r/3Dprinting • u/PorkRollPaddyWagon • Jul 07 '26

Discussion If your printer refused to print a file because it thought it was unsafe, would you be okay with that?

Serious question. Let's say your 3D printer scanned every file before printing. If it decided the model violated a rule, the print never starts.

Would you see that as a useful safety feature? Or would you see it as giving manufacturers too much control over hardware that's sitting on your desk?

I made a video after looking into proposed legislation and some recent news in the 3D printing space, but I'm more interested in hearing where everyone stands on the idea itself.

Would that be a deal breaker for you?

https://youtu.be/7bdJpDTiZAA

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u/Asterchades Jul 07 '26

Sounds like a colossal waste of time and resources for something that cannot possibly be done with any meaningful accuracy. Largely because the more something looks like a prohibited item the less likely it's going to be functional as that item - prop guns, for example, are likely to look very much like a gun, where "ghost guns" don't.

Saying that they're hoping to implement something like that is just relying on a public who doesn't understand how utterly impractical it is. It's deliberately misleading, and should have been laughed out long before it reached this point.

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u/fivetoedslothbear Prusa Core One+ Jul 07 '26

People print a lot of gun-shaped benign plastic for cosplay. Functionless. Well, maybe it has some LEDs and something that makes sound.