- [Ali] For these tutorials I'm
going to focus on techniques and tips that can be applied
to any brand or model of 3D pen. I'm currently releasing three
tutorial videos all at once that cover different
areas and skill levels. This video will be for
the absolute beginner with a goal of getting you
started on your 3D pen journey with a minimal amount of frustration. The other two videos will
be on basic and advanced techniques, so check those
out if you're interested. I'll put links to them
at the end of the video and in the video description. So you'll see a lot
recommendations in the equipment that you need to get
started for 3D penning. But what you actually need is very simple. The bare bones of what I
recommend to get started are a 3D pen, duh, filament. I definitely recommend using
PLA filament over ABS filament. The reasons for this are
ABS emits a strong odor when penning, and there are more
health risks of inhaling those ABS fumes. PLA is largely made from
cornstarch or sugar cane and is biodegradable. Having templates for
tracing and penning over it can make it way easier to get started. Many pens already come with
some of these templates so you can start with those,
or you can take any image you find on the internet,
scale it to the size you want, and use that to pen over. And that's it. That's really all you
need, the bare minimum, that you need to get started. Two optional items that I will mention are wax paper and tape. If you're struggling with
PLA sticking to what you're penning on, or your 3D pen
doesn't have temperature control settings, you
can also pen on wax paper taped over your template to prevent this. And note that I mean wax
paper, not parchment paper which doesn't work nearly as well. Of course you can have
lots of other equipment and tools to help take your
3D penning to the next level. And I talk about most of
these in the other two videos. But the items that I just
showed are all you really need to get started. I kept these three tutorials
independent of type or brand of 3D pen. If you wanna know the details
of how your specific pen works, either read the
directions, duh again, or search for videos
using keywords of your pen brand and model number. So in keeping with that
spirit, I'm gonna very briefly describe how 3D pens work,
because chances are you already know what I'm about to say. 3D pens take raw plastic,
also called filament and use a motor that pulls the
filament through the 3D pen. When the filament hits
the bottom of the pen, it gets heated up so that it
flows easily through a small opening at the bottom of
the pen called the nozzle. There are typically three
important buttons on a pen. One for moving the filament
forward, when you want to push out some plastic and do some penning. One for when you want to
move the filament backwards or unload the pen. And finally there's a speed
control, which allows you to set how fast the plastic
will come out of your pen. The fast setting will allow
you to easily make thick, chunky lines, while the slow
setting will allow you to make thinner, more detail oriented lines. Keep in mind that since the
nozzle is hot, you can get burned by it or the molten
plastic that coming out the end. So be careful and use caution. To start drawing, treat it like
it's a normal pen or pencil with a nozzle making contact
with what you're drawing on. (pen buzzing) The big difference with a normal
pen is that you can change the height of the nozzle
with respect to the paper and that can have a huge
influence on the end result. (pen buzzing) Okay, let's now get in some
actual tips that will help you with your 3D penning. My first tip for beginners is
to think about speed control. This can be done in two ways. One, by adjusting the speed
on the pen itself as I just showed, or two, by changing the speed at which you move your hand. Here I am making the initial
line with the speed set all the way up. And then I'm gonna set
the speed down halfway and try to make the same line
while moving my hand at the same speed, which is kinda hard to do, You can see that this line is
thinner because of the speed setting that we changed. Finally, I'm going to set
the speed all the way back up again, but move my hand
much more quickly and you can see that the line is a lot thinner. As you practice using your
3D pen, you'll develop a feel for what speeds get you a
certain look and appearance. And practicing and experimenting
is a big part of getting good with a 3D pen. The second tip is about anchoring. If you're having trouble
getting your lines to stick to whatever you're penning on,
try using more anchor points. What I mean by this is the following. When you start a line, pause
as you extrude some plastic to allow a small anchor point to build up, then go ahead and make your line. Once you reach the end, pause
again to allow another anchor point to form. The anchor points help
to keep the plastic stuck to whatever you're penning on. In addition, if you're
trying to make a long line you can pause at points
along the way to make anchor points that will help hold it in place. The third tip is about cooling. Keep in mind that the plastic
is still hot right after it comes out of the nozzle
and it can still move around quite a bit as you can see here. But as time passes it
becomes more and more rigid. So, remember to give your
lines and layers the time it needs to cool. Also keep in mind that as
you add hot plastic on top of previously cooled plastic, it can start moving around again. Especially keep this in mind
for thin or small parts. The fourth tip is to be
mindful of the direction that you're penning in. As you can see from this
test case, when I pen left, the nozzle itself can smear the filament that's being pushed out. If I'm mindful of this and
lift the nozzle slightly off the paper when going
left, the smearing disappears. But, as you lift the nozzle off the paper, your stability and control are reduced. Another way around this is
to change the orientation of the paper. I can rotate the paper
and avoid the smear. This also improves visibility
into what you're penning, so don't be afraid to rotate. I'm gonna end with a
time lapse with me doing some 3D penning using the
tips that I've just gone over. Sprinkled into this time lapse
are gonna be a few of the things I think you should watch out for. This weeping, or oozing of your pen after extruding is normal. The amount of oozing
depends on a few factors. The type of filament, and
especially the temperature the pen is heating up to can
have a huge influence on this. This is why I especially
recommend a pen that has temperature controls like
this one, where you can change and tune the temperature for
each new filament that you use. When you're penning, the
filament does not stop extruding immediately after you stop
pressing the forward button, so it really helps to
anticipate when you need to stop penning and release the forward
button one to two seconds ahead of time. Finally, always unload your
filament when you're done using your pen for the day. This will help prevent
clogging or jamming of the pen during the next use. Well, I hope you found these tips useful, and that they've successfully
gotten you started with your 3D pen. As I mentioned earlier, I've also released basic and
advanced tutorial videos, so check those out if you
want to find more ways to improve your 3D penning. I'll also be releasing more
of my own 3D pen creations, as well as additional tutorial videos so please subscribe if
you wanna see those. Thanks for watching, and I'll
see you in the next video.
