3D printing is fun. There’s no denying that. But it can also be terrifyingly frustrating. Failed prints suck the life out of even the most experienced creators. Thankfully Team E3D have got the magic touch when it comes to 3D printing and our expertise can help fix your issues and protect you from any ghouls, goblins and general nasties. We started the company because we wanted to improve the printing experience for every user and we’re continually evolving better nozzles, HotEnds and extruders to combat the pesky demons that plague your prints.
Here's a list of 5 common 3D printing nightmares, and our advice on how to banish them for good.
Messy prints can ruin the treat of 3D printing but there is a trick to getting them right. The last thing anyone wants is to go to all the trouble of getting a design sliced and printed and then end up with something that looks like it’s been sat on or was sculpted by a toddler.
So what’s the difference between a beautiful and a monstrous print? The devil is in the detail darling, and the detail comes down to the layers. You basically want those layers to be as neat, precise, and fused together, as possible. This not only ensures that your print will be robust enough to last until long after you’re dead and buried, but also means the outside perimeter of your model will be smooth and aesthetically beautiful.
Fear not! Our High Flow ObXidian® and DiamondBack nozzles have scarily good thermal conductivity. This allows immaculate interlayer adhesion (AKA your layers seamlessly ironing onto each other) which results in stronger, cleaner prints.
We’ve all been there. Your printer is merrily churning out a glorious print in your favourite filament and then, disaster strikes. What’s this gory globule that has appeared to ruin my chances at perfection!? The “blob of death” as it’s known to all ye who dare to enter the realm of 3D printing, occurs when pesky little strands of filament get stuck to your nozzle tip. These build up over time until they gather momentum and unleash themselves onto your models. The result? In the worst cases, print death - RIP your creation. If you’re lucky it’s just a ghastly speck of the wrong colour haunting your otherwise perfect print. Super annoying, but also thankfully, super avoidable.
The E3DLC™ coating on our ObXidian nozzles has a low surface energy which gives them supernatural abilities. Essentially it reduces the size these evil slithers of doom need to be before they release and drop off the nozzle and back into your print. Problem solved.
Now, don’t be afraid, but your printer set-up could be haunted. Ever printed something with lots of detail, sharp edges or rapid changes in direction and noticed a faint pattern on the surface of your print that echoes previous features? If so, you are witnessing a phenomenon called ‘ghosting’ and so it might be time to call in an exorcist, or failing that, visit our website 😉.
Ghosting is a common problem in 3D printing caused by motion system resonance. Essentially your extruder can be fairly heavy and when undertaking prints with rapid acceleration and deceleration the effort involved in moving the extruder can cause your printer’s frame to flex a little. This causes hideous print inaccuracies. Sad times.
Thankfully we’re extrusion experts here at E3D and so both our Hemera XS and Roto extruders were built with eliminating issues like this in mind. The Hemera XS has a custom compact stepper motor that keeps its mass nice and low. This allows it to move quicker than a bat out of hell on your 3D printer’s motion system with limited inertia, reducing print artefacts. To take this one step further, Roto carefully balances weight (140g) and force (60N+) to provide the lightest, most power-dense 3D printing direct drive extruder on the market. Less weight means both you and your print frame won’t need to quiver with fear. Bye bye ghosties.
You’ve found a design you like, you’ve got the perfect filament, so you hit slice. Easy right? But what if, when you hit slice, you realise your print is going to take from dusk till dawn? You may be the patient type who can handle that, but most of us living in 2025 want it all, and we want it NOW.
Other than doing the time warp, or going back to the future and inventing time travel, what hocus pocus can be deployed to fix this issue? The clever engineers at E3D cooked up a unique nozzle insert that splits the filament into 4 channels. This greatly increases the internal melt zone and creates a hotter than hell environment with more efficient flow dynamics. In some instances this boost in thermal conductivity can increase flow rates by up to 70%, slashing your print times in the process!
There are many reasons a filament could be deemed ‘scary’; from materials that release noxious gases when heated, to frightening fibres that clog your machine. A common fear when it comes to working with exotic filaments is printing something super abrasive like carbon fibre or ceramic-filled material. It will literally eat your nozzle alive within a couple of prints, wasting you time and costing you money.
Luckily we’ve been working on creative nozzle coatings since Nozzle X burst onto the scene in 2018. We’ve now got the masterful ObXidian which easily prints gnarly materials again and again. And the toughest of the bunch, DiamondBack which is made from the hardest material on earth!
So, when there’s something scary under your print bed or strange ectoplasm oozing out of your nozzle, who you gonna call? Team E3D! 👻