3D printer V.S. 3D pen!

What is it all about?

The first question some of you might ask is, "What is a 3D pen?" Of course, some of you are bound to have heard it, but this is for those of you who haven't. In answer, a 3D pen is a thick, round pen-sized tube with a screen, some buttons, and two holes in the back, and a nozzle in the front.

This model is from AIO robotics, and I personally like it. There are many things you can do with it, some of which we will see today.

Pros n' Cons

This section will show the differences between a 3D printer and an 3D pen.

PEN:

Pros: inexpensive (30-60$), easy multicolor objects, can FIX things (more later), no programming or apps necessary, easily portable.

Cons: not as smooth, cannot go into as much detail.

PRINTER:

Pros: can make bigger and more complex objects, creates smooth finish.

Cons: not portable, normally NEEDS a computer to run, very slow, expensive (100s-1000s$).

Getting started: uses for pen

First, let's list some ways the pen can be used: you can make objects, normally by making all the different flat pieces and then fitting them together, you can fix objects (see "What I have done"), you can make ornaments and gifts, and you can easily do that anywhere.

Now: how do you use this pen? I will be using the PR1002 AIO robotics 3D pen for this tutorial, yours may differ from this. For starters, let's look at the different aspects of the pen. You will see that at the front there is a single nozzle, and at the back there are two holes. One hole is for power, one is for filament. There is a small, bright screen surrounded by 6 buttons. The buttons are as follows: in, out, speed up, speed down, temp. up, temp down. To operate, push some filament as far in as it will go into the filament hole, and plug in pen. The pen will start out at about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Click the "in" button once to start heating it. Use the temp. buttons to control temperature, default being 180 degrees. Once pen is at the right temp, it is time to feed the filament in!

There are two different ways to feed filament in. One is to hold the in button down, and the filament will go in until you let it up. The other is to double press the in button and it will feed until you press the in button once more. Same is for out button, except the other way around.

What I have done with the pen

I have done a few things with the pen, which are below.