Incredible $99 handheld 3D printer coming soon to a store near you

BGR ^ | January 7, 2014 | Zach Epstein

[2ndDivisionVet]

3D printing has been a huge deal for businesses for some time now, but consumers are just beginning to get a taste of this amazing new technology thanks to a new wave of more affordable devices. MakerBot announced a very cool new consumer-grade 3D printer during this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, but it still costs $1,375, which means it’s probably only a good buy for people with a real need for 3D model printing. But those looking to simply dabble with the exciting emerging tech will soon have a nearby option in the form of WobbleWorks’ 3Doodler.

WobbleWorks on Tuesday announced the upcoming wider availability of its critically acclaimed $99 handheld 3D printer, which allows users to draw 3D objects in the air by hand. The 3Doodler, which debuted last year following a massive crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, will soon be available for purchase in Brookstone stores and the MoMA Store. It will also be available online from both retailers, as well as from ThinkGeek.

The device will begin reaching online retailers’ virtual shelves by the end of January. WobbleWorks’ full press release follows below along with a video showing the 3Doodler in action.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

Hand-held 3D Printing Pen 3Doodler to Retail with ThinkGeek, Brookstone & the MoMA Store

LAS VEGAS, January 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ –

3Doodler announces retail and accessories news at CES, world’s biggest consumer tech tradeshow

http://www.the3doodler.com/ 3Doodler, the world’s first 3D drawing pen, is announcing their worldwide plans to retail in 2014 as well as launching a range of exciting accessories at CES.

3Doodler are attending their first ever CES this January, with the announcement that the pen will be available across the US at Brookstone’s retail stores, as well as online with quirky gift websiteThinkGeek, the MoMA Store, and Maker Shed. Many more exciting retail partnerships will be named shortly, meaning that hobbyists, artists, designers and engineers from across the globe will now have easier access to 3Doodler. 3Doodler’s official launch partner for design, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Store, firmly marks the pen as the must-have tool for artists and designers.

“3Doodler allows people to create amazing 3D objects without the restrictions of complicated software, limited only by their imagination” said Max Bogue, Co-Founder and CEO of WobbleWorks: “We wanted to create something that didn’t require technical knowledge or expensive hardware. We’re very excited to say that you can expect to see 3Doodlers across the globe, from the USA to Europe, Australia and Asia, before the summer, making 3D creation more accessible to the average person than ever before.”

CES also marks the launch of an exciting range of 3Doodler accessories. The first is a holder for the pen, which makes storing the 3Doodler in between Doodling easier, while also doubling as a moveable platform to allow you to create larger structures with far less hassle. 3Doodler will also be launching the first in a series of changeable nozzles, allowing users to extrude plastic in different shapes and sizes; as well as DoodleBlocks™; silicon molds that can be easily “filled in” with the ABS or PLA plastic from the pen. The molds come in various shapes including stars, numbers, and letters, making it effortless to create perfectly shaped objects.

Daniel Cowen, Co-Founder explains: “The 3Doodler accessories, as well as the 100s of stencils now available on the 3Doodler website, are an integral part of building our community. 3Doodler continues to spark imaginations, as people find new ways of using the pen to create amazing things. We hope these new accessories give rise to even more innovation. It’s a great start to the year – we’ve gone from being an unknown startup to shipping more than 25,000 pens, launching a series of add-ons to the 3Doodler, and retailing worldwide. Watch this space for exciting new partnerships.”

[prisoner6]

Sooo it's like an electric glue gun that melts plastics with a somewhat better control of flow.

Decades ago I used to cut up my plastic army figures, melt them with a solder gun and form the plastic into parts for my model cars, trains and planes.

Didn't work well, often caught fire and the fumes were acrid and dangerous.

Maybe that's why I can't get fired up over 3D printing.

[KoRn]

Try not to stay too busy! :)

[kitkat]

I want one.

NOW

[momincombatboots]

LOL... getting one for DH.

