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The latest 3Doodler 3D printing pen is smoother and easier
The team at WobbleWorks has been quick to iterate on the concept of a 3D printing pen in the past 3 years, and it's not stopping any time soon. The startup has unveiled the 3Doodler Create, a third-generation pen that irons out some of the remaining kinks. The refined drive system should give you smoother output, but the real centerpiece may be the ease of use: WobbleWorks is promising simpler controls that get anyone printing "in seconds." It's even a bit flashier, as there's an both an ambient light bar as well as a transparent panel to show what's going on inside.
New 3Doodler 3D printer pen gets slimmer and prettier
Remember the 3Doodler? A pen that lets you draw in the air with plastic -- basically a hand-held 3D printer. Well, the fine folks at WobbleWorks are back with an all-new 3D Doodler that's improved in just about every way possible. Most notably, this thing is tiny. It's just a quarter of the size of the first-gen device. Really, it's not much bigger than a large permanent marker at this point. And it's not much heavier either: At 50g (1.77 ounces) it's just half the weight of the original. But the improvements don't stop there. This pen is also quieter and uses less power. The latter part is especially important since the company is also debuting the JetPack (along with other accessories), a portable battery that lets you doodle with PLA or ABS plastic for between two and three hours while you're on the go. The new, aluminum-clad pen adds a double click for continuous flow (so you don't have to just hold the button down the whole time) and has two speed options depending on what you're drawing.
Live from the Engadget CES stage: WobbleWorks CEO Maxwell Bogue
It's been quite the year for WobbleWorks. The robotics toy combo made a mint on its Kickstarter campaign for the 3Doodler, a $100 3D printing pen, and now the combo is marking CES with the announcement of retail availability through Brookstone. January 9, 2014 4:30:00 PM EST
Check out 3Doodler's upcoming accessories and swappable tips
WobbleWorks' almost finished shipping Kickstarter backers their 3Doodler 3D-printing pens, and next month, post-crowdfunding pre-orders will begin to be filled. The company announced today a US retail launch later this year -- a "major retailer" in the UK is also on board, apparently -- but in addition to that, it showcased its first round of accessories for the device here at CES. While pricing and availability info elude us, we've seen a range of new tips for the pen, from different standard nozzle sizes to square and triangular heads, among others. They'll come neatly contained within a tool you'll need to swap them out, the design of which is still being finalized. If your freehand 3Doodling is more Picasso than Monet, then look forward to the DoodleSuit, which looks like a cradle, but functions more like a computer mouse. Three legs stabilize the pen, and buttons on two of the legs tell it how fast you want heated plastic to come out of the tip. If you're still struggling to make pretty things, then perhaps you'd better let DoodleBlocks guide you. They're basically stencils for tracing uniform shapes, and although WobbleWorks only had a star to demo today, more are planned, including some that'll let you create elaborate 3D shapes, minimal skill required. Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
3Doodler 3D printing pen coming to Brookstone stores later this year
If the only thing standing between you and a $99 3Doodler was the ability to mull the decision over in a nearby massage chair, 2014 is your year. Wobbleworks announced today that its 3D printing pen is finally getting a little retail distribution, namely Brookstone, which will be adding the peripheral to its offbeat gadget arsenal later this year. The 3Doodler's also extending its online reach, thanks to ThinkGeek, the MoMa Store and Maker Shed. The Wobbleworks team is apparently heating up even more retail partnerships, though it's not quite ready to offer up any information for the time being.
3Doodler review: a $99 3D-printing pen
I've spent a fair bit of time trying to explain the WobbleWorks 3Doodler to people over the past year or so. My descriptions generally alternate between the company's slightly misleading "3D-printing pen" to "sort of like a hot glue gun that melts plastic, so you can write in the air." Makes sense, right? The company didn't have much trouble getting the message across, though: it raised an astounding $2.3 million on Kickstarter after initially aiming for just $30,000. And really, it may be precisely the product's strangeness that made it a runaway hit with the crowdfunding community in the first place. In a world of lookalike smartphones, tablets and even 3D printers, the 3Doodler offers something unique, letting users create strange new works of art -- and it does so with a seemingly reasonable price of $99. The pen looks like it may have the "tech gift for the early adopter who has everything" title pretty well wrapped up (though only backers will get it in time for the holidays -- the rest of us will have to wait for a belated early 2014 arrival) But crowdfunding videos aside, how well does it actually work? Is it really a smart way to spend a Benjamin? More importantly, is it actually any fun?
3Doodler 3D printing pen's shipping model hits IFA, we go hands-on
Remember the 3Doodler? Odds are plenty of you do, seeing as how the company managed to nab a staggering $2.3 million for its $30,000 Kickstarter campaign. For the minority of you who didn't participate, here's a quick refresher: the device is a 3D printing pen. It's a bit like a hot glue gun for plastic -- simple and ingenuous, it melts a single strand of ABS or PLA, allowing you to draw objects in the air, solidifying as you draw up. The pen was still in early prototype phase when we first saw it, and now, here at IFA its co-creator Max Bogue is showing off the final shipping product (seeing as how Kickstarter funders will be getting theirs later this year). This 3Doodler actually looks pretty similar to that early unit. All the same elements are in place: a slot in the rear to feed in the plastic, the heated tip where it comes out in semi-liquid form, an exhaust fan (which is pretty loud, but should quiet down before people start to get theirs) and two buttons for fast and slow extrusion. Follow all of our IFA 2013 coverage by heading to our event hub!
3Doodler is a $75 3D-printing pen eagerly awaiting your Kickstarter funding (hands-on)
In April of last year, former MakerBot COO Samuel Cervantes launched the Solidoodle, a $500 3D printer. We were a bit taken aback by the price point -- after all, his former company's product had seemingly set the standard for consumer-facing 3D-printer pricing at around $2,000. We're hoping you've got both hands firmly clutching your hat when we tell you that the 3Doodler, a 3D-printing pen from the crew over at Wobbleworks, is going to run a whopping $75 at launch -- and heck, if you get in early on the company's recently launched Kickstarter, you'll be able to snag one for $50. Before we go any further, however, let's get some things out of the way. For starters, it's best to take the 3D printer thing with a grain or two of salt. Calling the 3Doodler a 3D pen is a bit like calling a high-end ink pen a 2D printer. The device is actually quite simple, but pretty brilliant. It essentially takes the heated extrusion head off a 3D printer and incorporates it into a standalone device. A single piece of plastic (ABS or PLA, for the more environmentally minded out there) is threaded through the back, fed through the pen and comes out melted through the tip. Yes, like its 3D printer brethren, it works a bit like a hot glue gun.
WobbleWorks: flapping ears and robotic dinosaur dreams
Artisan's Asylum's 30,000-odd square feet were largely uninhabited when we arrived early Wednesday afternoon. No shocker there, really -- the space's president and co-founder Gui Cavalcanti warned us in advance that it wouldn't begin filling up until later that evening, seeing as how a big portion of renters hold down nine-to-fives. They occupy desk jobs during daytime hours in order to support their after-work passions, stopping by the space in the evening hours to produce works that might some day rise above the category of hobby. The duo behind WobbleWorks are strange cases, however, not simply due to the moving rabbit and dog ears they donned during our interview -- their paying gigs hardly qualify them for the straight-laced, button-down world we've come to associate with the term "day job." In 2011, Max Bogue and Peter Dilworth founded the small toy company aiming to help fund their true passion: robotic dinosaurs.
