There is a large amount of discussion online about this brilliant idea for drawing in 3D.
Today’s invention is a simpler approach to the same task.
A pen has a reel of common-or-garden fast-melt plastic ‘wire’ at one end. The reel is motor driven so that depressing a button forces the plastic out at the writing end as a (solid) straight line.
Another button causes a small heater to rapidly soften (or melt) a very short section of the wire -just as it emerges (which is a lot simpler than having to use plastic which melts and then solidifies in milliseconds).
This allows changes of direction and bonding between preexisting drawing and newly-emerged material.
The next step would be to attach this devide to a robot arm and do simple 3D printing at high speed.
