I have been running the standard .35mm nozzle that comes with my budaschnozzle 2.0. I have been running into issues with my longer prints. I need to speed up the print time from 24hour plus to the 15-17 hour range. When I increased the movement speed the finish sucked.(lots of bumps and visible layers) When I increased the layer height the finish also got worse. I thought going with a .5mm nozzle might allow me to either speed up the nozzle OR increase layer height without ruining the surface quality OR both. I have been running 0.2 layer height with the .35mm nozzle with good results. What I would like to do is switch to the .5mm nozzle with .3 layer height in hopes of cutting back the print time without hurting (too much) of the surface finish. Does this sound like a valid strategy? Is there a good ratio for layer height for the .5mm nozzle? I have heard that the layer height should mesh with the size of the nozzle and 0.2 layer height seems to work well with the .35nozzle, but I’m not 100% sure what the ideal layer height is for the .5mm nozzle. I don’t need a perfectly smooth finish, but I can’t have those little bumps or cracks in the print. I don’t have the time to try to use acetone to repair the cracks and spend hours sanding the prints to repair the surface. I need prints that look good as is with zero work. They need to come off the printer and right into the shipping box.
I was able to get pretty good results with a .5mm nozzle on my old A0-10x. I think my general layer height was a little smaller than .3, but it shouldn’t be a problem if you aren’t printing really fine spindly thingies.
Yes, switching to a larger diameter nozzle will cut down on your print times. I’ve gone as high as 1.5 mm with some… interesting results. A .4 layer height is about the highest you would want to go with a .5mm nozzle. In general, you do not want to exceed %80 of the nozzle diameter.
I might try the x-idler slic3r configuration here:
and adjust the infill density based on the application of your part (strength vs. weight and speed of print).
Thanks for the info. I am going to use a .3mm layer height and go from there.