For some of the items I’m printing I’m doing I need higher resolution than I can get from the stock 0.5 mm nozzles that came on TAZ 5 (and the TAZ Dual Extruder V2 Tool Head).
I suspect that even a 0.35 mm nozzle won’t be small enough for what I need to do.
Has anyone used a 0.2 mm nozzle on the Hexagon hotends that come on a TAZ 5 (or the dual extruder)? If you have, what did you need to change (other than the nozzle)?
Thanks,
cj
Can’t say that I’ve used a .2mm nozzle… I think the closest you’ll get may be .25mm.
Changing the nozzle is fairly straight forward, but not recommended by Lulzbot… and can void the warranty. I used two wrenches, one that fit the heater block (17 or 18mm) and the other that fits the nozzle (7 or 8mm). Heat the hotend to 165+ (to melt existing filament and any metal thermal expansion), and start removing the nozzle. It’ll be hot so make sure to prepare for final removal… vise-grips or locking forceps can grip the nozzle for removing from the heater block. Protecting the print bed might be a good idea also… I borrowed a silicone trivet from the kitchen.
To re-attach, heat the hotend back to 165+ and finger thread the nozzle to the heater block. You’ve got maybe 10sec before the nozzle gets too hot. Finger threading provides the feedback to ensure you haven’t cross-threaded. Once the nozzle is on, heat hotend to 250 and tighten nozzle again… don’t go crazy since the nozzle can crack and break off. There is a recommended torque, but I can’t remember off the top of my head… could be something like 25 or 35 Nm.
If you can find one of Sebastian’s post, he probably has more detailed steps in his tutorial (listed in his signature).
Regarding your resolution needs different filaments may generate better corners or detail. ABS is probably one of the worst for sharp corner resolution.
The user saramos has done some nice sub .1mm prints with his TAZ… looking up his posts may provide some insight.
Good advice, thanks! I’ve replaced a nozzle before, but didn’t use a torque wrench. I’ll do that this time.
Did you (when using a .25 mm nozzle) do anything else, such as switch to a 1.75 mm hotend or filament, change the filament feedrate, etc.?
Thanks,
cj
I’m also interested in using a 0.2mm nozzle with the taz5. What would be really cool would be for lulzbot to post calibration files for nozzles in addition to the 0.5mm and 0.35mm available online. There’s so many settings to adjust, for the beginner looking for higher resolution on smaller prints, the challenge is daunting.
If you get it working let me know! I’m trying to print objects just a few mm thick and a few cm wide. I need the best resolution possible and print speed isn’t important.
Probably shouldn’t rely on LB to post all the permutation of nozzle / filament combos… Since the Hexagon doesn’t come stock in a .2mm nozzle. Easy enough to change the nozzle diameter in the slicer and tweak from there. The feedrate and all the other parameters should be automatically calculated by the slicer.
Extrude 100mm of filament and check if it matches up… or do the e-steps calibration.
The feedrate and all the other parameters should be automatically calculated by the slicer.
That’s exactly what I needed to know! Thanks!
cjk
By the way the torque setting is 3.4nm if you’re wrench is metric, or 30 inch lbs if your wrench is imperial.
If you don’t hve a wrench, that amount of torque is seriously low, if you imagined tightening it with your fingers as hard as you can, it would be like an extra 1/8th turn or so with a wrench.
Yep… hard to find a torque wrench for such a low setting. Thanks for correcting by the way… 
I have changed my nozzle more than a few times. I put it in snug cold then heat it up to ABS temps and then snug it down again with a wrench, never broke one or had a leak.
I’ve ordered some .25 mm nozzles and a torque wrench (“TEKTON 24320”) that can be set between 2.26 N/m to 22.6 N/m. Yes, I know I could probably install a .25 mm nozzle without using a torque wrench, and I’ve swapped nozzles previously without one, but I’ve never been confident that they were properly tightened. Now I’ll know for certain!
Extrude 100mm of filament and check if it matches up… or do the e-steps calibration.
I’ve been meaning to check the e-step calibration. A nozzle change seems like as a good, if not great, time to do that.
thanks,
-cjk-
No worries. I could just picture someone cracking out their great big 100nm torque wrench and trying to crank those little brass threads hard up to 30nm 
I haven’t been in the forums lately. Been having fun off-roading with my new 4x4 Tundra.
As kcchen_00 said, I’ve had pretty good results using .25 and .20 nozzles. Bed leveling is very critical. It took some time to get the software settings dialed in, but once done, results are pretty consistent (I use mostly Simplify3D). Just be prepared for very long print times. As for layer height, I’ve gotten my best results at no less than .08mm. I think I’ll have to upgrade my rails to get better layer height results. I picked up a 1.75mm Hexagon hotend, but have not made the switch yet. My thinking is at about half the volume of the 3mm, you should get twice the fidelity out of the feed.
Two days ago, I found and ordered some .15 and .10 nozzles. I think I got the last two .10 nozzles they had. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.
Scott
I’ve made profiles from existing ones. There were only .35 profiles when I got my taz so I went through a profile and multiplied all widths by 1.43 to make a .50 profile (.35 x 1.43 = ~.50). This is a good starting point, but I did have to enlarge “top solid infill” a bit to make them work, but all else is at least a good place to start.