We bought a taz5 a few months back that came with a 0.5mm nozzle. We’re finding that with ABS at 250C, for large prints and 0.18 layer height it works great. Larger prints work very well and we couldn’t be happier.
Recently, our need is for higher resolution prints of smaller objects. To achieve this goal we figure we need to switch to the smaller nozzle of the two most common lulzbot sizes, 0.35mm instead of 0.5mm. Is this worth it? We’ve been looking for 0.35mm hexagon hot end nozzles for weeks but can’t find any in stock anywhere. The reason for trying to switch to the 0.35mm instead of generic 0.3/0.2/0.1mm offerings is that we want to be able to preload optimized lulzbot cura settings for the 0.35mm equiped print head.
We’ve already purchased 0.3mm nozzles. Another path for would be, can we use them and load the 0.35mm settings and expect our prints to work without any other changes?
What would be the ultimate Taz5 nozzle to use with the hexagon hot end to achieve absolute highest resolution? We’re printing custom CPU socket lids and retainers to enable test card solutions into new silicon design circuit debug equipment. Some of the lids we’re trying to make are only 2mm thick and about 15x15mm square. Print speed doesn’t matter to us for this application. High detail does and we’re trying to beat our sister lab that uses the ultimaker 2+ in Europe.
The smaller the nozzle the finer the detail. I use a 0.3mm nozzle for some prints and regularly use it to print at 0.04mm layer height. The detail is superb but it obviously takes awhile.
A 0.35mm nozzle helps to add details to parts that have features that are smaller than 0.5mm. Corners, radiuses, etc. You can still print very thin, very fne, highly detailed layers with a 0.5mm nozzle. The main difference in print quality is that with the 0.35mm nozzle you can print a thinner perimiter. it would come in handy if you were trying to print a high resolution model of Notre Dame Cathedral at 0.05mm layer height for example.
Thanks guys, I’m ordering the 0.35mm nozzles now. In the meantime I have 0.3 and 0.2 on hand right now to try. If I switch out the 0.5mm to the 0.3mm nozzle should I load the 0.35 CURA taz5 ABS ini file to work with the 0.3mm nozzle?
OR
Can I just get away with changing the nozzle size in CURA control to 0.3mm? I guess I’m asking if I can adjust the nozzle size in the software without changing anything else and expect a good print?
Right now I’m thinking, download and use optimized 0.35mm CURA ini from link above. Adjust nozzle to 0.3mm in CURA control and change the layer height from 0.18 to 0.075. Sorry for the newbie questions. We are learning and having fun with this at work.
We usually go through about 10kg of filament creating profiles for different filaments and nozzle sizes. Starting out by changing nozzle size and ensuring layer height is 80% nozzle diameter or lower, will be a great starting point. Unfortunately, you are going to need to tweak some of the other settings as they all interact. Nothing a little trial and error won’t fix up.
Thanks again for all the help. We installed a generic volcano 0.3mm nozzle and changed the machine setup to the lulzbot 0.35mm toolhead. In Cura before executing a test print, we also changed the nozzle field from 0.35 to 0.3.
Check out the two rocktopus test prints. The farthest from the camera was done using the 0.5mm nozzle with layer height 0.18mm at 240/110C. The closer one in the field of view was using the 0.3mm nozzle with layer height 0.10mm 240/110C. There’s clearly a huge improvement in detail using the 0.3mm nozzle setup. The print looks like it came from a mold instead of printed.
The only problem so far with the 0.3mm nozzle is bed adhesion (fixed by using a brim) and unwanted extrusion each time the print head lifts. As we watch the 0.3mm nozzle print we can see it lift to move across dead areas but there’s still some ABS extruding and leaving stringers. This is causing problems where we are trying to print structures with small screw hole openings. The openings are being partially filled by the extra material coming out between head lifts. Eventually there’s lots of goop where blank spaces should be.
Is this easy to fix? Just retraction adjustments? I know we’re using a slightly smaller nozzle than the settings are optimized for but I’m not sure what to change (0.3mm vs 0.35mm)
Should be retraction setting… could also be extrusion temp being a little hot. Try up to 5C lower in increments of 1 or 2C. Drawback of lower extrusion temp is delamination on tall prints.
If using S3D, try the coast option (I use .2).
If you don’t use S3D (Simplify3D) try Sebastian’s RCBug Fix Marlin Firmware which has the LIN (pressure) adjustments. Which is similar to the coast setting in S3D.
If using cura you may have coasting for travel moves switched on. If so, turn that off, it prevents retraction in order to save time. Sometimes it’s very handy, some times its a nuiscance.
It’s different to the coast setting in S3D mentioned above, which works brilliantly and gives much cleaner outside perimiters I might add.
