this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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unless its unrelated to the nozzle it'll be easily circumvent by replacing said nozzles.
Yeah I can't fuckin print consistent prints on purpose, good fuckin luck doing some kind of forensic analysis about it.
Yeah, this is absurd. Also if someone makes a "ghost gun" they can easily destroy the printer before using that thing.
If someone makes a 3d-printed ghost gun, they can destroy the gun beyond any chance at recognition by tossing it into a fire.
Depends on whether their 3D printer could print out metal objects or not.
yes and no. I think the idea here long term is similar to the printer dots on normal printers. where they track/record those from factory to the point of sale. if the nozzles leave identifying marks (something I'd totally believe) then even destroying said printer might not help you if you used a credit card to purchase it.
Unless there is something inserted into the gcode, nozzles are a wear item. You would not be able to put a consistently identifiable mark on the nozzle
I can change what an individual print line looks like to the naked eye just by something as simple as tweaking temperature or print speed. Good luck getting anything remotely consistent intentionally by clever nozzle machining.
Also, nozzles are dead simple to make, it's literally just a large drill bit (1.75mm diameter or so) with a smaller (.05mm to 1mm) drill poking the last bit through. Tip is slightly flattened off and away it goes.
Also, as someone else said, nozzles are a wear item, it's like trying to track a car down by the brake pads, or a pencil down by the shape of the lead at the tip, using it changes the characteristics of it.