3 ms·

How would you engineer a material that would only pass through certain shapes of nozzle or tube, but not other shapes? For example, a fluid that would only flow

How would you engineer a material that would only pass through certain shapes of nozzle or tube, but not other shapes? For example, a fluid that would only flow through square tubes, and would not flow through traditional tubes. If this were pulled off, the possible uses extend far beyond 3d printer consumable copyright(?) enforcement. It could act as a simple filter, when given a mixed material, it would allow one type of material through while not accepting the other. Wouldn't the molecules of the material have to be nearly the size of the nozzle/tube, so it would be more like pushing a square peg through a square hole, instead of numerous tiny round spheres through a square hole?

jstanley 9y ago
There are already different types of filament that are mutually-incompatible. You can't load 1.75mm filament into a 3mm extruder and expect it to work without any modifications. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine different cross sections. The equipment required to melt down plastic and extrude it into a new filament of the appropriate type is still too expensive and inconvenient to be popular.
- FridgeSeal 9y ago
  Can filament be heated back up and reused once it's been printed? Because if so, could you solve the issue by getting your stock filament, and then printing it into filament with a different cross-section?
  - jstanley 9y ago
    You can re-melt it as many times as you want, but you probably can't print with sufficient accuracy to create a new roll of filament. And it would take several days of printing to get through a whole roll of filament. And besides, if you already had a 3D printer that could print with the filament you have, you could just print things with that filament instead of printing filament that isn't compatible with your printer :p Here's a project to make a machine that produces filament for printing, but it's at about the stage hobbyist 3D printers were at ~10 years ago or more, in terms of reliability and ease of use: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-filament-factory-Filame/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-f...
Yetanfou 9y ago
Come on, that would be simple. The solution is even related to the given example of Torx screwdrivers (although those actually serve a purpose instead of just being a nuisance): make sure the filament has to have a certain shape, say 'penta-lobe filament', sell the idea as 'improved heat transfer filament' with a 'large surface area ensuring quick melt with lower heat requirements'. Patent the shape - no matter that it represents a trivial 'innovation', defending against patent infringement is expensive - and do some creative advertising.
- jimktrains2 9y ago
  It still goes through a cylinder a-ok.
  - Yetanfou 9y ago
    ...but it won't melt OK and it will leak at the point of entry.

jstanley 9y ago

There are already different types of filament that are mutually-incompatible. You can't load 1.75mm filament into a 3mm extruder and expect it to work without any modifications. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine different cross sections. The equipment required to melt down plastic and extrude it into a new filament of the appropriate type is still too expensive and inconvenient to be popular.

FridgeSeal 9y ago
Can filament be heated back up and reused once it's been printed? Because if so, could you solve the issue by getting your stock filament, and then printing it into filament with a different cross-section?
- jstanley 9y ago
  You can re-melt it as many times as you want, but you probably can't print with sufficient accuracy to create a new roll of filament. And it would take several days of printing to get through a whole roll of filament. And besides, if you already had a 3D printer that could print with the filament you have, you could just print things with that filament instead of printing filament that isn't compatible with your printer :p Here's a project to make a machine that produces filament for printing, but it's at about the stage hobbyist 3D printers were at ~10 years ago or more, in terms of reliability and ease of use: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-filament-factory-Filame/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-your-own-3d-printing-f...

Yetanfou 9y ago

Come on, that would be simple. The solution is even related to the given example of Torx screwdrivers (although those actually serve a purpose instead of just being a nuisance): make sure the filament has to have a certain shape, say 'penta-lobe filament', sell the idea as 'improved heat transfer filament' with a 'large surface area ensuring quick melt with lower heat requirements'. Patent the shape - no matter that it represents a trivial 'innovation', defending against patent infringement is expensive - and do some creative advertising.

jimktrains2 9y ago
It still goes through a cylinder a-ok.
- Yetanfou 9y ago
  ...but it won't melt OK and it will leak at the point of entry.