Lix, a London-based company, has designed a 3D printing pen that enables you to draw the 3D objects in the air. It is powered by USB port of your laptop. A plastic strip is inserted into the back of pen which is then melted to draw objects.
Indeed, there have been a lots of news regarding the 3D printers and the ways they are going to impact our lives in future. However, the latest innovation by Lix further simplifies the 3D printing as now by simple strokes of your pen in the air you can draw 3D objects in the air using molten 3D objects. This means within a matter of few seconds you can realize the design that you have in your mind.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd-H_7IZZd8[/youtube]
Although, it is a regular shaped pen but its functionality is more like that of a 3D printer. It uses coloured plastic as a filament which is fed as a strip into the back of the pen. The pen is plugged into a USB port for the power. The pen then heats the plastic to 150°C to give it a molten form which then comes out from the nib of the pen. Now you can draw any type of free-standing structures that you want to make. Upon contact with the air the plastic again solidifies. The larger objects can also be created by joining many of these small structures. One plastic strip can be used for two minutes of writing. After that, a new plastic strip would need to be inserted.
There are many potential application envisagble for this pen like creating custom art on shirts or making customized decoration pieces. Lix has listed the project on Kickstarter for a crowd funding campain. The first deliveries of this pen are expected in September this year.