Guy at the home depot.... Is there any wroth iron pipe smaller than half inch available? And do you have it chrome plated?
Seriously 3D printing is overrated.
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
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Impossible to deploy unless they force you to use their own slicer.
- Bamboo labs enters the conversation *
Details on exactly how this is done are scarce, with Raviv saying it's accomplished through "mathematical contributions and new security mechanisms."
Sounds like a load of nonsense. They'd have to somehow get this code into your slicer.
Here's the paper where they explain it. Basically, they make subtle fluctuations in layer height, adding or subtracting small amounts that are not visible to the naked eye, to encode 0s and 1s. So, maybe in principle this could run at the firmware level on your printer. Then, someone can use a microscope to read off the code from pieces of the printed part.
I would have some doubts about how reliable this is, given the relatively large tolerances I fdm printing, but they have a section about that in the paper, so I guess they at least have thought about it.
So if anyone anneals their part, this fingerprint goes away.
Also these are still made of petrochemicals and thus easily incinerated during disposal
2d printers already print yellow dots which contain information about the printer for tracking purposes.
The question isn't whether a manufacturer would play ball (or be compelled to) it's whether it's possible to do in a way where the information persists and doesn't compromise the functionality of the print.
I think it's bad, to be clear. I just think it's not unreasonable to imagine manufacturers including that capability from the factory.
Which manufacturers are you talking about? The ones making the electronics without firmware? The open source firmware which anyone can install or modify? The open source web interface that anyone can install or modify? The open source slicers where anyone can use any slicer they wish to (and also are used to generate gcode used on multiple different machines)?
There is simply no point in this chain where something like this would be enforceable
Except 3d printing has a much bigger open source community than 2d printers have.
There's already software out there that can optimize the output file of a slicer - effectively rewriting the gcode. Removing any watermarks at the code level seems pretty trivial, even if every single slicer company relented and added this function
And it all could be circumvented by sanding and just using the part to make molds for resin etc.
Fuzzy skin, ironing, compile your own firmware, swap mainboards...this is a pointless solution that can only result in worse parts for the least technical users.
I can see where the is going. In the future sanding your 3d part will be tantamount to removing the serial number on a gun.
I assume they add a custom wiggle to the print head so the "serial" is embedded into the plastic everywhere inside and out.
Exactly. So if that wiggle gets sanded off you have effectively anonymized your part
The wiggle isn't only on the surface. I'd bet it is everywhere except for the surface or users would complain about defects. So if you sand the surface, the forensics slices it in half and reads the wiggle that is embedded everywhere inside.
Ha. I'll bet you're 100% correct.
When the wiggle is inside the part the part will be gone after sanding it off.
This would maybe make it a bit harder, but not by that much. Couldn't one just use the sanded-off 3D printed part as a template for a mould?
Or use an open source slicer and a home-built printer. My Ender has so few original parts that I named it "Ender of Threeseus".