How To Use A 3D Printing Pen

You may have already heard a lot about 3D printing this year, with 3D printing devices being widely used in manufacturing, medicine, arts and crafts and even fashion.

If you have always wanted to know what it feels like to bring an idea to life with 3D printing, but are not quite ready to drop the big bucks on a professional 3D printer just yet – a stereoscopic printing pen, or a 3D printing pen, is a perfect tool to get you started.

What is a 3D Printing Pen?

A 3D printing pen looks just like your average pen. However, instead of drawing on paper, it created real objects by extruding melted plastic, which quickly cools down to form the needed structure. In other words, you have yourself something similar to a handheld 3D printer.

How does a 3D printing pen work?

As you already know from the paragraph above, a 3D printing pen uses heated plastic filaments that are squeezed through an extruder tip. So, if you have ever used a glue gun, you will be very familiar with the process.

1. Take the pen and filaments out of the box.
2. Connect the pen through the power supply. You will see the LED light on the pen light up.
3. Press the wire feed button on the side of the pen (depends on your 3D printing pen model). It will light up in red. Once the pen heats up, the light will turn green.
4. Once the light is green, it’s time to insert the filament. Choose the color you want to use for your 3D creation and carefully pass the filament through the hole at the back of the pen.
5. You will hear the motor working as it’s getting the filament through the device. Keep at it until you see melted plastic coming out on the other end of the pen.
6. Now you are all set to start drawing. Just take a few seconds to get familiar with the controls. Most 3D printing pens come with 4 main controls that you will see on the sides of the pen.

Forward Arrow– to get the melted plastic moving forwards.

Backward Arrow – to get the melted plastic moving (you guessed it) backwards.

Temperature Adjuster – so that you can change the temperature the pen used to melt the filament.

Speed Adjuster – to increase or decrease the speed with which the melted plastic is coming out.

7. Once you’ve got the hang of the controls, there’s no more sense in delaying the fun part. Let’s get started!
8. We suggest you start by using the on a sheet of paper. Place the paper on your desk, press the Forward Arrow and start drawing.
9. A simple thing you can try to do at first is making a vertical 3D line. Hold the pen to the paper first and then start drawing upwards. When you get to the height you want, hold the pen steady for a while to let the plastic harden. Then move the pen – and there you have it – a vertical 3D line.
10. You can now go on to build further simple shapes, connecting the lines, making curves and more. Once your confidence level is up, go ahead and start bringing your visual ideas to life!

Ready to start creating? Check out our selection of 3D printing pens here!