Embedded 3D Printing with Liquids on a Bricked Prusa FDM Printer

Recently [Riley] got his paws on an old Prusa i3 FDM printer that had clearly seen better days, with a hot-end that had suffered an explosive blow-out. Embedded 3D Printing with Liquids on a Bricked Prusa FDM Printer. For the project he had in mind this was of course perfect, as his intention was to replace the hot-end with a syringe system for embedded 3D printing (E3DP), which uses a supportive medium to allow for the printing of materials and structures that would be impossible with just air.

Generally in additive manufacturing (AM) methods like fused deposition modelling (FDM) the material is extruded onto a build plate or a previous layer where it solidifies. This works great for materials like thermoplastics, but for other materials having only the surrounding air as support is just a recipe for a big mess. With E3DP the liquid is instead extruded into a supportive material at a selectable depth and volume, opening up a whole range of possibilities.

In a 2026 review article by [Rongji Tang] et al. In Frontiers in Materials provide an overview of the modern in E3DP, including many ongoing research questions pertaining to print quality, the types of supportive material and their potential reuse, as well as extrusion control. Applications for E3DP are many, with it seeing use in flexible- and soft robotics, printing biological tissues and microfluidics.