MakerBot’s new 3D printer can switch build materials midprint.
#Atmel #3DPrinting #MakerBot #MakerMovement (via @Eddie_Krassenstein )
http://buzz.mw/bpxiy_l
The article talks like we haven’t been doing multi-material prints for years already… It currently takes multiple hot ends, but the article tries to make out like this new way is the first time you could mix materials without swapping out, simply not true.
Never mind another false patent.
Multi thread weaving machines use the same principles.
Nothing like chancing your arm.
It’s a bad idea for a bunch of reasons. Nobody’s going to try to duplicate it. This is the other kind of junk patent.
Once a company gets to a certain size, they can afford to patent any idea they have that might give them an edge in the future. It does not imply that they will attempt to use that method but they do not want anyone else using it.
@Wylie_Hilliard by the (largely ignored) letter of the law, patents can only be filed with intent to use.
LOL, yet another “screw you” by Makerbot to the Maker movement. Kicking away the ladder.
I really think that Atmel PR department haven’t a clue about what Makers are up to. Announcing that yet another company intends a land grab on an obvious idea is not good news 
I guess Atmel only care that someone is using Atmel chips in their printer.
@bob_cousins To be fair to Atmel they have actually done a great deal of awesome things for the FOSS community including supporting GCC to Atmel development. Additionally from what I can see Makerbot are now using ARM chips, not Atmel, on their newer machines.
I think there is another way . Instead of changing the filaments there should be an injector which will inject only colors to mix with filament Like inject printers
What about depositing powdered or liquid color on the filament just before it enters the hot end. Typically, the amount of colorant to plastic is around 0.5% so it would only take 5 grams to color a 1 kg roll. It could work like an ink jet printer.
It could also coat the filament with something that would prevent it from permanently binding to the adjacent layers, allowing easy removal of supports or gaps between moving parts.
@Wylie_Hilliard it’d be better just before leaving the hot end, otherwise there would be significant delay between the color being called and actually coming out