AI can track 3D printed parts back to specific machine that made them

Chock Full o Nuts · May 26, 2025

AI can track 3D printed parts back to specific machine that made them

Could it be used to find the origin of 3D-printed guns?

www.tomshardware.com

In tests, smartphone photographs of 9,192 parts made on 21 3D printing machines from six companies, and with four different fabrication processes, could be fingerprinted “with 98% accuracy from just 1 square millimeter of the part’s surface.” It would be interesting to see how much more accurate the Ai could be, given a larger area to anaylze.

The newest version of identifying a typewriter or document printer.

That's pretty damn good for a square mm of melted plastic. Didn't think they would be that distinct from machine to machine. But it is only 21 printers.

Am I gonna have to get my printer fingerprinted now?

Rexedgar · May 26, 2025

Wouldn’t an investigator need a registry of machine to check against? Same with typewriters, there’s no registry, that I know of, you would need the machine that produced the document to verify origins.

Chock Full o Nuts · May 26, 2025

Rexedgar said:
Wouldn’t an investigator need a registry of machine to check against?

Of course. Now fill out the NICS form with your 3d printer serial on it.. JK, I hope.

Rexedgar said:
Same with typewriters, there’s no registry, that I know of, you would need the machine that produced the document to verify origins.

I'm just speaking of if they have a suspect typewriter or printer forensics can nail down if a document came from it.

Rexedgar · May 26, 2025

Chock Full o Nuts said:
Of course. Now fill out the NICS form with your 3d printer serial on it.. JK, I hope.

I'm just speaking of if they have a suspect typewriter or printer forensics can nail down if a document came from it.

I was amazed when I read about some cases being solved because of the idiosyncrasies of a particular machine. That’s some attention to detail.

Chock Full o Nuts · May 26, 2025

Rexedgar said:
I was amazed when I read about some cases being solved because of the idiosyncrasies of a particular machine. That’s some attention to detail.

That Q that sits up a 10th of a millimeter higher than the rest of letters or a slight die defect resulting in a dot of missing ink? Gotcha!

Kinda surprised with the 3d print results though, even though AI.
Actually printing something right now; and the settings are so numerous, it's ridiculous. Layer thickness/height, speed ,temp, cooling fans, and about 100 other parameters could be played with.

Main identifier I can think of is nozzle wear(akin to lands and grooves), or imperfections in the nozzle opening from production.

aociswundumho · May 26, 2025

Chock Full o Nuts said:
Main identifier I can think of is nozzle wear(akin to lands and grooves), or imperfections in the nozzle opening from production.

Right, so all you would have to do is switch that part out.

Lethargic Aptitude · May 27, 2025

The mechanical aspect is easy to change. I suspect it is more beneficial to look at the software and PC used.

AI can track 3D printed parts back to specific machine that made them

Chock Full o Nuts