Nozzle size ?

Hi

I'm doing some research before building my reprap. I would like to know what is the difference betwin the differents nozzle sizes?

Is-there realy a big diference as far as the printing quality is concerned?

Do I need a bigger motor to extrude with a smaller nozzle? For exemple is a 4,8 kg.cm motor enouf for a J-Head Mk IV-B with a 0.35mm orifice?


Thanks a lot.

I've been printing for a while with a 0.5mm nozzle, and I get really good prints. I can print down to ~0.1mm layer heights with no problem whatsoever. That being said, I'm thinking about switching to a 0.35mm nozzle so that I can get better X/Y resolution.

If this is your first printer though, you may want to start with 0.5... it's little bit more forgiving.

On the topic of small nozzles, has anyone made a smaller one? Has anyone done 0.1mm? I'm curious if anyone has tried using syringe needles or something, and whether it's worth it to try.

... you'll get problems extruding through a nozzle with 0.2mm or smaller.

It's first the entry diameter+pressure, and last the friction in the bore.

What you can try is: get a nozzle with 0.35mm (or bigger) and short bore-length ... hammer the tip slightly from all sides and front, so the exit-hole shrinks remarkable ... and then drill the remaining hole to the desired diameter.

So you'll get a better interface from the normal bore-diameter to the smaller exit-hole and the friction in the smaller bore isn't so big.

But you'll encounter even stronger effects of filament swelling after exit from the hole than with conventional nozzles ...

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Thanks a lot for this informations.

I've used 0.5 and 0.35 nozzles extensively, and here are my impressions:

0.5 mm nozzle
- stronger parts (because infill lines are thicker and adhere better to one another)
- faster printing (because infill lines' increased thickness means fewer of them are needed to achieve a given density)

0.5mm nozzle cons
- corners not as sharp as prints with 0.35mm nozzle
- top surface finish rougher and less shiny than an identical print with a 0.35mm nozzle when printing at ≥ 0.15mm layer height
- tough to go lower than 0.1mm layer height without running into sparse infill issues

If you're printing parts that need to be strong and roll off a production line quickly, I definitely recommend a 0.5mm nozzle. Even if you're printing for detail, you can get it pretty good. 0.3mm nozzles are great for very precise detail, especially for angular models with large flat top surfaces. I wouldn't recommend going below 0.35mm for any reason. You're sacrificing a great deal of speed and strength for little real gain IMHO.

Here is a drill chart for anyone interested:

[whatisacnc.com]

Just to provide a bit of an update on my previous advice, I've successfully printed at 0.07mm mayer height with a 0.5mm nozzle, so it can be done and still look beautiful. I'll get a picture up tonight of a Star Destroyer printed at that layer height with a 0.5mm nozzle.

IMHO the advantages in print quality offered by a < 0.5mm nozzle are smoother top surface finish and smaller potential feature size. A 0.5mm nozzle can still produce very small layers, but the features on that layer are limited by the size of what comes out of the nozzle. With a smaller nozzle, you could probably print out the individual gun barrels on the turrets I modeled on the Star Destroyer. As it is, the turrets are kinda blobby.

Much smaller than a .25mm nozzle will clog with household dust. Every now and then, but not often, I have to clear a small blockage from my .25mm, even with a feed filament wiper.

Not to mention the print time increases as the nozzle diameter goes down. A 1mm wall would be 2 passes for a .5mm and 4 passes for a .25mm.

Has anyone tried printing with a larger nozzle size, say 0.8 or 1mm?

I usually go for functional parts only and If I could print a more robust part that would be a bonus. Also my printer sits for long periods and I really want a printer that I can just turn on and print with minimal tuning.

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Helium Frog Website

martinprice2004 Wrote:
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> Has anyone tried printing with a larger nozzle
> size, say 0.8 or 1mm?

Yes - printing ABS with a .75 mm nozzle temperature 260 degrees C - layer height .4 mm - infill speed 50mm/s. With long stretches of infill I do get a 4 degrees C drop in hotend temperature (copper heater block with a 40 watt heater cartridge). Use mostly for bigger parts.

>
> I usually go for functional parts only and If I
> could print a more robust part that would be a
> bonus. Also my printer sits for long periods and I
> really want a printer that I can just turn on and
> print with minimal tuning.

The smaller the opening, the narrower the with of plastic you can extrude. Less width means finer horizontal resolution. Your extrusion width has to be wider than your opening.

Hello, does anybody have knowledge about heat treatment of nozzles?

I think you might need to provide a little more detail.


3dlong Wrote:
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> Hello, does anybody have knowledge about heat
> treatment of nozzles?

Heat treatment on Wikipedia.

The question is, what would be the benefits?

appdev007 Wrote:
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> The smaller the opening, the narrower the with of
> plastic you can extrude. Less width means finer
> horizontal resolution. Your extrusion width has to
> be wider than your opening.

I'm not sure this is a hard and fast rule. I've greatly reduced the percentage of my default extrusion widths and with much tweaking, was able to make prints with much finer surface resolution. Unsure what my default extrusion width was but I think the result was actually smaller than my nozzle orifice diameter. It took a lot of failed prints and radical tweaking of extrusion multiplier and speed however. Could be wrong, obviously I didn't go at it in the most scientific way.

The reason I asked the question was that I'm sure a larger nozzle size would result in less extrusion pressure which could only be a good thing for reliability and easier printing of the first layer.

My J type nozzle has just become all blocked up and I have ordered a new one, so I was thinking I could modify the old one whilst cleaning it up to a larger size. Its going to be quite hard to drill out, so the larger the drill the better. Anyone tried any bigger than 1mm?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2013 06:26PM by martinprice2004.

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Helium Frog Website