Make Your Own 3D Printing Pen

You may have seen 3D Printing Pens (such as the 3doodler), and always wanted one. But those pens come with a hefty price tag. So, why not make ourselves one for cheap!

This project is very simple and all it requires are some household tools and items. It provides hours of entertainment, and produces amazing results!

If you liked this instructable, be sure to favourite, comment and vote for me in the 3D printing contest. It helps me out a lot :)

Step 1: Materials/Tools

You will need a couple of tools and materials, most of which you will already have, or you can get at any local shop.

Materials :

1) A hot glue gun (any size)

2) Hot glue sticks (preferably coloured)

3) A rubber band

4) Thumbtacks (not pictured)

Tools :

1) Pliers (I used kitchen tongs)

2) A screwdriver

3) A sharp blade/knife

4) A dremel or hacksaw (to cut the hard plastic)

Step 2: Preparing the Gun

Using your screwdriver, remove the screws on the glue gun and open it up. Inside, there will be a trigger mechanism and a heating component. Remove the trigger mechanism. All we need is the heating component.

Use a pair of pliers to narrow down the tip of the nozzle. What we're trying to do is make the hole small, so that the glue coming out is thin and dries quickly. (Remember, the narrower the nozzle, the better)

Step 3: Transforming the Gun to a Pen

In this step, we turn the gun case into a pen case. To do that, simply cut off the handle of the glue gun. Also, if there is a plastic piece on top of the feeding tube, cut that out.

Next, push 2 thumbtacks on either side of the gun, in front of the feeding tube as shown. Make sure that they are both aligned.

Step 4: Loading It Up

Take a hot glue stick and using a sharp knife (or blade), and cut a notch at one end. Put the stick in the pen and run a rubber band from one thumbtack, over the notch, down to the thumbtack on the other side. The rubber band will keep the glue flowing by pushing down on the stick.

Step 5: Create Your 3D Object!

Use your finger to control the speed of glue flow by pushing down on the stick (see the picture). Push down on the stick to slow/stop the flow of glue, and release to let it flow smoothly.

And your set! Plug the pen in and let the glue (and creativity) start flowing! It will take some time getting used to it, but it does work very well!

Here is my (not so great) creation. (Sorry if the picture is not very clear). It also helps to be in a airy area as the glue dries quickly. You can create anything you want with this. It works like the actual 3D printing pens sold in the market!

(Another tip is to attach a small fan to the pen, so that the glue dries quickly)

I've tried to make this instructable as clear as possible, but if you have any questions feel free to comment below!

I hope you found this instructable useful. Happy 3D Printing!

:D

Comments

[MalcyBaby]

Hi, I am a father of a young man that is trying to build this 3d pen, however we are struggling to narrow the nozzle the metal tip breaks when ever we apply any force, can you advise the technic you used to reduce the nozzle size please?

Thank you,

[RishabhDesh]

Woah!
The possibilities with this are endless!
Thanks!

[NeilRG]

This is the "brainstorm " of a 14 year old person. The instructable is well written and the author is pleased with the result.
The glue gun does not get hot enough to use with printer filament, by about 50 degrees farenheit. Although hot glue will stick well to a 3d printed model, PLA needs to be hotter to stick to itself.
As for the instructable, mention should be made about electrical safety, as all of the glue guns I have owned only have 2 wire power cords without a safety ground. With the case cut open, duct tape or the like should be wrapped around where the handle was removed.

[ChristiaanB8]

Would this glue gun also work with ABS and PLA? Recently, I bought a 3d printing pen and I notice that the components are almost identical except for the gears that transfers the filament into the pen. Please comment.

[goldenrailmaster]

Can you just skip all the steps and squeeze the nozzle to make it work?

[juliadee]

The irony of course is that according to legend, a glue gun was F. Scott Crump's inspiration for the invention of FDM 3D printing.

[aru12295]

Really? That's awesome! Thanks for letting me know :)

[bhavik zure]

this is great idea aru12295, some days before i was thinking same idea, but don't know how how to execute. thanks for posting such informative instructable.

please post some pics of your creations. best luck n this sure deserve my vote

[aru12295]

Thanks a lot! The picture at the end is my creation. I am sorry if it is not clear enough because I used transparent glue. That's the only thing that turned out good. The rest I made were either messy or were not stiff, which is why I did not post those pictures. I hope you understand, and thanks a lot for voting!
:)

[SteveC163]

Pointless activity - you can buy a fully operational 3D Print pen for sub £20 including filament. Printing with hot glue simply doesn't work - been there, done it and bought the tee shirt. By the time you have bought (and wrecked) a perfectly good glue gun and glue sticks you may as well have purchased the real deal

bought

[acheide]

Not quite pointless when the Instructable is as clear as this one.

[bhavik zure]

completely agree with you sir,

[aru12295]

Thanks a lot! :D

[aru12295]

Well, I don't know, but my pen works. This was just a fun diy project which was why I made it!
:D

[Kozmicblues69]

Wow! I haven't no idea that this existed! This is so cool. Can you upload some pictures of some of your creations using your printing pen? I have just bought a new glue gun... I can convert the old one into this!

[aru12295]

Thanks a lot for your feedback! I did put some pictures of my "creation" XD at the end. I'm sorry if it's not clear enough, as I only had transparent glue. But it works and you should definitely try it out!
:)

[Kozmicblues69]

By creation I meant some of the things you did with it... sorry, english is not my native language.... but thanks for the answer! :)

[NESmodder]

love the idea im gonna make one can you make a video on how it works

[aru12295]

Thanks a lot!