Hand-me-down Wanhao Duplicator i3, she’s super slow and janky, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why everything kept messing up every other print, and I kept getting jams. Ended up deciding to take off the nozzle because it was hopelessly clogged. Turns out oh, that’s why. (And the tube inside was deformed and burnt)
Yeah. It feels kinda wild that plastic and whatnot could wear down metal. But that’s how it works.
I’ll definitely be getting a Bambu printer once I have the funds. lol. With a hardened nozzle probably.
Pigments.. take white plastic that has titanium oxide in it. Its mosh hardness is around 7, close to quartz. So, yeah, pushing quartz sand thru a brass nozzle will wear the nozzle down. The pigment is incredible small so it is a slow process.
Ah. Okay makes sense.
lol I just wished I checked this earlier. Probably would have a few more hairs on my head… it’s been driving me nuts the inconsistency of this printer. Definitely seems to have been this nozzle.
She’s so slow though so it takes a long time to figure out what’s up.
She’s so slow though so it takes a long time to figure out what’s up.
Yup, that is a lesson that i am still learning. I'm fairly sure my current nozzle is worn down already, not a huge deal but some. It is a bit better quality, i went thru a bag of cheap chinesium 0.4mm that were just ridiculously soft. That does remind me that i should order a bag of 0.6mm nozzles... And if you haven't switched to 0.6 yet, do it now. You won't regret it, stick with 0.2mm layer height and you get much faster prints without any quality loss.. and then can go up to 0.4mm for draft quality which is ridiculously fast. 4h print in 1h without anything else needing to be upgraded (with 0.2mm layer height you get less dramatic difference, 25-50%). Cheapest upgrade that made the most difference that i have ever bought. Make sure slicing software uses Arachne slicing algorithm, it is perfect for 0.6mm..
What is the best color/type of PLA to get the most out of a nozzle if you’re just printing structural things, or stuff you’re going to paint anyways?
I’m about to start printing a ton of tool box organizers and could really care less what color they are.
Edit: Currently I use sunlu PLA+ in black mostly on my Kobra Max. It’s given me the best results out of stuff I’ve tried…so far. I’m new to this.
I suppose uncolored PLA often called "natural PLA"
Use black or white. They’re the most abrasive, but also the most UV resistant for long term use.
GODDAMNIT, this explains why my white PETG is so messy
Regular stainless bambu nozzle has lasted me 1700 hrs now and is about 1-2mm shorter than it used to be. Prints are just as good as the day I bought it and man I've had some catastrophes on this thing, no idea how it's ok after some of the mistakes I made
The self calibrations probably help. Ugh I can’t wait to have one for myself.
Yeah it's by no means perfect but definitely better than the other machine I briefly tried.... I level things all the time at work, when I realized how much levelling I had to do and how it would go out of level after every single print I sent it back within about 3 days and just splurged on the p1s, f that shit lol
Yeah I’m gonna get a P1S. Friend has an X1, but I don’t need to spend all that basically just for lidar first layer checks and uh, spaghetti detection?
Agreed I don’t see the value in the X1 over the P1s
I can't recommend it enough, I'm finishing up about 2 months worth of printing for a showoff I'm about to do maybe next week. You can print a lot of stuff in 2 months with this beast. It's incredibly tough as well, really high quality hardware
You only need other nozzle. Not other printer. Every nozzle on every printer must renewed from time to time.
Try a steel nozzle, or hardened steel.
So, in general the molten plastic doesn't wear out the bore of the nozzle, it's the movement of the nozzle over the previous layers of cooled filament that causes most of the noticeable wear on the flat tip of nozzles.
Stefan an CNC Kitchen has a video on that HERE
The picture above looks more like this was either a larger nozzle, or that it was bored out (either intentionally or by over vigorous cleaning)
lord, the timing of me reading this as i start to oggle my first glow roll. glad i have a little heads up!
