▼This page was part of an MTU course MSE4777 OA and MSE4777 OB/MSE5777/EE4777/EE5777: Open-source 3-D printing

Please leave comments using the talk page. The course runs in the Fall semester. It is not open edit.

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.

Azw (talk) 07:19, 1 December 2015 (PST) Djchopp (talk) 07:19, 1 December 2015 (PST)

1. adjust print settings for specified areas of object for tighter tolerances
2. increase variance on some print parameters (temperature) to allow some areas to be printed faster than others.
3. use lower quality materials in don't care areas of parts
4. change control parameter to pressure instead of temperature for different extrusion materials in different parts of object
5. include only high quality parts where precision is important, else use crap quality
6. map print bed to account for non uniformity in print surface.
7. add guards around some mechanical areas of printer to prevent entanglement, leave others exposed to allow open movement.
8. change frame material from high quality wood to low quality trash as it isn't mechanically important
9. multiple print heads that are automatically changeable for quality where its needed
10. use multiple print heads of varying quality in parallel
11. alert user when printing difficult sections so it can be closely monitored
12. use feedback to alter print speed based on head resistance
13. control environment quality around print head but leave print enclosure at ambient
14. allow for localization of thermal control for print bed to conserve energy and allow for better release
15. include high precision components for bed leveling, cut costs in other locations
16. change infill for unimportant areas of print to cut material usage
17. cool filament before it enters extruder
18. bigger, sharper teeth on drive gear to allow more filament force
19. self cleaning drive gear
20. control environment filament is stored in when it is in use
21. flash cool filament after it is extruded
22. add sacrificial edge to aid in print removal
23. use subtractive manufacturing where tight tolerances needed.
24. auto switch filaments to use waste or recycled plastic for infill and new plastic for outer shells
25. reversable print bed for multiple materials

Cjthormodson (talk) 07:04, 4 December 2018 (PST)

1. Purchase an all metal hot end to better control the temperature of the filament.
2. Create filament with a better tolerance
3. Be able to print at the micro scale for layer heights to enhance the surface finish and allow for better tolerances to be met on the prints
4. Redesign the 3D printed parts of the printer
5. Constant auto bed leveling if the bed is warped
6. Develop a better support method
7. Allow for more materials to be printed to enhance material properties
8. Control filament environment to reduce humidity and other things
9. Control printer environment to to prevent swings in temperature.
10. Build a bed that prevents peeling of parts
11. Smaller extruder nozzle to enhance quality
12. Larger drive motor for more consistent filament flow
13. Self cleaning hotend
14. Make a hotend that never plugs up
15. Improve cooling on small parts to prevent melting
16. Better stepper motors for more precise movements
17. Better frames to prevent Z wobble
18. Auto stop if failed print is detected
19. Remote monitoring of the printer so the user can watch it print from phone or tablet
20. Have the printer be controlled remotely
21. Multiple extruders with different diameter nozzles for more detailed printing
22. Multiple extruders for different materials
23. Faster cooling on the material after extruded.
24. Prevent shrinking until after the part in completed.
25. Different priced materials for different sections of a print. Ex. 1 for low quality and 1 for high quality

JBailey (talk) 07:27, 4 December 2018 (PST)

1. nozzle temperature gradient per layer height so there are variations in print color (wood filament)
2. attachment to print head that could pre-loosen prints from bed
3. attachment to bed that forces flexion to easily remove print
4. attachment to print head to auto-clean print bed
5. enclosure with air filtering to remove any toxins released when printing
6. dual extruder so one filament can be high quality and the other can b low quality (infill)
7. create filament that cleans nozzle as it is used
8. add lens and laser to add etches/features in walls

Houcke (talk) 10:11 3 December 2019 (EST) Rsimpson (talk) 10:11 3 December 2019 (EST)

1. Slow first layer speed to ensure adhesion
2. Longer print time
3. Dry your filament before use with a filament dryer
4. Autoleveling the print bed
5. Dual extruder (use different material on outside vs inside)
6. Self cleaning hot end/extruder
7. Adjust hot end temperature
8. Add heated bed
9. Adjust heated bed temperature
10. Use different type of filament
11. Use higher quality filament (spend more $)
12. Longer calibration procedure
13. Have less mobile limit switches
14. Auto-calibration procedures
15. Ensure even cooling rates
16. Create your own filament
17. Monitor thermal map of print in real time to ensure even cooling
18. Use a single use print bed for perfect adhesion
19. Use a skirt rather than a brim or raft on part
20. Limit post-processing procedures
21. Print in 0 gravity
22. Have print auto-clear off bed and restart if a failure is detected
23. Continuous printing with assembly line-like process
24. Laser leveling as the print is being produced
25. Laser leveling in general

Daniel Donovan (talk) 15:18, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

1. Faster feeder motor
2. Increased reliable hot end effector
3. Clean out hot end
4. Automate nozzle clean out section
5. Preprocess plastic before entering printer (UV Light, pre heat, clean)
6. Create a vacumn for printing

Existential-Crisis (talk) 10:26, 3 December 2019 (PST) Will Omberg (talk)

1. Recycling HDPE
2. Recycling PET
3. Nanobots that can re-purpose materials on an atomic level
4. Fission Chambers
5. Maintenance Nanobots
6. AI that can optimize the prints via machine learning
7. Hive mind of machines that cooperate
8. Printer with a variable print volume
9. Variable print bed geometry in 3D space to support prints
10. Having billions of nanobots to "assume" the shape of the print