Patent ID: 8864482

Claim:
A consumable assembly for use in an extrusion-based layered deposition system having a substrate assembly, a mount, a gantry configured to move the mount relative to the substrate assembly, and a loading bay offset from the mount, wherein the consumable assembly comprises: a container comprising: an outer casing configured to be received by the loading bay, and having an interior region; and a spool rotatably retained within the interior region of the outer casing of the container, wherein a portion of a filament is wound on the spool; a head comprising: a casing, wherein part of the casing of the head is retainable by the mount in a manner that allows the head to be replaced with a second head of a second consumable assembly; a liquefier tube comprising: a first portion retained by the casing of the head, and having an inlet end located within the casing of the head; and a second portion located outside of the head casing and having an extrusion tip; and a flexible tube comprising: a first tube portion secured to the outer casing of the container, and having an inlet accessible to the interior region of the outer casing to receive successive segments of the filament fed from the spool; a second tube portion having an outlet that is positioned at an angle relative to the inlet end of the liquefier tube to provide the successive segments of the fed filament to the inlet end of the liquefier tube; and a flexibility and a length between the first and second tube portions such that, when the head is retained by the mount and the outer casing of the container is mounted to the loading bay, the gantry is capable of moving the mount with the retained head; wherein the flexible tube interconnects the container and the head such that the head is removed from the mount along with removal of the container portion from the loading bay.