Home » Misc » Largest 3d printer nozzle

Largest 3d printer nozzle


Large nozzle printing - the unsung hero of functional prints : ender3

To wet your whistle, I printed this Ender 3 drawer in only 2h44m where it would have taken 12h21m with my normal profile at 0.2mm according to Cura(so probably longer... I never did manage to get it to give me an accurate estimate).
But what happens next will blow your..... ok no I can't do it. But seriously, large nozzle printing, heck yeah!

I recently decided to give large nozzle printing a shot. I had good results switching to a small nozzle for DnD minis, but the lot that I bought also contained larger nozzles. I had successfully printed Woodfill with a 0.6mm nozzle, but I had larger still!

I read an article during the research phase about how only 20% of users had switched to different nozzle sizes, and I'm here to tell you, that is a grave mistake!

I decided to give a 1mm nozzle a whirl. I have now successfully printed at a 0.8mm layer height with 1.1mm line width.

On top of the cataclysmic speed increase, the strength of large nozzle printing is. ........ impressive. I printed a bed handle out of PLA, and the strength I got from my large nozzle printing was beyond amazing. I do need the handle so I didn't try for real, but I get the impression that I could not actually break it with my hands, and that's despite accidentally having printed it at 0% infill! The articles I read suggested 5% infill and 5 top layers to make up for the bridging issue, but my gut feel says 10%. But more testing would be needed.

Because of the wide walls, I have been able to print with only 2 walls instead of 3, and that means less time spent printing walls as well as many, many, many, many fewer layers per print. On top of that, the walls are a lot thicker, so with a line width of 1.1mm, you would get what equates to 5.5 walls of 0.44mm with a 0.4mm nozzle.

The main drawback to this sort of printing is support and detail. Clearly your cooling fan gets to work extra, extra, extra hard to cool your prints, and this means overhangs are far less impressive. And you obviously are very limited at how detailed your prints can get because of how wide your lines are.

TL:DR: Here is a bullet point list of some things I learned researching large nozzle printing

  • Your filament spends a LOT less time in your nozzle. I'm not kidding, my exruder motor ran constantly and at high-ish speed. This means you will need to print a lot hotter to get the filament melted fast enough. I ended up printing PLA at 235 degrees with good results, but experiment!

  • Slooooow doooowwwnnnnn...... Because of the above issue, you also need to print slower. I usually print at 50mm/s, but I reduced my overall speed to 25mm/s. This means the filament spends longer in the nozzle, and this works along with the hotter printing

  • It was probably already clear from the two above points, but you need your cooling fan at 100% if you ever hope to cool your material fast enough. Printing with a 5015 fan duct is a great advantage.

  • First layer height is counter-intuitive. Usually we're told "The taller your first layer height is, the better adhesion". That's why no matter how fine I print, my first layer is always 0.2mm. This, however, only holds true to a certain point. Trying to print my first layer at 0.8mm like the rest of my print resulted in 50g of filament wasted before I noticed my print had popped off. Watching my nozzle try to lay down such a tall layer on the first layer reminded me of that scene in Rick & Morty where Morty is vomiting a space parasite slug. It was not pretty. So I ended up printing my first layer at 0.2mm even with this nozzle, and that worked really well for me

  • Infill overlap needs to be much higher for this kind of printing - I read to set it at 50%, and as I didn't have any problems from this, I decided to just leave it at that.

  • Support distance is also different. We've all heard the saying - "1-2 layer heights between support and model", and while that is fine for detailed, small nozzles, if you print with a 1mm nozzle at 0. 8mm layer height and try to set 2 layers, you are basically printing into open air. 1.6mm is a LONG way for filament to drop. I ended up at 0.8mm, and that seems to work okay. But tinker away, I haven't experimented much here.

  • Retraction speed needs to be buffed a LOT! The "golden setting" for PLA retraction on the Ender 3 is considered to be 6mm, 25mm/s. But because your filament is always moving really fast, you need to retract a lot faster. I landed at 5mm, 45mm/s. I didn't see any stringing(although at these line width I suggest we'd call that slugging :p)

  • My top and bottom layers were 4, that seems to work. But keep in mind, the less infill you use, the more top layers you'll want.

  • You will definitely want to be careful not to use too much support density or support interface density. Keep in mind, a wall at 1.1mm width is the same as 2.5 walls at 0.44, so you will want to take that into account. My first print was basically fused so I had to spend an hour removing supports with my Proxxon micro motor and a cutting disc.

