Back at TCT 360 in 2021, alongside the headline-grabbing announcement of its snazzy RapidChange Revo ecosystem, E3D also quietly announced a brand new nozzle series.

Deemed the successor to its abrasion-resistant NozzleX, the non-stick, effortlessly integrated, and super-tough ObXidian was to be E3D’s all-singing-all-dancing nozzle-to-end-all-nozzles. But things didn’t go to plan.

In a detailed blog post that tells the whole tale of the nozzle’s ill-fated trajectory so far, E3D explains the perfect storm of hubris, manufacturing during Covid, and acquisition issues across the supply chain, before a glimmer of a resolution in a new, late-October launch window.

It begins: “The E3DLC™ coating on ObXidian is applied by a technology called plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition.” The nozzle uses a copper alloy – excellent for heat conduction and making the nozzle a drop-in replacement for existing brass nozzles, thermally speaking – along with highly bespoke coating technologies. Together, these brought unforeseen issues. “Somehow, we’d ended up with an incredibly unlikely situation. Our specific part geometry, paired with our specific method of part fixturing and the specific orientation of these parts in the chamber was generating a resonance in the plasma flow. This phenomenon prevented the coating from forming properly on certain areas of the nozzle. It’s also undetectable unless parts are run through wear testing.”

Confident in the product and production methodology at the point of TCT 360 2021, things did not work at scale. Only validation through printing could demonstrate the issue, and securing enough of its preferred filaments was a problem in itself for E3D. The post continues about the filament used for testing: “there was one that was particularly effective for allowing us to quickly establish if a coating was good or not. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of this filament had a ‘colossal incident’ at their factory … and couldn’t continue their supply of filament.”

Suffice it to say that it hasn’t been a smooth path for the ObXidian nozzle. The delay has had a suppressive effect on the company’s RapidChange Revo hot end family, with only brass nozzles available for the ecosystem more than a year after its launch.

The blog post gives far more interesting background about the issues, and is well worth a read.