How many hours do you guys go between nozzle changes?
Posted Jul 19, 2022, 11:10 AM UTC
117
I run a farm of printers that print mostly PLA/PETG/TPU and usually change the nozzle every 18mo or so. I print functional parts and tools with tight tolerances. No issues with running the nozzles that long over the last 6 years of running the farm. YMMV.
3
I have a Mini
- the OG brass nozzle died a horrible death in its first month of life, after printing 200 grams of some GITD filament
- 2nd E3D brass nozzle printed a few hundred hours (about 2 months) , almost all PLA, it did not survive a cheap filament that had some kind of impurity that totally clogged the orifice
- 3rd E3 nozzle was their hardened nozzle, printed ok, used it for at least a few weeks
- 4th nozzle, E3D Nozzle X. I swapped when I starting printing with PETG. The coating does seem to keep plastic bits from accumulating on the nozzle tip. I have well over 2k hours on this nozzle. I have used it to print CF PETG, GITD, PLA and PETG filled with sparkly bits and some wood fill PLA. It's still going strong!
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Whelp I guess GITD is going off of my list as a newb.
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Had mine for over a year. Probably will be about time to change it. But if it's not broken. Only print pla and petg.
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I stopped keeping track, honestly at this point I just switch out the nozzle at the first sign of trouble.
So many issues are made worse with an old nozzle, and they're cheap enough that I just bought a pack of like 20 and slap a new one on any time I think it might be an issue at all.
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Exactly that’s what I’ve been doing if the surface starts looking rough I examine the nozzle to see if it’s reamed out
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I generally change the nozzle when I have to remove it for another reason, like a really bad clog. I REALLY hate changing nozzles. I use Microswiss coated nozzles, so they're a bit more wear resistant than brass, but also more expensive. I haven't ever noticed issues that I can trace to a worn nozzle, though I was surprised when my Z offset was quite a bit farther after the last change. Relatively speaking, of course.
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Never. I use tungsten carbide 😃
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5 printers running 24/7 have to change nozzles just about every month or every other month because stringing will get bad. I use a cheaper brand of black pla and I think it eats nozzles faster than the other brands
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Four years into the stock nozzle. I’ve never changed it. I print only PLA or PETG.
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All of the hours.
But seriously, I have been running the printer for about a year. Had a Revo for the past 1.5 months, and prior that, had maybe 2-3 weeks of SS for printing CF, but otherwise it was all a single 0.4 E3D brass nozzle. It ended up coated in gunk, but it worked great.
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a few months of non stop printing usually.
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I don't know if I would use hours as the metric for this.
More like length and material.
I printed regular PLA for over a year with no apparent nozzle wear.
Then a roll of glow in the dark PLA and a half roll of wood-filled PLA and that nozzle is visibly shorter and the aperture is larger. About 500 meters.
I feel the carbon fiber and metal filled plastics are probably worse when it comes to abrasive wear.
A hardened steel nozzle will last much longer for these materials.
Ah interesting I guess one must include material in these calculations
yeah that glow in the dark PLA clogged mine up a bit too
Jeez. Is GITD really that much of a pain?
Starting to think that isn’t worth messing with until I have some experience.
Nah its not that bad, can be resolved with live tuning temp and speed to avoid the issues