Terrible news from the UK today: Sanjay Mortimer, the founder of E3D-Online, has passed away.
E3D-Online is the producer of advanced, high quality extruder and hot end parts for countless major 3D printer brands, and also for DIY 3D printer makers worldwide. The company also developed an unusual tool changer 3D printer to overcome limitations current multimaterial 3D printers.
The company’s reputation is based on their incredible level of innovation in these areas, and that’s why so many 3D printers everywhere use E3D-Online parts. Their equipment is so highly regarded that their designs have almost become a kind of de facto standard for others producing 3D printer parts.
That quality and innovation was due to Mortimer and team’s effort at the company over ten years of development.
But as of this past weekend, Mortimer is gone. A statement from E3D-Online said:
”It is with the heaviest of hearts that E3D are announcing the death of one of our founding directors, Sanjay Mortimer. He passed away on Saturday 27th November.
Sanjay was a legend in our industry and played a huge role in revolutionising FDM 3D printing. As a founding member of E3D, he was instrumental to all our early developments. As we grew to where we are today, he continued to play an important role in our engineering team.
Over the last ten years he has supported the creation of a world-leading extrusion system engineering team in preparation for E3D’s second decade. Sanjay’s team will deliver on our vision of changing the way humanity manufactures goods.”
It’s hard to discount the importance of E3D-Online’s contribution to the industry. Sanjay’s team were among the first to develop truly effective and reliable extrusion systems with their sophisticated hot ends and extruders, which were rapidly adopted. I believe the 3D print industry would not have advanced as far as it has today were it not for E3D-Online’s technological contributions.
I met personally with Mortimer several times, and was always impressed with his focus and dedication to 3D printing technology, and certainly his high energy level. During one meeting he told me E3D-Online’s origin story, which as you might guess, reads like a typical 3D print startup experience: a team began with one approach, found difficulties, solved them, and then made a successful business out of the solution.
Boy, did they ever do so.
I distinctly recall Mortimer describing the early RepRap Mendel machines as “diabolically bad”, which in retrospect might have been the trigger for the company’s eventual success.
There are no details provided regarding Mortimer’s passing, and none are needed. The fact is he is now gone, and E3D-Online will continue, albeit without one of their founders.
Going forward, whenever I encounter an E3D or E3D compatible 3D printer component, I will remember Mortimer’s contribution to the 3D printing industry, and you should, too.
Via E3D-Online
