Draw in the Air with This Amazing 3D Printing Pen That Anyone Can Use

TwoPages 3D Printing Pen Review and Demo

Buy it at Amazon: TwoPages 3D Printing Pen [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Good starter kit, fun and easy to use, short power cord, slow load but fast eject when changing colors.

The 3D printing pen comes with the A/C adapter, 3 spools of 1.75mm diameter PLA filament, and an instruction manual. The pen is fairly lightweight weighing 2.5 oz. On the back is the power port and above that the filament feed opening. On the body of the pen you've got an LCD panel, and temperature setting buttons. On the right hand side you have the speed control and mode switching buttons, and on the other side are the filament feed and reverse buttons.

The instructions are poorly translated but the unit is fairly straight forward to use. First you'll plug the adapter into the back of the pen. The pen has no internal battery and must be plugged in to use it. The cord on the adapter is only 43" long; a longer cord would have made plugging in under or behind a desk much easier. The screen will show you the current temperature, the target temperature, the filament feed speed, and the current material type mode. The unit heats up very quickly so you can get started in less than a minute. PLA and ABS are the material types and melt at different temperature so make sure to select the correct mode for your filament type. You also want to make sure you're in a well ventilated room so that you are not inhaling a lot of fumes as the plastic melts. To change modes, press the two buttons on the right hand side at the same time (this isn't explained well in the manual).

Once the pen reaches the target temperature, you can start feeding the filament you want into the pen. While feeding the filament make sure to press and hold the forward feed button to draw the filament into the pen as there is no auto start on the filament feed. It will take 30-40 seconds before you see any material coming out of the end (on 'speed6'). Drawing with the pen is fun but you have to go pretty slow to allow the filament to harden as you work. The faster you move, the thinner the filament will be as you stretch it out. It's a little tricky at first but after some practice you'll get the hang of it. You can make sure really cool 3D drawings that you can pick up when you're done. Do some searches on Google to find templates to help you construct 3D models (coasters, lamp shades, monuments, etc.). The included PLA plastic dries hard and firm but some materials are flexible so feel free to experiment with other types of filament (PLA or ABS based). Overall, the pen works well and comes with enough filament to get you started. It's easy to use and ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in your hand allowing you to draw for a good amount of time without getting tired. The tip where you hold it will get very warm during use so if it's too hot, set the pen down and let it cool off a bit; it has an auto-shutoff if you don't feed filament through for a few minutes. After you stop feeding, you may notice excess material seeping out of the tip. You can safely wipe this off with a paper towel. When changing colors, press and hold the reverse button. The filament backs out pretty fast, though loading a new color will take the same 30-40 seconds and there will be a few inches of old/mixed color before the new color comes out cleanly. While a bit wasteful, it's really not that much material.

Buy it at Amazon: TwoPages 3D Printing Pen [Affiliate Link]