[reformedliberal]

Why?

I have looked closely at this item and it has some limited utility for repairing broken plastic and _maybe_ some amusement in *sketching* linear 3D designs. What will anyone do with the 3D sketches? They aren’t very durable or very esthetic. For lost wax processes, there are already wax guns that can make interesting shapes, but even those are lacking precision. I can see a place for 3D printing in making models, but then, you still need molds and casting to get some sort of production.

Personally, this toy is worth _maybe_ $39.95, at most. It is not worth $100 and it is not a 3D printer, handheld or otherwise.

We are professional craftspeople who have been watching the entire 3D development with a lot of interest. It is still in its infancy. It still quite limited. It takes a lot of time to just make a one-off. The printers that can use metal powders and sintering are the most interesting to me and that type has come a long way in the past 20 years. I saw the first sintered titanium jewelry in the late 1980s, when it was still quite crude with an unpleasant surface texture. Intriguing, but it never really took off as even a limited production process.

So, I am curious: what would you dream of doing with this Doodler?

[GEC]

I bought into this on Kickstarter over 8 or 9 months ago as a present for my daughter. Her older brother and I built a Prusa Mendel 3D printer in our basement a year and a half ago from a MakerGear kit. We’ve had great fun designing and building things for ourselves and others ever since.

She can’t wait to get her own “3D printer” in her hands now that she knows it’s coming. She’s an artist, or at least fancies herself as such, and the ability to draw in 3D is appealing to her. My kids both now understand that they can create anything they can imagine.

The 3Doodler only appeals to me as a repair tool, but I did give her an idea that I think will resonate with her and others.

Little kids love balloon animals at parties. I told her that she could learn to do the same kind of thing with the 3Doodler at the local Children’s Hospital. Whether it’s drawing “puppies” for kids with cancer, or “caterpillars” for kids with epilepsy during an EEG, I think she’ll enjoy bringing a little sunshine into others’ lives.

[GEC]

Forgot to mention that as far a Kickstarters go, this project was a doozie.

It was oversubscribed by a factor of almost 80.

I expect it to arrive this month, a month earlier than it was promised.

[Haddit]

A robotic arm that learns by positioning it
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20131113-make-your-own-3d-printed-trainable-robotic-arm.html

I have seen this before and printing in thin air sounds kind of hard. But yesterday morning I woke up and this thought hit me, what if I had that robotic arm and painted a carousel pony. I could recreate that pony with a 3d printer. You would paint the pony with the arm for the learning process, remove the pony and have the printer paint it again without the pony, but this time the printer would be recreating the pony.

I’m going to build one. Radio Shack is selling Arduino boards and I think our future is in automation. Personal, home or strip mall manufacturing is going to become common.

I thought that if I advertised for printing in 3D that it would be like a virtual Kinkos where I could do some architectural plans in Los Angeles and have them printed localy in Little Rock Arkansas. I wanted to be one of the 3D printers, similar to a 2d Kinkos.

It didn’t work out that way. Yesterday I had an order from New Zealand and another one from Canada. Apparently 3D printing is still in its infancy if a guy from New Zealand orders from a guy from Los Angeles. It is so easy, I Slice it and hit print then take the parts to FedEx.

I’m not stuck on 3D printing, I’m stuck on Arduino. I think this is where our immediate future is.

[Dalberg-Acton]

From the website, this is not a printer. It’s a pen.

[ThanhPhero]

It is not a printer, 3D or otherwise.

[2ndDivisionVet]

You do know that I don’t write these articles nor the headlines, right?

[Dalberg-Acton]

Yes Sir. That wasn’t directed at you. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Haddit]

Thanks for the link, This is fun, I’ve been involved in everything since the early 1970s. I love technology.

[tanknetter]

True, but would anyone like to take bets on Libs and the Obama DoJ trying to ban the thing under the claim that it could be used to produce a working firearm?

Didn’t think so ...