Introducing the Creopop
The 3D printing pen is perhaps the most surprising technological hit since the camera phone. The public demand for a pen that draws objects in thin air is palpable, you only have to look at the Kickstarter campaigns of the pen that started it all 3Doodler and it’s smaller more recent rival the Lixpen, to understand how popular the idea of 3D printing in the palm of your hand is.
The 3Doodler and all that have followed, use hard plastic filament, which melts on its way through the pen before being solidified immediately as it is extruded through the nozzle.
One of the big problems with this in a free hand tool is the heat of the hot-end/tip, despite a friendly child-friendly look the ends can reach in excess of 250 degrees so are not recommended for use by anyone under 14. CreoPop want to change that.
The battle in desktop 3D printers seems to be about SLA vs FDM (or their variants) CreoPop are bringing that battle to your hands with a UV curing resin 3D printing pen, with plastic that doesn't need heating and therefore is less dangerous and doesn't smell.
Coming out of a startup the National Design Centre in Singapore, the startup is backed by a startup acceleration investment firm HaxAsia. From what information we have gleamed it appears that the pen was invented by Dmitry Starodubtsev, who is currently the CEO of Medical Electronic Ltd – a company that produces non-invasive blood glucose measurement devices.
The CreoPop pen uses a photopolymer that cures when the pen shines a UV light on it, Creopop call the plastic ‘Cool Ink’. Unlike the resins that are used by many light curing 3D Cool Ink is non-toxic. Cool Ink comes in a host of different colours and types; from temperature colour changing, to magnetic and further to conductive ink.
CreoPop will launch on indiegogo in the coming weeks with an early bird price tag of just $89 and if its crowdfunding campaign is half as successful as previous 3D printing pens we'll soon be seeing it on shelves in stores across the globe.
