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This article was taken from the September 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
What if you could doodle in the air with a pen that "draws" 3D objects? Boston-based toymaker WobbleWorks has made the 3Doodler, a pen that, instead of ink, squirts out melted plastic, which hardens into permanent shapes as you sketch.
The idea came to cofounder Peter Dilworth in early 2012 while watching his Up! 3D printer make a toy casing -- but leaving a hole in it: "I just wanted to pick up the printer head and fill the spot in myself." Eight months later, Dilworth and cofounder Max Bogue had built a sleek pen -- like a welding tool or a small drill - that can be refilled with coloured polylactic acid or ABS plastic to draw 3D shapes. When the 3Doodler was launched on Kickstarter, its founders had a goal of $30,000 (£20,000): enough to produce a few pens and test them out among the craft-hobbyist community. "We ended up with $2.34 million (£1.5 million) and 26,458 backers in 34 days," says Bogue, 32, the CEO. "We'll ship to our backers in September." In 2014 the pen is due to sell for about $99 (£64) in shops in the US, UK, Germany and France.
The 3Doodler works by pushing plastic through its 0.3mm-nib. The nib heats the plastic to make it malleable, while a cooling system hardens the plastic as it squeezes out. You can use the tip to cut the plastic and adhere individual lines or squiggles together.
Faraz Warsi, the company's chief doodler, has created objects such as a 60cm Eiffel tower and an anatomically detailed hand. "We want all kinds of people to use it. Architects for quick sketches, teachers for helping kids grasp geometry," says Bogue. "The simplicity of the device means even children can understand what 3D printing is."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
