Can someone explain the advantage of using a a smaller or larger nozzle? Currently I have a .4 nozzle on a ubis 13s hotend was looking at replacement nozzles and they are all over the place in size
Smaller will allow for better detail, and larger can push more volume if you’re trying to print big things fast. So you match the nozzle to the task.
.4 just happens to be the middle ground most manufacturers agreed on.
If you have a smaller nozzle it will create more small details
Smaller nozzles give finer details, but far longer prints because you’re limited to maximum layer height, you need more perimeters for the same wall thickness, etc.
Larger nozzles, give you rougher details, allow you to print much faster (not as in nozzle travel speed, but overall print time), and allow you to print large layer heights (which also contributes to the fast print times)
If I were to get a few nozzles to have on hand… I need to get another .4mm? along with that what 2 other sizes should I get to experiment with?
I wouldn’t go much lower than a 0.3 - unless you use REALLY good filament, and have really good clog protection. I’d go one below, and one above…or jump up to whatever their largest is, just so you can get a feel for larger nozzles. They DO have their place.
Smaller nozzles are also more prone to blockage and print failures. They take some playing to get right. Larger nozzles can be a bit more forgiving and have more room for error while still printing successfully.
I’d say get a .2-.25mm for your small to play with and a .8mm for your large to play with. I know people consider nozzles a longer-term consumable, but in the years of running filament through mine I’ve only ever replaced one nozzle and that was because of an impossible jam thanks to my own stupidity, so you probably don’t need an extra .4mm at the moment.
+1 on the large nozzles. I absolutely love my 0.8-1.2 mm nozzles. Though they need a larger volcano heater block. Not sure what’s the largest nozzle that can comfortably print on the ubis
Remember that the amount of filament you can push through is dependent on the square of the nozzle size. So a .8 will flow 4 times more than a .4 (actually more… but close enough).
Some of my regular points/considerations when people ask me about nozzle size:
- Some filaments like Laywoo-D contain particles that will block smaller nozzles. Usually 0.5mm is a good minimum size that works for most of these (0.45mm seems to be just slightly too small & you’ll get the occasional clog).
- The min & max layer height you can lay down is related to the nozzle size (height vs diameter of extrusion), so if you want thick layers, go for a bigger nozzle. If you want ultra-thin layers, you probably want to go smaller.
- Larger nozzle sizes will push out more plastic, so prints of the same volume will be faster (infill settings can always help, but at the cost of strength).
- Large nozzles also mean your extruder needs to be capable of pushing plastic fast enough to feed it (eg: some direct drive extuder/electronics combos may not be able push plastic into a very large nozzle fast enough).
- Larger nozzles can produce stronger parts (within reason) as the plastic is more continuous (larger volume of extrusion). Also as the plastic goes down faster, layer bonds can (technically) be stonger as the plastic can heat-bond easier (can also be related to layer height, object shape, infill shape and type, and lots of other factors tho).
- Larger nozzles will require stronger heating elements/blocks to thoroughly heat the plastic all the way through if you’re pushing it through fast. This may show up as the need to slow down your prints to get better layer adhesion or to avoid weird extrusion issues like jams that go away just by stopping extrusion for a few seconds.
- Larger nozzles will not produce as well defined corners (particularly in X/Y). If you need really sharp corners, go for a smaller nozzle.
Basically theres a bunch of trade-offs and you need to figure out which suits the print jobs you want to do. Having multiple nozzle sizes available to you (eg: Swappable) is always the best thing, as then you change to get the trade-offs suitable for the prints you need to do.
i mostly use a 0.4 and 0.5mm nozzles as well, but since most of what i print is either mechanical or some form of a toy (my wife designs toys as a part time gig, and i do most of the prototyping) i also carry “smaller” nozzled - i.e 0.25mm & 0.3mm. i use these when i need higher detailed prints - like very small gears etc.
i’ve never had any issues with the 0.3mm - even with really crappy filaments, but when you go down to 0.25mm (and 0.2mm) it gets more “sensitive” to things like temp, speed and filament quality (which makes sense really).
i also use 0.8mm and 1.0mm nozzles - for when i need very strong mechanical parts that are not so detailed.
@Aric_Norine That’ll usually depend on things like your speed, and how much back-pressure you get, and how exactly you’ve got everything tuned. Yes it’s possible to get very low layer heights with large nozzles with good tuning, but that level of tuning may even be for a specific batch of plastic (not even just one from the same supplier and same colour), so it needs to be considered appropriately when making decisions.
Honestly I’m pretty bummed out no one recommend watching @Thomas_Sanladerer recent video about nozzles and I’m even more bummed out that even tho I subscribe I forgot to click the bell on YouTube to get notified on all the videos posted (that particular one fell thru the cracks) I appreciate this community for all the knowledge that people are willing to share,You Guys are awesome!!! Knowledge is power, thank-you all for helping me learn I have all of 2 months hands on experience a year of lurking this group and 2 years of interest this is one of my long term goals comming to reality