Swiss Pen 3D handheld

After nearly four months of what can only be described as dissembling lying and fraudulent billing by the company, I am surprised to have received a "Swiss Pen".  Those who are reading probably know what it is --- a handheld "3D printer" which is really just a big electric glue gun for ABS plastic filaments.   Its claim to fame was that it was going to beat kickstarter success 3-Doodler to market.

Here i have some unboxing photos.   No fancy packaging (unlike 3-Doodler, which ships in a box worthy of Apple). The power supply won't fit US outlets so until I find an adapter, I don't know if it works.

The major point to make is not that they have shipped, but that the seller has lied and lied and lied for months about "we sent it" and "sorry, we had a delay, we'll send it now" to "sorry, we'll refund your money and you can keep it when it arrives" ..... and that was before Jan 1st.  The last 6 week have seen many promises of a refund -- but somehow they never do complete the process.

Full review after I have an adapter.

image

image, a photo by Donny O'Smokem on Flickr.

The SwissPen (swiss-3dprint.com) seems to be selling smoke....

A number of gadget and 3-D printing sites have gushing previews of the SwissPen, a 3Doodler knock off that was supposed to come to market ahead of the great kickstarter success.

I backed 3Doodler on kickstarter and now have it in hand.  Not without problems of its own
http://airsmokeandmirrors.blogspot.com/2014/01/3doodler-troubleshooting.html

I also ordered a SwissPen in October 2013.   More that 3 months later, no pen, no refund, and the company is emerging as a big scam.

Gerard's blog Here and here report an experience similar to mine.

Comments  and (Comments) on some of those laudatory SwissPen previews now show many others got taken in.

What is most concerning to me is that Paypal really enabled this scam.  By sending lots of  "Sorry, we had a delay" and "your pen has shipped, I'll get you a tracking number" messages -- in my case these messages from swiss-3Dprint.com were sent through paypal's own dispute resolution center -- the seller manages to put even the concerned buyer on hold until after paypal's dispute resolution option has expired.

3Doodler troubleshooting

3Doodler is the handheld "3-D printer" which was a big hit on kickstarter.   Essentially it is a big fat pen with a drive system, heater, and nozzle through which you can extrude ABS or PLA (using their proprietary filaments.... a significant upsell!)

I got mine recently and am here to report on its premature demise.  After 8 or 10 filaments over 3 days, I started a real design project, using black ABS. Shortly the pen clogged or jammed.  Nothing coming out.  Their site advises trying to push it through with a new filament -- no go.  Then it advises removing and unclogging the nozzle with flame or acetone. Don't burn your fingers.  Still my device was jammed.  When I tried the last step on their FAQ guidance, to advance or back up the filament, instead a white nylon sleeve/tube came out from the distal end.  It appeared to be jammed and filled with solid black ABS.   I could not reinsert this tube into the pen.

So far the company has not responded to customer service requests.