If you ever talk with the SeeMeCNC guys...ignore the part where they try to

If you ever talk with the SeeMeCNC guys…ignore the part where they try to convince you that E3D is somehow breaking one of Stratasys’ patents. They’re not. Not only are they not…it’s perfectly provable that they are not.

Got context? Did something happen?

Not particularly. During our MakerFaire I just heard someone (I won’t name names) trying to talk smack; and I remembered…I was given that same bullshit talk years ago. It didn’t even cross my mind until tonight, where I went back to my then-era (2014) Kraken and pulled out one of the heat breaks and measured it. The bore is perfectly parallel. The “story” is that E3D is breaking one of Stratasys’ patents by tapering the bore so that the side that meets the nozzle is a wider bore and so that when pushing, PLA pulls away from the stainless steel, and that’s the magical reason why the E3D works with PLA.

Anyone with two brain cells to put together that has a genuine E3D can test this.

E3D are very aware of Stratasys patents. The E3D heatbreak is based on a straight bore, but is reamed (and possibly post-processed in other ways) on the heated side. Not for tapering it, but for getting a better surface finish afaik.
Possibly relevant discussion: http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,197736,313289