LIX: 3D Printing Pen that lets You Draw in the Air - Polidicks

[quote=article]LIX is the latest contender in the handheld 3D-printing field. Launched just a few hours ago on Kickstarter, the developers say the super compact design is smaller than any other pen on the market and it can even be powered by the electricity from a USB port. After turning it on the LIX takes less than a minute to heat up and you’re ready to start creating vertical illustrations. Via LIX: LIX 3D printing pen has the similar function as 3D printers. It melts and cools coloured plastic, letting you create rigid and freestanding structures. Lix has a hot-end nozzle that is power supplied from USB 3.0 port. The plastic filament ABS/PLA is introduced in the upper extremity of Lix Pen. The filament goes through a patented mechanism while moving through the pen to finally reach the hot-end nozzle which melts and cools it down. An interesting fact about this light-weight, engineered pen is that these structures can be formed in any imaginable shape.[/quote] [img]http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/lix-21.gif[/img] Nuff said. This is fucking awesome. [url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lix3d/lix-the-smallest-3d-printing-pen-in-the-world]Kickstarter[/url] [url]http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/04/lix-the-worlds-smallest-3d-printing-pen-lets-you-draw-in-the-air/[/url]

now i can realize my dream of drawing dicks and profanity in the air thanks lix

I remember the kickstarter for this a while back. looks like they updated the design a little. [editline]30th April 2014[/editline] concept, i mean.

Definitely looks better and more functional then before

This looks much sleeker than the 3Doodler, but then again that was the first of it's kind.

fuck we're going into the future

Pretty cool

[QUOTE=Tmaxx;44688000]I remember the kickstarter for this a while back. looks like they updated the design a little. [editline]30th April 2014[/editline] concept, i mean.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure this is a entirely different company. I think what you are talking about is the 3Doodler. LIX basically took the design of the 3Doodler and made it better from what I can tell.

Fuck yeah! I always wanted something like this!

sooo, it's a [URL="http://the3doodler.com/"]3Doodler[/URL] just smaller? [editline]30th April 2014[/editline] the "interview" is a bit awkward [video=vimeo;89303153]http://vimeo.com/89303153[/video]

Is there any mention of how much it will cost?

From what I've googled it's going to be about 140 USD

this is sweet

[IMG]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/873/570/e275d2536f1e32bf87884b1e43ced560_large.jpg?1397395571[/IMG] I can't wait to have one of these.

I can touch my waifus titties now Thank you

Although a neat concept, for $130 I think I would prefer paying the extra ~$170 for a Micro 3D printer because [URL="http://gizmodo.com/hands-on-the-3doodler-3d-printing-pen-patience-is-a-vi-1496463299"]drawing in 3d is about as difficult as you'd expect[/URL].

Huh, free-standing illustrations? That's kinda cool, actually, even though the title, including the one on the Kickstarter, almost gave me the impression that the "draw in the air" would be like drawing things in mid-air. Regardless it's still cool.

It's cool, but its plastic is so flimsy in order to have these fast melting and cooling times.

One of the nice things of 3D printing is that it removes human error. With this, you obviously wouldn't have the accuracy of actual 3D printers; drawing and simple figures seems like the only thing you'd be able to do with this. I can see where they're coming from though.

[QUOTE=The golden;44688479]This seems to be more of a drawing tool for artists than any sort of 3D printing tool.[/QUOTE] They market it as a 3D printing tool though

Fancy

I think these are going to be so much harder to use than people expect, I really don't think it's practical. And it certainly is not an alternative to 3D printing. A novelty at best.

This shit is suspicious as all hell. See how in the gif the hand is cut to a new shot for each letter? They're not showing the transition for some reason, even in all the videos I've seen, and the video in source. They don't show going from one letter to another, it's ALWAYS a jump-cut for some reason. leads me to think it's tedious, or something that will disrupt the flow of writing heavily.

[QUOTE=Azza;44688917]This shit is suspicious as all hell. See how in the gif the hand is cut to a new shot for each letter? They're not showing the transition for some reason, even in all the videos I've seen, and the video in source. They don't show going from one letter to another, it's ALWAYS a jump-cut for some reason. leads me to think it's tedious, or something that will disrupt the flow of writing heavily.[/QUOTE] that's not video that's a timelapse. Look at the letters and you can see where the hand takes time at the bottom to form a solid base. You can also see the lines are seperated into four segments this is where the hand lets the plastic cool before continuing on.

Well no shit it's tedious, did you see how slow he had to move that thing while he was writing?

[QUOTE=SwizzChees;44688188] the "interview" is a bit awkward[/QUOTE] You beat me to it, I was going to say on how the first person that shows up in the video is actively trying to avoid looking at the camera. [T]http://puu.sh/8tZd7.png[/T]

Not even moderately excited about this. Apart from the jarringly awful interviews the pen does not seem useful. [QUOTE=Xgamer921;44688251][IMG]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/873/570/e275d2536f1e32bf87884b1e43ced560_large.jpg?1397395571[/IMG] I can't wait to have one of these.[/QUOTE] I would like to point out from everything shown, you would need a shit load of those fuel cables they put into the pen to complete something even close to that size. Furthermore, the general handling of the pen seems so wonky that you might as well just take the fuel cables, a hair dryer, and the end of a hot glue gun and work from that. It would be a whole lot easier than trying to create something with this pen.

[QUOTE=Thlis;44689107]Not even moderately excited about this. Apart from the jarringly awful interviews the pen does not seem useful. I would like to point out from everything shown, you would need a shit load of those fuel cables they put into the pen to complete something even close to that size. Furthermore, the general handling of the pen seems so wonky that you might as well just take the fuel cables, a hair dryer, and the end of a hot glue gun and work from that. It would be a whole lot easier than trying to create something with this pen.[/QUOTE] It's not about being useful, it's just cool as fuck. And you genuinely feel that using a hair dryer, hot glue gun, and tubes of plastic is easier than using a handheld device that performs the same function? Idk what you're so butthurt about, don't buy it if it doesn't interest you. I'm disappointed that they're sold out on Kickstarter, I would have gladly pledged the $80 to get one, but $150 is too steep.

[QUOTE=skzerk;44688524]They market it as a 3D printing tool though[/QUOTE] I could see use for repairing cracks in large prints before smoothing with acetone, although I usually just use an ABS slurry for the same thing soo...

[QUOTE=Aetna;44689138]It's not about being useful, it's just cool as fuck. And you genuinely feel that using a hair dryer, hot glue gun, and tubes of plastic is easier than using a handheld device that performs the same function? Idk what you're so butthurt about, don't buy it if it doesn't interest you. I'm disappointed that they're sold out on Kickstarter, I would have gladly pledged the $80 to get one, but $150 is too steep.[/QUOTE] Honestly you seem to be the one that's over reacting. I am just saying that the device seems useless. And no, it would be a whole lot easier to use a hairdryer, and I will explain why. Everything so far suggests that for the device to work it melts down the plastic into a semi liquid solid state which would require heat. The user must then move the pen to the next position and hold it in that position while the plastic cools (which we don't really have a timeframe for, but since their example is sped up, don't get your hopes up). Where as with my alternative you only need to partially melt positions which require a curve or a joint, not the entire strand. This means less time wasted waiting for it to cool down and more structural integrity while constructing what ever you are constructing.