For the first time since 2019, East Coast RepRap Festival (ERRF) was held in-person in Bel Air, Maryland. A total of about 1600 attendees, including over 60 corporate sponsors and almost 50 exhibitors filled the APFCU Arena at Harford Community College. The event was a mix of business-to-business dealmaking, hobbyist showcase, and some wide-eyed kids and their parents.
Open-source projects were very much in view. There was particularly good representation from the Voron 3D printer design project, with both printers and exemplars of its legendary design manuals on display. Beyond that, many Voron printers were acting as workhorses in other booths.
Filament companies were very much in evidence with an amazing array of wares and demonstration prints, like this dragon of multicolor ProtoPasta filament.
Chocolate printing from Cocoa Press is coming along, too. Quirky 3D printers, from “baby belt” miniature belt printers to printers that redefine “wearable tech”, were very much in evidence, too.
E3D did a sneak-peek sale of their eagerly-awaited Revo ObXidian nozzle, which allows printing of abrasives because of its hardened steel orifice and diamond-like coating. It conducts heat well since all but the hardened tip is made of copper. Prusa, too, had a display of its products, including the Prusa XL printer.
Most of all though, getting together in person allowed old and new friends to compare notes, or just to see what the person on the other end of the Zoom call really looks like.
One sad note was the absence of E3D co-founder and ERRF pillar Sanjay Mortimer, who passed away in 2021 at age 32. We The Builders did a memorial project, organizing pieces created by volunteers which were assembled at the event into a bust of Sanjay. E3D is organizing a memorial foundation; for more information, contact smf@e3d-online.com.
Now we have to get to work to be sure we can top our exhibits next year! Congrats to the organizers for a great recovery from these long years of virtual events.
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