3D-printing pen raises $500,000 in one day on Kickstarter

Kickstarter continues its hot streak in funding 3D printer projects. The $300 Micro has blown past $3 million, weeks after the Robo3DPrinter raised nearly $650,000 in February. Now a plucky British company is making waves with the LIX 3D Pen, an experimental new 3D printer that enables people to literally doodle in the air. The tip of the pen melts plastic filament, which forms a rigid wire as it exits the pen and cools down. The trick to creating wire sculptures lies in moving the pen in the air at a steady speed. Lix has raised £300,000 (USD $500,000) in a day, which is none too shabby. The pen is drenched in nerd glamor — as LIX describes it, the pen “melts and cools colored plastic, letting you create rigid and freestanding structures and has a hot-end nozzle that is power supplied from USB 3.0 port.”