GearBest 3D Printing Pen Review / Giveaway

If you've been following my Instagram pages, you've seen some of my basic 3D pen creations. I recently had the chance to get another 3D pen for review from GearBest with a second one available for a giveaway.

For those unfamiliar with 3D printing pens, it is basically a handheld 3D printer. You feed in plastic that the pen heats up and melts. You then direct the tip of the pen to draw whatever you can imagine. The plastic melts quickly and forms whatever shape you draw. It requires a steady hand to get something to look good, but, until you understand how to draw in 3D, even a steady hand isn't enough.

My first attempt at drawing in 3D was a complete disaster and done in totally the wrong way, but I didn't know any better. Okay, maybe not a complete disaster as I did get a cube out of it, but I later learned how wrong it was. After drawing my first cube, I knew I was doing something wrong so I went to YouTube to figure out how to do things right.

While I didn't think I could draw as well as Rainbow Girl, viewing the video gave me the basic understanding that you draw in 2D, basically flat, then connect the pieces together so you get a 3D object, like the flower above. That is actually six individual components that I put together. Once you're more advanced, you can certainly try to draw "up" into 3D space, but certainly not for first starting out.

The GearBest pen comes with three coils of filament, the pen, a power supply, and an instruction booklet. Basic instructions are plug it in, let it heat up, then put the plastic filament through the hole in the back, feeding it through until it gets to the tip. Then you draw. I tried out the cube again with what I thought was the right way, and I think I did a much better job the second time around. What I did differently was to draw the six sides separately, then connected them together. This worked much better then trying to draw them all together as one cube at the same time.

I drew a bridge in much the same way, too. Four separate parts, then glue them together with more plastic. At this point I discovered an important lesson. Print out a template first and not try to do things in freehand just yet. Perhaps after some more practice.

At a price of just $32.22, the GearBest 3D printing pen is a great pen to get started with for drawing in the 3D world. The description calls it a children's pen, and at times I felt I was back in a grammar school art class, but I would be careful about leaving a child unattended with the device. The tip gets VERY hot, hot enough to melt the plastic at 190-ish degrees. I learned quickly not to touch it.

The pen functions with basically three buttons and two lights. The first light indicates if the pen is plugged in while the second one indicates if it is hot enough. There is a forward and backwards button for feeding the plastic through the device and a third button for speed control. As you get started, you don't want to go too fast, but too slow hinders you, too. Find a speed that works right for you and always pull the pen away from the plastic, never push through it. In other words, for right handed people, draw left to right, then turn paper, and repeat. If you mess up, you can always cut off the error, or remelt it, and reform what you need.

And, now for the giveaway. You're getting the pen, power supply, three spools of filament, and the instruction booklet (in a box). It is important to point out something about the power supply. It has a European plug. In order to use the pen, the winner must get their own travel adapter plug. They go for about $3 on Amazon. (Sorry, I don't have a spare. I have plenty of US to European plug adapters but not the other way around.) The giveaway is open to US residents who are 18+ and runs through 11:59pm EDT on 5/22/16, so you have three weeks to enter. Good luck.

Entry-Form

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions stated are my own and may differ from yours. See my disclosure policy for more information. Java John Z's is responsible for sponsor prize shipment.