Basically, I suggest experimenting - just keep in mind, because you print so fast, it is entirely possible to blow through your filament spools in pretty much no time, and that can scare and depress you. Everything in moderation!

If you typically print medium to large mechanical parts

Hey,

Posting this to ignite any latent interest in printing with larger nozzles.

The 0.4mm standard is a great general purpose nozzle. However, if you're like me, then you're typically printing medium to large mechanical pieces that don't require a LOT of surface detail.

There are some major benefits to printing with a larger nozzle size:

  • Faster prints. This goes without saying, but a 0.8mm nozzle is laying down two walls at once at potentially double the height. That's 4x faster printing.

  • Stronger prints. The main weakness in any FDM object is layer adhesion. Prints made with larger nozzles have fewer layers and more contact between layers. They're STRONG.

  • God tier vase mode. I love vase mode, but there are two main issues. One - they're flimsy. Two - they're rarely water tight. Larger nozzles solve both of these issues. A 0.8mm vase mode print is quite sturdy and holds water.

  • Few or no clogs. With the reduced backpressure and larger opening clogs are essentially non-existent. This also makes it easier to print with exotic filaments.

  • Easier on a bowden setup / easier on extruders. Again, with the reduced backpressure there is less difference between a bowden and direct drive configuration when printing with larger nozzles. Of course if you're throwing 4x more filament in there the point is moot...but you can always slow it down a bit.

  • Aesthetic. This might fall in the Neutral or Drawback category depending on your preferences, but the aesthetic of smooth thicc layer lines can be very nice.

Not everything comes up roses though - there are some drawbacks:

  • Less detail (XY). This is probably obvious but in the XY axis there will be less detail. The Z axis however can have just as much detail as you can print 0.2mm layer height with a 0.8mm nozzle. So...depending on your print orientation this may or may not matter.

  • More difficult to control oozing and stringing. With a wider opening it can be a little more difficult to get retraction dialed in (though to be honest, I've found it a pain to get retraction just right with any diameter / filament). That filament just wants to ooze right out. Keeping this in mind, you'll want to keep your travel speed / accel / jerk as high as possible.

  • Nozzle thermal limitations. Even with the stock Anet E12 or Monoprice Maker Select plus I am able to print PLA with a 0.8mm nozzle at 50mm/s, but higher temperature filaments would definitely be an issue. If you really want to get into high speed printing you'll need a volcano or some other beefy hot-end. However, you can always reduce print speed and achieve the same results with a less powerful piece of equipment.

  • Part cooling. If you want to control the melt-factor you'll need some powerful part cooling fans. Another side effect is support adhesion - you'll have to increase support distance, especially if you can't keep up with part cooling.

Short story is - if you haven't given it a shot yet, do it! It's easier than you think to change out a nozzle and this opens up a whole new world of experimentation. You can often grab a pack of 5+ ranging from 0.1mm -> 1.2mm and even larger. I recommend 0.6mm - 0.8mm if you have a typical hotend configuration.

Nozzles for 3D printers - types, differences. Nozzle type

Nozzle is an integral part of any 3D printer, and there are many varieties of this part. Brass products are considered standard nozzles. This type is suitable for printing with conventional types of plastics, but for those that include an abrasive, such as NylonX, is not suitable. Printing with these materials requires higher performance nozzles made from stronger materials. There are also copper nozzles, Clean Tip nozzles - such nozzles are distinguished by the fact that the thread does not stick to them, and they remain clean.

3D printing allows you to replace nozzles. This allows you to achieve different results and use different materials for printing.

3D printer nozzle: what is it?

The 3D printer nozzle is a special nozzle located in the extruder heater block. It is screwed into place by means of a thread. There is a small chamber inside the nozzle where molten plastic accumulates and is squeezed out through the hole. Moreover, the key parameters of the nozzle will be: the material from which the nozzle is made and the diameter of the hole.

Nozzle material

A standard desktop 3D printer is equipped with a 0. 4mm brass nozzle. This is the best option for printing with ABS and PLA plastics. However, such nozzles are not at all suitable for printing with luminescent PLA, carbon fiber and metal enriched filaments. The fact is that plastics, which include solid particles, destroy the nozzle. The internal dimensions of the nozzle are distorted, and this affects the uniformity of the extruded material, which will inevitably affect the quality of 3D printing. For this reason, there are nozzles that are made from harder materials. Consider further the types of nozzles that can be found on the market.

