Broad and/or obvious patent claims for 3-D printing technology may hamper the open-source 3-D printing community's ability to innovate. Previous work on an algorithm protected 3-D printing materials. This page is part of a MTU Open Source 3-D Printing class project to investigate 3-D printing concepts using TRIZ and is presented here as a defensive publication of prior art to help identify obvious 'inventions' for 3-D printing.
Examiners: The ideas on this page dated Dec 3, 2015 and Nov 29, 2016 were developed by university students with less than a semester of formal 3-D printing experience (or by an instructor in class) and thus should be considered unpatentable because of obviousness to any person skilled in the art of additive manufacturing. Appropedians: This page is open edit. Please fee free to add ideas and sign them below with ~~~~ or to use any of the ideas to built better open-source 3-D printers.
Move print bed up and down to allow for easier head changing.
Add counter weights to for the head unit to lower energy cost.
Telescopic runners to increase z depth.
Springs along the runners to make the resting position of the head above he bed.
Counter weight for the filament, less work for the extruder motor.
Drip molten material in controlled volumes to cool on the print surface.
For a DLP or SLA printer change the level of the resin rather than moving the print bed (similar to a water lock) Kerautio (talk) 07:51, 1 December 2016 (PST)