrogravure although a cool soldering iron would also work. The finished product can be primed with regular Tamiya super fine and painted with acrylics. I think I will buy some other coloured filament so that the surface can be seen a little better. With the addition of some foliage I think there is definitely potential for vegetation modelling. Next time I will try some other types of modelling experiments.
I hope someone may find this interesting.
John
I got a MYNT3D pen to start with. It seems to be a fairly reasonable version priced at somewhere around $60 plus postage for us so about 40 pounds I imagine. It comes with everything you need and is powered by a standard USB charger. On the top of the pen is a little display that shows the temperature. I chose to work with PLA filament which melts at about 175 degrees C and is the most ecological type with no smelly vapeurs. ABS is the other common filament type, this melts at about 220 degrees C but also emits some chemical type odeurs so SWMBO would not like that. It is small and light to operate.
On one side of the pen is a speed adjustment for the rate of extrusion and on the other side is the extrude and reverse buttons for drawing or to remove the PLA filament.
I bought a reel of PLA for about $25 I am told that it contains about 300 meters. I suspect that this stuff gets used up fairly quickly.
The pen is manipulated like a regular drawing instrument and so the results are a little dependent on your drawing skills. One thing is certain and that is it is very difficult, if not impossible to obtain smooth finished models with such a device. If you can imagine it is like sculpting with thin floppy spaghetti. Having said that I still think it can perform a number of tasks quite well. As a first experiment I decided to have a go at making an approximately 1/35 scale tree. I drew on a paper surface then lifted the plastic off to assemble the tree. Assembly is very straight forward since the pen works like a simple spot welder and individual pieces can be stuck together or unstuck with a little touch of the nozzle.
Here is my first attempt. In order to shape some of the branches or to 'smooth' the surface I used a pyrogravure although a cool soldering iron would also work. The finished product can be primed with regular Tamiya super fine and painted with acrylics. I think I will buy some other coloured filament so that the surface can be seen a little better. With the addition of some foliage I think there is definitely potential for vegetation modelling. Next time I will try some other types of modelling experiments.
I hope someone may find this interesting.
John