Brass 3D Printer Nozzle

Brass Nozzle is the most popular option used in most desktop 3D printers. Of all the materials used to make nozzles, this one is the softest. But brass nozzles are easy to process, cheap and affordable. Therefore, they are easy and simple to replace.

Main characteristics of brass nozzles:

  • corrosion resistance;
  • high thermal conductivity;
  • relative softness;
  • abrasion.

Application: Ideal for printing with "soft" plastics - standard ABS, PLA, PETG, and other plastic filaments that do not contain carbon fiber and metal additives.

Stainless steel or hardened steel nozzle

Steel nozzles are also used for 3D printing. They provide long-term printing with materials that contain solid particles, such as metal, carbon fiber. At the same time, such nozzles are not prone to abrasion and destruction, like softer brass nozzles. That is, you can print for a long time without reducing productivity.

But steel nozzles are not without drawbacks: lower thermal conductivity compared to brass nozzles. This can change the flow, especially when using large nozzles.

Main characteristics of steel nozzles:

  • corrosion resistance;
  • low thermal conductivity;
  • relatively large weight;
  • abrasion resistance.

Application: 3D printing with additives (carbon fiber, metal, glass, etc. )

Ruby nozzle

Anders Olsson developed the Olders Ruby nozzle. This is a brass nozzle equipped with a tip made of aluminum oxide, that is, an artificial ruby. This nozzle was originally created for 3D printing by the third heaviest material in the world. The nozzle was the result of an experiment conducted at Uppsala University in Sweden.

Initially standard nozzles made of steel and brass after printing 1kg of plastic wear out and are no longer usable. However, the nozzles have a number of disadvantages. Olson Ruby nozzles combine the high thermal conductivity of brass with the abrasion resistance of ruby. Of course, there are experts who say that the ruby ​​tip has a low thermal conductivity, which negatively affects the printing result, but there is no evidence for this. At least for now.

The main characteristics of Olsson Ruby nozzles are:

  • corrosion resistance;
  • low thermal conductivity;
  • abrasion resistance.

Application: Can be used for highly abrasive threads.

Tungsten Carbide Nozzles

Dyze Design Tungsten Carbide Nozzles are something of a newcomer to the market as they only started production at the end of 2018. Tungsten carbide is hard and wear resistant. It is used for drilling, cutting ceramics and metals. Such nozzles also have disadvantages, but it is too early to talk about them.

Main characteristics of tungsten carbide nozzles:

  • abrasion resistance, very high;
  • hardness;
  • high thermal conductivity;
  • corrosion resistance.

Application: This is a universal nozzle that can be added to your nozzle set, and the nozzle is also suitable for printing with highly abrasive filaments.

Nozzle sizes for 3D printer

Nozzles are characterized by the hole diameter. This characteristic will affect the degree of print detail. In this case, the influence will be exerted not only on the width of the lines, but also on the height of the layer.

Beginners are advised to use a nozzle with a diameter of 0.15mm. Compared to a standard 0.4mm nozzle, this nozzle allows you to get a higher resolution in the OX and OY axes. Thanks to thin lines, sharper corners can be obtained, but this will only be possible in that case. If your 3D printer is well set up and serviced regularly.

The choice of nozzle diameter should be determined by the layer height you require. It is necessary to choose a nozzle so that the size of the layer during printing is 25-50% of the nozzle size.

If the device is calibrated correctly, optimum adhesion can be achieved between coats. For example, a standard 0.4mm nozzle allows you to print layers of 0.1-0.2mm. If you want to successfully print ultra-thin layers that are less than 0.05mm high, we recommend using the 0.2mm nozzle.

Small nozzles have one significant disadvantage. They are more prone to clogging and therefore need to be cleaned regularly. In addition, smaller nozzles significantly increase print time as the print head requires more passes to coat. the larger the nozzle, the less time it will take to print, and the time will be reduced exponentially. For example, a 0.8mm wall will take half as long to print as a 0.4mm wall. Also, large extrusion lines have greater adhesion, and therefore the finished prints have greater strength. If you are not printing fine details, then you are better off using large nozzles, which will allow you to print faster.

Smaller nozzles are more commonly used for hobby, precision models with fine details, such as jewelry.

And in order to have your own opinion on this matter, it is best to experiment!

How to choose nozzle size for 3D printer? Pros and cons

3DPrintStory