Filament2 has secured a patent for their highly unusual coaxial extrusion system.
Readers may recall our story on Filament2 from 2024, when the company first revealed their unusual system to the public. It’s quite straightforward, yet no one attempted to try it before Filament2.
The system at first glance appears to be a normal FFF setup: a spool of filament, an extruder, and layer-by-layer deposition. But if you look closer, it’s quite different.
The “filament” isn’t filament at all: it’s simply a hollow tube. Inside the tube is the actual print material, which is held together by the tube. This means the material could be a paste, like silicone, food, resin, or other typically non-printable substances.
As the tube reaches the extruder, a mechanism splits the tube apart, releasing the stored material into the “hot end”. Except in this case, it’s a “cold end”.
The technology is quite interesting because it allows for a wide range of new materials to be printed on FFF systems that have relatively simple modifications: only the toolhead needs changing.
One very interesting application is silicone 3D printing. Filament2 designed a tube that contains a two-part resin silicone mix that is stable. When printed, the two parts mix and solidify into a pure silicone object. This tech was so interesting that Prusa Research partnered with Filament2 to bring this capability to their customers.
Late last month, it appears that the method has been officially patented, with WO2025262554A1 being registered. Its title is quite simple: “A peeling nozzle”, and it’s assigned to Eran Gal-Or, the founder of Filament2.
This patent should protect Filament2 from competitors that would otherwise copy the invention and allow Filament2 to grow. To do so, Filament2 will have to make arrangements with other 3D printer manufacturers, just as they did with Prusa Research.
However, the major manufacturers aside from Prusa Research are all based in China, and historically these companies have not partnered with Western hardware producers. They tend to make their own components, likely because it’s a lot less expensive.
Meanwhile, Filament2 will proceed forward, now armed with this patent that will protect their invention from copiers for 20 years.
Via Google Patents
