Looks like Adafruit took down the page about 3D printing a working driver bit. Wonder who made that happen :/
BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
61–70 of 79 posts
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
good thing that it would be a chinese copy, and thus, not subject to switzerland law. So i wonder if chinese law recognize this patent/trademark for a screw?
Their point is that there's a possibility that Swiss customs fines them and confiscates the "counterfeit."
What's the reality of that happening though? I feel like they have bigger fish to fry than going after people for buying one screwdriver bit.
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#63Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC in Europe at least that doesn't work because now your third party has the defence of necessity. They didn't want to use your protected mark, but it was necessary or else their product wouldn't work, so, the protection doesn't apply.
In the USA, in Sega v. Accolade the judge ruled that you can't use a trademark to block access to your stuff. The context was, the Sega Genesis DRM had a check for the string "SEGA" somewhere in the game's ROM; presumably, Sega reasoned that they could license their trademarked name for this purpose to licensed devs and sue makers of unlicensed cartridges for trademark infringement; and did sue Accolade when they att…
That ruling sounds so sane and now we have DMCA bullshit.
You used to be able to take spammers to court individually as well, now we have the fuckall federal enforcement that protects them more than it does us.
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#65I'd be interested to know how BMW manufactures those screws. The patterns in the metal in the image suggest the entire hole was drilled out? The deepest part has circular marks inside that looks like the marks left by a facing tool on a lathe or similar. Then I guess the two wedges were inserted and the whole screw faced?
I don't see any geometry that would be hard for casting or milling, it's slightly more expensive because you can't do it in one go, but you have to lift the toolhead if you mill.
Screws aren't cast. And lifting the toolhead takes about .1 second.
What's expensive here is milling this screw head at all, and in particular the surface finish.
This is probably just a prototype for shows, though. At scale, screws heads are usually cold-formed, and this design would work for that, too. If you circular brush the head in the end, you'd get pretty close to this, even if you wouldn't get the finish in the pockets. But that doesn't make much sense there anyway, it'd get damaged by the fastening tool.
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#66Think we can get it with existing SP10 bit or “clutch” shaped bits?
Fiber optics bit https://www.qocese.com/product-p-381399.html
Magnetic Spanner bit https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Security-Screwdriver-Electro...
Clutch bit https://www.amazon.com/Clutch-Vintage-American-Steel-Sizes/d...
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't use CNC for making a billion individual screws. These would have their heads formed by being stamped in a die, just like phillips, robertson, security torx or any other screw heads.
Not for a billion. But especially for these it makes perfect sense, and given the details on the screw there is no doubt that it was made in exactly that way. The head was first milled and then there seems to have been a wire brush pass afterwards which got most but not all of the mill marks.
I'm not quite sure how you'd wire brush pass the pockets, and for a functional screw it doesn't make much sense anyway.
Mind this is a screw for a press release macro photo. I doubt they're going to put the same effort into making them at scale.
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
And that would violate both BMWs Trademark and Patent, which at least in Switzerland could mean having to pay BMW damages and get fined for importing counterfeit goods.
good thing that it would be a chinese copy, and thus, not subject to switzerland law. So i wonder if chinese law recognize this patent/trademark for a screw?
IANAL, but as fas as I know when you're importing it from China, you are subject to local laws (and may pay the fine for importing a ccopy of a trademarked product).
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#69I think this is misunderstood - everybody points out that how evil BMW is for trying to be proprietary, then immediately points out any Chinese factory can produce a compatible tool for pennies - which one is it? I think this is a pretty good mechanical design in general because: - large contact surface (like hex or torx) - no chance of slide-out (like flathead) or torque-out (like Philips) - you can use a different…
It seems to me it would be terrible mechanically because the driver has 2 very weak little lobes sticking out.
Re: BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
#70Reminded me of the "shim" discussion about BMW motorcycles and part authenticity from the 1974 classic "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance": http://www.hilarygallo.com/the-zen-shim-question/
actually reminds me more of the "mechanics feel" part.
Lots of pros use a hand screwdriver and they never strip heads/threads/etc