It’s oftentimes crazy how a simple idea or invention can lead to explosive growth and intelligent innovation within a space. Last May, WobbleWorks’ 3Doodler raised millions of dollars on Kickstarter, to 
launch the first 3D printing pen. Many critics immediately claimed it was simply a ‘glorified hot glue gun’, but thousands of others certainly didn’t see it that way, as they turned their dollars over for a chance to be one of the first to use the device.
Here we are 14 months later, and we have seen several additional companies launch their own 3D printing pens. They all work in relatively the same way. A plastic piece of PLA filament is fed into the pen, which extrudes the melted plastic once a button on the pen is pushed.
Today a new company call CreoPop has announced that they will soon be launching an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in order to raise funds for the development of yet another 3D printing pen. This pen works using an entirely different process however. Instead of melting plastic with a hot end extruder like it’s predecessors, and like FDM 3D printers do, the CreoPop pen will work using a stereolithography (SLA) technique. Just like the SLA 3D printers on the market today like the Form 1, this pen uses a photosensitive resin, and a UV laser to cure (harden) that resin. Unlike the other 3D printing pens, this pen is safe for children to use, as there are absolutely no hot parts. No melting is occurring. A UV laser, which is about as powerful as sunlight in the afternoon, is mounted on the pen and cures the resin as it is extruded from its tip.
Because of the company’s new approach in using a liquid resin for the ink, this allows them to offer inks with all sorts of different characteristics. For instance, there will be an ink which will change colors when heated, an ink which is magnetic and can stick to your fridge, an elastic ink, body inks, glow-in-the-dark inks, and even conductive inks.
Creopop expects to launch their Indiegogo campaign sometime this month. Backers will be able to preorder the pen with two ink cartridges for just $89. Creopop says that ink refills will be extremely cheap at $2 to $3 a pop. Each ink cartridge can print approximately 14 meter at 3mm. The Creopop pen will begin shipping to the first backers in the first quarter of next year. Those who register at the company’s website will be eligible for a special Indiegogo price, for early bird backers. Discuss this new SLA 3D printing pen at the Creopop forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video below released by the company, as well as additional images of Creopop creations:
