Jan 16, 2017 | By Benedict

Technology-focused design startup SALVO has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Lattice Cubed, a 3D printed titanium pen. Described as a “reinvention of the classic writing instrument for the modern generation,” the Lattice Cubed is available at an early bird price of €225.

Although built for to two very different forms of creation, the pen and the 3D printer have shared a surprisingly close relationship in recent years. That’s largely thanks to a company called WobbleWorks, whose line of 3Doodler 3D printing pens has introduced simple filament extrusion techniques to a new generation of would-be artists while simultaneously provoking a slew of copycat 3D printing pens from other companies. But while those 3D printing pens could (debatably) be described as 3D printers in themselves, regular 3D printers are also being used to create slightly irregular traditional ink pens, such as the Lattice Cubed.

Introduced to Kickstarter just yesterday, the Lattice Cubed is a gorgeous new 3D printed pen created by design startup SALVO, a company consisting of technology-mad husband-and-wife duo Ryan and Pia Salveson. At €225 (early bird price), the writing instrument is not exactly cheap, but is being marketed as a luxury product. And luxurious it is: 13 mm in diameter and 135.1 mm long, the Lattice Cubed weighs just below 25 grams, while its G2 Parker-style cartridges should guarantee script as fine as the tool used to make it. The writing tool is also available as a mechanical pencil.

Excitingly for us, the pen features a 3D printed titanium lattice design, realized beautifully by an SLM 3D printer and Ti64 / Ti6Al4V titanium. According to SALVO, the lightweight pen could not have been manufactured in any other way without compromising some of its most impressive features, namely weight and appearance. “In order to print the body of Lattice Cubed, 30-micron-thin layers of Ti64 Aerospace Grade Titanium powder are melted into shape,” Ryan explained. “It takes over 4,500 layers to create Lattice Cubed. These fine layers are critical in creating the complex structure.”

Ultimately, SALVO believes that its Lattice Cubed signifies a new era of pen manufacturing, one that embraces modern technologies and manipulates them to their greatest possible ends. If the startup can generate interest in its product, use of 3D printing in pen production could increase massively. “While there are many high end pens on the market today, [we] realized that most designs were based on technology and manufacturing methods over 100 years old,” SALVO says. “The company decided to utilize the advances of 3D printing to bring something new to the market. The result is Lattice Cubed: combining advanced design and technology in a way never done before.”

The Salvesons have set a target of €15,000 for their Kickstarter campaign, and have already raised almost €1,300 at the time of writing. (Typing, I should say. Apologies, pen users.) If the campaign is successful, the startup will aim to ship its 3D printed pens starting in May 2017. With 29 days still left to run, SALVO seems to have a good chance of writing itself into the history books with its future-embracing Lattice Cubed.

Lattice Cubed specs:

  • Length: 135.1 mm
  • Diameter: 13 mm
  • Weight: Pen: 25 g / Pencil: 26 g
  • 3D printing technology used: Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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Waldo Pepper wrote at 1/16/2017 7:15:42 PM:

Too bad it isn't a fountain pen



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