Experiments with a 3D pen......................

[Dave Ward]

With my 3D printer working reasonably well - I saw a video on YouTube of a guy using a 3D pen & an idea came into my head - I had loads of small lengths of PLA filament spare, so a visit to AliExpress, and ten days later

You can use PLA or ABS, but only having the former simplifies things - you have to adjust temperatures to suit the material.
It takes power from the USB port on my computer - it takes about 5 minutes to warm up & you can then load the filament.
You have one button to feed the nozzle & a slider to control the rate of feed. All I can say it needs a steady hand,and quite a bit of concentration to get any useful results! After producing a load of doodles & puddles to work out the operation of the pen - I then turned to my brainwave.....................
Lorries often have varied loads, big crates are roped down, if small boxes, then netting is used to keep thing on board
This is the first attempt to make a net....................

It's tricky to get a consistent thickness! A lot of practice should help. The PLA sticks to itself, not to the paper, and just peels off, after a bit of trimming.......................
OK it's hardly the neatest attempt, but you can see the idea.
I found a round topped deodorant bottle & after changing the filament ( easy ), drew on the curved surface

Even more difficult to draw on the curved surface, than a flat piece of paper.
It peeled straight off

With a bit of trimming

The general idea would be to assemble your piles of boxes - then cover it with foil, ( very thin & flexible ), then 'draw' a net over the covered surface - the net should come straight off the foil, leaving it exactly the shape of the piles of boxes, leaving painting them easy.
The idea does work, but it'll need a lot of practice - it could also work for open guards on machinery, and potentially radar dishes?
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I was looking at how to............. videos on YouTube for the 3D pen, and I found this

I thought at first it was a bit of a con, but as you go through it you see some amazing skills and techniques - the section on making the wire wheels is jaw-dropping. There's no commentary, or subtitles, just this guys hands doing some truly amazing work.
Dave
( sorry you have to go to YouTube to watch it )

[Dave Ward]

I thought that I could use the pen to fill joints in 3D printed models, using the same filament. It has proved very hit & miss - the pen doesn't generate enough heat to form a tight bond - on thin sections it sort of works, but on thicker sections, it flakes off. You still have the problem of smoothing the joint out - I tried using a pyrogravure, but that introduces a new set of problems - it hardens the surface, making it more difficult to sand to a smooth surface. It was worth a try, but filler is much quicker & easier!
Dave

[Neil Merryweather]

I thought that I could use the pen to fill joints in 3D printed models, using the same filament. It has proved very hit & miss - the pen doesn't generate enough heat to form a tight bond - on thin sections it sort of works, but on thicker sections, it flakes off. You still have the problem of smoothing the joint out - I tried using a pyrogravure, but that introduces a new set of problems - it hardens the surface, making it more difficult to sand to a smooth surface. It was worth a try, but filler is much quicker & easier!
Dave

I used a soldering iron (adjustable but don't ask me what temp...) and a length of filament on my T Rex head



It worked for me but I didn't bother trying to sand it down afterwards

[Neil Merryweather]

have you thought of using the pen to create the cranes, or at least the finer parts?

[Dave Ward]

I used a soldering iron (adjustable but don't ask me what temp

My Pyrogravure is either on, or off! Hot enough to burn wood, probably a bit too much for PLA.
I've been experimenting with the pen - initially to make funnel caps for my Froggy ship. You have to have a very steady hand - you can produce thin straight strands quite easily, it's curves that are proving a bit tricky, and producing two the same hasn't been achieved yet!!
Dave