The 3D printing community is morning today the loss of one of our greatest voices, Sanjay Mortimer, Co-Founder and Director of E3D. Under Sanjay’s guidance, E3D rose to be the leading supplier of hotends to the industry with their devices being put to use in printers from Prusa Research, Lulzbot, BCN3D, IMade3D, and more.
To many of us though, Sanjay was far more than just they guy with crazy hair making fantastic plastic squirters, he was a friend. His brilliance was only outmatched by his kindness. When we all gathered together at shows, he would often drop everything he was doing to hug and great a friend he hadn’t seen. I will miss hearing his British accent exclaim “Hey Bud” as he inevitably pulls me over to share with me the secrets of the latest thing he has been working on and is just too excited to keep secret. I have so many stories and memories of great times that I will continue to cherish.
At MRRF and ERRF, Sanjay’s talks about the current state of E3D have become things of legends. Year after year he would pack the seats with onlookers who were excited to take the deep dive into extrusion systems that Sanjay would take them on. If this sounds like a subject that could only be equaled in dullness by a talk on paint drying or grass growing, his infectious passion for the subject and breadth of knowledge made it anything but dull. His talks would run long, and no one cared, they simply wanted more. When the hosts inevitably had to force him off the stage, he would happily go off to the side and spend as much time as was needed to answer everyone’s questions. Thinking about these events without a presentation from Sanjay feels like thinking about a Superbowl without a halftime show or a Maker Faire without Adam Savage.
Before Sanjay left us though he also helped create and launch new innovations to the 3D printing industry that will continue shaping things to his vision for years to come. His tool changing and quick change nozzle concepts have recently been adopted by Prusa Research in our newest machine launch the Prusa XL and can also be seen in E3D’s experimental tool changer platform and the recently launched Revo hotend. Undoubtedly there are new creations still lurking in the E3D workshop that will come to us in the future to remind us of his vision and genius.
If you have stories of Sanjay you would like to share with the community, E3D has setup a special Discord(https://discord.com/invite/Y3YEe5j) for those who’s lives have been bettered by having Sanjay as a part.
Stay safe everyone, keep printing, you are an important part of this community and we appreciate you all.
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