IFA 2013: Hands-On Alone Time with the 3Doodler 3D Printing Pen

Anyone following our articles could already be familiar with the 3Doodler 3D printing pen. I've essentially been keeping up with it ever since it was first conceived and posted on Kickstarter.

That was all the way back in February though, and the project has gone through some changes since then, although no major ones.

In fact, the only real change of note is the price. Where it once came for $50 / €50, it is now priced at $75/€75 ($99 in the US).

Then again, $50 was just the initial minimum pledge on the Kickstarter project launch website. It's not totally unexpected that the selling point would be a tad higher.

Alas, some may still frown at the figure. After all, 3Doodler, one might argue, does little more than heat up the plastic sticks shoved into its top end.

Then again, it's not all that easy to ensure a constant temperature that only renders the plastic malleable without making it too soft, or causing smell of molten plastic to waft everywhere.

That said, we were able to get our hands on the 3Doodler during the Showstoppers opening on September 5, here in Berlin, Germany, and we have to say the little guy performs as advertized.

It was getting a lot of attention too. The folks at WobbleWorks LLC made sure to bring a few of the pens, some large sheets of paper with 2-d models, and a bunch of pre-built structures, like the Eiffel tower, a large clock tower, etc.

The only issue we noted, if it can even be called that, is that the 3Doodler takes a bit of getting used to before the grip settles on it. It's pretty thick, since all the electronics inside had to go somwhere.

It also took a bit of fiddling and pushing to make the pen properly draw on a replacement stick. Anyone wishing to buy one should make sure to firmly push those plastic sticks in when starting a design.

As for the plastic sticks, 10 bags in mixed color should ship for $24 / €24, unless those scary rumors about $10/€10 a piece turn out to be true.