After trying it out at CES earlier this year, we weren’t completely blown away with what the 3Doodler—a sort of handheld 3D printer—was capable of. Producing anything remotely recognizable requires an enormous amount of time and patience, which Matt Butchard must have in spades since he used the pen to create a 3D-printed model plane that actually flies.
https://gizmodo.com/hands-on-the-3doodler-3d-printing-pen-patience-is-a-vi-1496463299
Matt’s creation didn’t retrace Lindbergh’s historic flight across the Atlantic, or even stay aloft for more than half a minute, but as far as science is concerned, it definitely flew a short distance instead of just immediately crashing to the ground after launch.
It wasn’t the most graceful flight, but Matt plans to further refine and perfect the design of the plane, while still relying on the 3Doodler for its construction. Is it proof that handheld 3D printers are definitely the future of manufacturing? Certainly not. But it does demonstrate that they’re not completely useless, either. [MattBdreaming via Make]
