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Nozzle tip sizes

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 12:44 am
by maadmoose1
How do you determine when or why to use different nozzle sizes?

Re: Nozzle tip sizes

Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:13 am
by Jules
The 0.35 mm nozzle is good for general use purposes.

The 0.25 mm nozzle is for detail work, when you are trying to do something with a low layer height and want to pick up fine surface details. (Disadvantage is much longer print times.)

A 0.50 mm nozzle is for lower quality high-speed printing - when you need to knock something out structurally in a much shorter period of time.

Re: Nozzle tip sizes

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 6:14 pm
by maadmoose1
Thank you, That makes sense.

Re: Nozzle tip sizes

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:07 pm
by Phil
What about different materials? Do flexible polyurethanes require different nozzle sizes?
What other changes, (if any), are required when using the 0.25mm nozzle?

Re: Nozzle tip sizes

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 5:11 pm
by Jules
The smaller the nozzle size, the slower you have to print it - you need to give the material time to melt before forcing it out through a smaller hole. In addition, the smaller layer height makes the machine take more passes to build up to a certain height, so it really extends the time spent printing.

You need to change the extruded width and layer height for whatever nozzle you are using. (There's a formula in the Beginner's Guides).

In addition, when you change out a nozzle, you will likely have to reset your Starting Height, In theory you wouldn't have to, but there are variations in manufacturing, and you would have to seat the hotend at exactly the place in that clamp that you had it before to avoid doing a reset. Since you have to remove the hotend to remove the nozzle, it's not likely that you'll hit the same spot.

You don't have to use a special nozzle for flexible materials. Problems with flexible materials require adjustments to the tension and the direction of feed.

You might want to consider a stainless steel nozzle if you print a lot of metallic filaments. Those wear a nozzle out more rapidly by grinding on it. The stainless steel nozzles stand up to that a lot better.