Additive manufacturing process to disguise physical characteristics of item
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsWei Huang, Steven J. Simske, Gary J. Dispoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an example, a method is described that includes generating a model for fabricating an item via an additive manufacturing process. The model includes a first region defining the item and a second region defining a sacrificial artifact whose presence disguises a physical characteristic of the item. The item and the sacrificial artifact are then fabricated in a common build batch via the additive manufacturing process.
Claims12
A method, comprising:
- generating a model for fabricating an item via an additive manufacturing process, wherein the model includes a first region defining the item and a second region defining a sacrificial artifact that resembles the item, but has a different color than the item, whose presence disguises a physical characteristic of the item;
- fabricating the item via the additive manufacturing process;
- and
- fabricating the sacrificial artifact and the item in a common build batch, via the additive manufacturing process, wherein the item is fabricated using a fusing printing fluid and the sacrificial artifact that resembles the item is fabricated using a non-fusing printing fluid.
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:
- instructions to generate a model for fabricating an item via an additive manufacturing process, wherein the model includes a first region defining the item and a second region defining a sacrificial artifact that resembles the item, but has a different color than the item, whose presence disguises a physical characteristic of the item;
- instructions to fabricate the item via the additive manufacturing process;
- and
- instructions to fabricate the sacrificial artifact with the item in a common build batch, via the additive manufacturing process, wherein the item is fabricated using a fusing printing fluid and the sacrificial artifact that resembles the item is fabricated using a non-fusing printing fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.