Patent ID: 8221669

Claim:
A method for building a three-dimensional model in an extrusion-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising: feeding a ribbon filament of a consumable material to a ribbon liquefier retained by the extrusion-based digital manufacturing system, the ribbon filament having a length and a cross-sectional profile of at least a portion of the length that is axially asymmetric; melting the ribbon filament in the ribbon liquefier to provide a melted consumable material; extruding the melted consumable material from the ribbon liquefier; depositing the extruded consumable material in a layer-by-layer manner to form at least a portion of the three-dimensional model; changing a drive pressure for feeding of the ribbon filament to the ribbon liquefier, which exhibits a response time for extruding the melted consumable material that is at least 50% faster than a response time achievable with a cylindrical filament in a cylindrical liquefier for a same thermally limited, maximum volumetric flow rate; while extruding the melted consumable material, moving the ribbon liquefier at a rate that is based in part on the exhibited response time.