7. Nozzles

Your nozzle is where the rubber meets the road, or at least where the plastic meets the print, when it comes to 3D printing. It’s worth spending some time fully understanding the impact your selection of nozzle sizes and types has on prints, and what the advantages and disadvantages are of different features. More expensive doesn’t necessarily equate to best, and cheap isn’t always the most economical.

Note

These notes are based on my experiences with the Prusa i3 Mk3 and Artillery/Evnovo Sidewinder X1 printers. If you are using a different printer, please verify the hardware details are similar.

These are my notes based on months of research, experimentation and just goofing around with a variety of nozzles.

Nozzle alternatives

• 7.1. Nozzle types and features
  • 7.1.1. Nozzle materials and coatings
    • 7.1.1.1. Plain brass
    • 7.1.1.2. Stainless steel
    • 7.1.1.3. Nickel-plated copper
    • 7.1.1.4. Hardened steel
    • 7.1.1.5. Ruby and other exotics
    • 7.1.1.6. Tungsten Carbide
    • 7.1.1.7. Titanium
    • 7.1.1.8. Coated nozzles
  • 7.1.2. Selecting nozzles
    • 7.1.2.1. The heartbreak of cheap nozzles
    • 7.1.2.2. Economy nozzles
    • 7.1.2.3. Everyday printing
    • 7.1.2.4. Printing with abrasive filaments
    • 7.1.2.5. Specialty nozzles
  • 7.1.3. Personal preferences
• 7.2. Nozzle sizes
  • 7.2.1. What changing the nozzle size does
    • 7.2.1.1. Nozzle diameter
    • 7.2.1.2. Extrusion width
    • 7.2.1.3. Layer height
    • 7.2.1.4. Example prints
  • 7.2.2. Print speed
    • 7.2.2.1. Understanding maximum volumetric speed (hotend throughput)
    • 7.2.2.2. Calculating maximum safe speeds based on volumetric speed
    • 7.2.2.3. Smaller nozzle impacts on speed
    • 7.2.2.4. Larger nozzle impacts on speed
    • 7.2.2.5. Make it up in volume
  • 7.2.3. Guidelines for printing with different nozzle sizes
    • 7.2.3.1. Printing with a 0.25mm Nozzle
    • 7.2.3.2. Printing with a 0.40mm Nozzle
    • 7.2.3.3. Printing with a 0.60mm Nozzle
    • 7.2.3.4. Printing with a 1.00mm Nozzle
  • 7.2.4. Conclusions
• 7.3. Selecting nozzle sizes for large functional prints
  • 7.3.1. Right-sizing nozzle sizes for large prints
    • 7.3.1.1. Print detail
    • 7.3.1.2. Part strength
    • 7.3.1.3. Speed
    • 7.3.1.4. Infill optimization
  • 7.3.2. Conclusions
• 7.4. Selecting nozzle sizes for detailed prints
  • 7.4.1. The impact of nozzle size on print detail
  • 7.4.2. Right-sizing nozzle sizes for XY detail
  • 7.4.3. Right-sizing layer heights for Z detail
  • 7.4.4. Adaptive layer heights and nozzle sizes
  • 7.4.5. Conclusions

See also

• The illusion of speed

• Maxmizing printer output for production of PPE in resposne to the COVID-19 crisis

• Maximizing printer output

Contact and feedback

You can find me on the Prusa support forums or Reddit where I lurk in many of the 3D printing-related subreddits. I occasionally drop into the Official Prusa 3D discord server where I can be reached as bobstro (bobstro#9830). You can email me directly at projects@ttlexceeded.com.

Last modified Aug 30, 2021. Last build on Oct 22, 2021.