Can the Lix 3D Printing Pen Actually Work?

szczys (3402149) writes "Brian Benchoff used science and math to prove that the performance shown in the Lix Kickstarter video is questionable at best. Check his evidence and see if he's done an appropriate job of debunking the functionality presented." From the Hackaday post: "While we know the video is an outright misrepresentation of what any USB 3 powered device can do, We can’t figure out if the Lix is a viable product. We’re turning to you. Can you figure out if the Lix pen actually works? All we know is the Lix pen has a 4.5 Watt power supply from a USB 3 port. It’s possible for a USB 3 powered 3D printing pen to work, albeit slowly, but the engineering is difficult and we don’t know if the Lix team has the chops."

Duh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it can work, just not continuously at that feed rate.
Ever had a cheap hot glue gun where you had to wait north of a minute after not even half a stick so the internal thermal mass can heat back up to working temp? Same idea.

Re:I would be more convinced

[thunderclap]

There are UBS wall outlets now so your comment is moot. Also, there was an assumption that it was powered by a macbook although the editing didn't show that. Sadly, Hackaday is about re-purposing electronics in new different ways. A skilled person could make a windows laptop inside a macbook shell, sand off the apple, put a pear on it (its a Nickelodeon thing) and then do the same video. That shows how pointless his argument was. The pen does have the ability to get hot enough to melt abs. USB specs for 3 and 3.1 allow for more than enough power to power it properly. It was all specious handwaving over whether HE believed it was a macbook even though the video never showed the pen being powered by it. Sad hackaday devolved to strawmen.