Ohhh that explains why I kept blowing through nozzles before I gave up. I started with glow in the dark, didn’t know it was abrasive…
It is like mixing fine quartz sand with the plastic and then pushing that thru the nozzle. Pigments are also abrasive but they are much, much finer particles, it is more like dust than fine sand.
TIL, I thought you didn’t have to deal with abrasion until you got into exotic materials like carbon fiber. Thanks!
A lot of it is because of particle size. Smaller particles do not create such high pressure, and pressure is very important parameter, it is the force that pushes the particle against nozzle walls and you get much deeper scratches.
What are some signs it needs to be changed? Are there symptoms that directly point to a worn nozzle?
What’s wrong with glow in the dark filament? I’ve never used it so I don’t understand this part
It has abrasive particles. Either phosphors zinc sulphide or strontium aluminate, The latter is stronger and longer lasting light but its mosh hardness is 7.6. Quartz has about the same hardness so it is like pushing quartz dust thru a nozzle. The particle sizes are also MUCH larger than in pigments that also can be very hard.
Thanks! I had no idea.
This was me 20 minutes ago... Couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was having problems with my prints xD
What kind of problems were you experiencing due to the nozzle being worn?
Specifically with PETG, lots of stringing and clogging.
Maybe this explains why my KP3S Pro is starting to clog with PETG...
Guess I should look into some new nozzles?
what causes the brass(?) to wear down like that?
Friction, doesnt matter what you pull thru that nozzle, friction (just by existing) will wear out the nozzle
Different filaments can affect the rate at which it wears down ofc, but it will happen no matter what
Even if you have a full super-expensove-near-indescructible alloy nozzle, friction will still wear it down. It will just take longer
Yup absolutely. Another way to think about it is look at it in a more industrial sense. Think of the filament as sand paper, sand blaster shot, etc. whatever this material passes through or over gets consumed.
The general principal is indeed friction and no matter what materials, wherever there is material to material contact, there will always be material wear at the interface.
There are particles in filament, for ex some pigments are hard enough to wear the nozzle out. A lot of pigments are minerals that can be extremely hard. And then all the special filaments, like carbon and glass fibre, wood (there is ALWAYS some dust inside wood) glow-in-thedark etc that can wear a cheap brass nozzle in half a roll. More expensive nozzles are harder, and then there are specialty nozzles for abrasive stuff, like ruby, steel and even diamond tip.
Titanium dioxide is one of the big culprits. It's used for bright white and some other bright colors.
There is a reason the Diamond and Ruby nozzles cost a fortune.
I managed to get a deal on the Scarlet and Violet ones
Well... probably because they're made of diamond and ruby, no?
This guy knows his gems.
They're both synthetic.
You're synpt.. sympa... Sythe-
You're fake!
Yup happened to two printers my A1 mini and Creality Ender 3 V3 KE... I was like why is it printing like ass, shitty walls, sponge like.... Turns out it was the nozzles.
That almost looks like a 0.6 or 0.8 nozzle. woah
Yeah. It was a 0.4. Buuuut not anymore.
Well now you own a 0.8mm nozzle
I'm glad you figured out it was just the tip. That makes all the difference.
Literally just changed my nozzle for the same reason. Couldn’t figure out why my prints kept sucking. Finally decided to swap it, measured about a .7mm hole on my .4mm nozzle haha
I should call her
You can get calipers and get the new nozzle diameter and update accordingly if you want to get every last atom of use out of that nozzle :)
lol right? That’s a money saving tactic if I ever heard one.
In this case, sometimes I increase the nozzle diameter in a slicer and it can still print for a while 😄
Yup i usually do that too. Comping for nozzle wear can get you more life out of the nozzle, but print quality won’t be as good as a brand spanking fresh nozzle as the orifice in the nozzle will not wear perfectly round.
Oh man. I started on one of those as a hand me down too, and it had so many problems and printed so slowly. Happy to say that after a year or so of trying with that printer I went and bought a prusa mk3s+, been happy with it ever since. Good thing is, repairing that printer so many time kind of teaches you more about how they work vs. a plug and play printer like a bambu.
