11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Just because you have a 3D printer doesn’t mean you’re going to make anything remarkable. It doesn’t even mean you’re going to wind up with what you set out to produce. Believe it or not, 3D printing requires some skill. And, when you don’t have it, things go delightfully askew.

While there are plenty of possibilities with a 3D printer, there’s also just about as much room for human error. You can’t let the printer get too hot. But it must be hot enough! And you don’t want it to work too quickly. But it has to work quickly enough! You’re going to mess up. But you’re not alone. Here are some of great examples of some pretty egregious 3D printing failures:

Whistles that can’t even whistle should be called something else.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: Flickr


Apparently, this was supposed to be some type of animal.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: Pinterest


A failed attempt at a Celtic skull, via an entire Flickr group dedicated to 3D printer failures.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: Flickr


This ruined car comes from Beautiful Failures, a book that presents 3D printer screw-ups as art.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: Cunicode


This botched bust is supposed to be Walt Disney. Squint hard, and maybe you can kind of see it. (You can’t).

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: Flickr


What’s this supposed to be? Trojan Horse. The answer we were looking for is Trojan Horse.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: FailThing


Definitely don’t try to use this 3D-printed glass as a glass if you have any desire to use it for drinking.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: FailThing


This would-be owl is missing his head. And most of his body.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: FailThing


Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and 3D-printed Windsor Chairs.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: CNET


Here you see the makings of a starfish. Unfortunately, the machine ran out of material.

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: RichRap


Bonus round: This iPhone shoe abomination isn’t technically a failure, we’re going to include it as a reminder of what NOT to do with a 3D printer. Because, seriously, what the hell?

11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures

Picture: BetaBeat


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.