When the 3Doodler 3D pen was announced in 2013, I had high hopes for what I could “print” with the pen. After all, you were only limited by your imagination, right? Turns out he was also limited by a complete lack of artistic ability. My creations weren’t exactly recognizable as anything.
Six years later, there are other options in this regard, including the Oaxis myFirst 3D Pen. As the name suggests, this pen is geared towards kids, with simple controls that get you started quickly. There is a single multifunction button at the top that you click once to start or stop drawing. Clicking twice will eject the PLA filament from the pen.
That filament is specially formulated to work at low temperatures, which solves my first concern about a 3D pen. After all, the pen works by melting plastic and expelling it through the tip of the pen. If I give it to a child, I have to make sure they can’t do too much damage with it, and burns top the list of things that will put it on the Christmas blacklist.
This pen doesn’t seem to reach potentially scorching temperatures, so you can handle the pen and even plastic directly from the pen without having to go to the hospital in a timely manner.
Rechargeable battery
It also has a rechargeable battery that you can power up via USB, so you’re not tied down while you “draw.” It’s a small thing, but it’s amazing what a big difference it makes.
There are three PLA plastic coils you can start with; However, only the colors blue, white, and black are included, which is a bit limiting.
I say limit, but it was probably a good thing that I didn’t have a rainbow of colors to choose from. Nothing I did seemed to come close to what I had in my head, although I got a little better with practice. My creations stopped falling over or collapsing on themselves, for example. More colors would have simply created a more colorful mess of warped creations.
If you’re worried about using plastic, by the way, don’t; PLA is biodegradable and made from renewable materials. It’s not ideal, but if you want to make 3D models, PLA at least has some green credentials.
This is one that definitely takes practice. https://myfirst.tech/myfirst-3dpen/
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