Get rid of that soft brass. I switched to hardened tool steel nozzles and they last damn near forever. Great for glow in the dark, glass infused, and carbon fiber infused material as well. The brass nozzles don't last enough for me. I suppose If your someone who doesn't print a whole lot the brass would be fine. My printers run basically nonstop.
Yeah I don’t print a lot. It was $10 to get 2 nozzles which I think will probably be more than enough to hold me over until I get a Bambu.
The inconsistency and vibration and slowness of the old Wanhao annoy me enough to hardly print
Wet filament 😔
I came here looking for this. :)
How long did you use that nozzle for?
No clue. A friend/ex gave it to me when he got his Bambu X1 Carbon.
It’s a Wanhao Duplicator i3. He gave it to me a little over a year and a half ago. And he’s had it for years… and I don’t think he ever replaced the nozzle. 😅
(Oh and he just told me he got it in 2016 and it was a second hand purchase then… but he definitely didn’t replace the nozzle in the 6+ years owning it lol)
I have one of those laying around I got it to print a few times but the SD card slot is broken on it (the usb was as well but I replaced it with a new 1) now it just started to get some rust on some of the parts so idk if I can salvage it anymore
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How hard was this to do? I have the same printer since new and never replaced the nozzle… but finally gonna do it soon
It's a lot easier to do it with a hex socket tool.
And you might need something to hold the heat block in place while you unscrew the old nozzle and screw in the new one, depending on the design of the hotend. An adjustable spanner will do.
Make sure the new nozzle is in tight enough to not leak filament, otherwise you'll have a mess to clean up.
And most importantly. Do the nozzle change when the NOZZLE IS AT PRINTING TEMPERATURE. Never change the nozzle cold.
Reason being is that some elements that make up the plastic you’re printing becomes fluid, and can leak into the threads of the nozzle, acting like a thread locker or thread seal compound. When this stuff cools off, it would effectively seize the nozzle into the heater block. Changing cold can break the head of the nozzle off the threads, causing you to need to remove and extract the threaded portion of the nozzle from your heater block. Or replace the heater block entirely. So save yourself a lot of headache, and heat it up before removing and replacing the nozzle. And apply final torque on the nozzle when hot too. That way you will know you have a tight seal between the throat tube and nozzle when torque is applied when the components are at an expanded state.
Did your filament look like this? I’m very new to the 3D printing game so just wondering if that could be my issue too.
If you want some tweaks to that printer let me know. I've been running the Monoprice knockoff for years now and I feel like I've got it really dialed in. It will never be as fast as a bambu (without replacing all the guts for $$$) but with a few changes it can be much faster and better at printing than stock.
That seems a little excessive, I get that they're cheap but isn't it a hassle to keep switching the nozzles too? Why not just perform a cold pull instead?
Normally it will suffice to just push some of the new filament through while hot until the old filament is purged.
I agree when switching between the same type of filament, but occasionally when I switch between a higher temp filament and PLA I end up with burnt PLA marks on my print, so I tend to do a cold pull when I notice those. Otherwise yeah I just let it extrude for a bit, I think changing the nozzle is excessive.
Or do a hot push. Purge the filament that’s inside the nozzle by manually forcing through the new filament until the color is uniform on the new filament flow and the force required to push through is minimal. I just do a manual purge every time I change filament, unless I’m going from a cf to normal PETg. Then I’m more tempted to change out the nozzle to compensate for orifice wear.
Every few rolls of filament I change mine. And always ONLY one type of plastic per nozzle.
Yeah I have a feeling this wasn’t replaced because it’s basically performing major surgery to get it off.
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Well, it’s certainly gaping.
You vs the girl he told you not to worry about
It is such a gradual process, difficult to know when it is time. Cheaper nozzles wear out faster, and abrasive filaments chews thru them in no time. One roll of glow-in-the-dark and you will replace your nozzle twice. Same with tubes, cheaper tubes wear out faster and burn more easily.