The 'Ultimate Filament Colorer'

[beebenutz]

I've seen some similar ideas before, always thought it would be a good experiment to make some sort of attachment to the extruder that would hold a cylinder made of felt or similar that you could soak in ink of various colours.
It should be cheaper than tearing pens apart in the long run since you could refill the ink.... come to think of it I wonder if inkjet ink could be used.... come to think more of it I wonder if some sort of inkjet contraption could be used to paint the filament as it is fed so that the colour could be controlled for full colour prints; like nozzles around the filament as it comes into the hotend.

This method, as stated in the article, was developed to get away from having to print things to attach to the printer. Attaching anything to the extruder begins to diminish Z axis clearance. Having the sharpie in line with the filament allows for ZERO Z axis loss. Sharpies are cheap compared to inkjet cartridges as stated in the article. Sharpies also provide their own enclosures. The cost of inkjet cartridges would defeat the purpose of NOT buying colored filament. Keep the gears spinning FORWARD!

[atoff]

This method, as stated in the article, was developed to get away from having to print things to attach to the printer. Attaching anything to the extruder begins to diminish Z axis clearance. Having the sharpie in line with the filament allows for ZERO Z axis loss. Sharpies are cheap compared to inkjet cartridges as stated in the article. Sharpies also provide their own enclosures. The cost of inkjet cartridges would defeat the purpose of NOT buying colored filament. Keep the gears spinning FORWARD!

Name brand ink cartridges are incredibly overpriced, generic ink is incredibly cheap, I don't think CaptainObvious was recommending we go out and buy HP ink cartridges. I think coming up with a system to dye / ink the filament would be ideal, it just has to be done right. it can be done before hitting the cold end, so no issue with Z-height.

As for a system that can produce full color prints, an inkjet "TYPE" system could work, but it would be very complicated.

[CaptainObvious]

Name brand ink cartridges are incredibly overpriced, generic ink is incredibly cheap, I don't think CaptainObvious was recommending we go out and buy HP ink cartridges. I think coming up with a system to dye / ink the filament would be ideal, it just has to be done right. it can be done before hitting the cold end, so no issue with Z-height.

As for a system that can produce full color prints, an inkjet "TYPE" system could work, but it would be very complicated.

Yes, correct, I was not talking about ink cartdriges but generic ink in bottles, much cheaper like that and easy to mix any colour one would want.

[beebenutz]

Yes, correct, I was not talking about ink cartdriges but generic ink in bottles, much cheaper like that and easy to mix any colour one would want.

SWEET definitely worth experimenting with!