carbon pla on out of box printer

#1
hey guys I just got my 1.5+xt. I did a couple test prints with the included roll. then swapped to protopasta carbon pla. A few days later I said self you destroyed your nozzle on your i3 when you swapped to carbon and had to get a ss nozzle. are the nozzles on the gcreate hardned or should I be switching to ss nozzles. printer is doing great by the way
 
#2
From what I can tell they are NOT hardened... and quite honestly switching nozzles is a pain in the ass.
If i had one wishlist item (now that ABL and heated bed are done) it would be easily swappable Extruder assemblies.
To me, Lulzbot did that PERFECTLY. it comes off with 1 screw. Its glorious. Id gladly pay for a 300$ extruder to swap nozzles on it to never have to swap nozzles etc.
 

gCreate

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#3
cliferton said:
hey guys I just got my 1.5+xt. I did a couple test prints with the included roll. then swapped to protopasta carbon pla. A few days later I said self you destroyed your nozzle on your i3 when you swapped to carbon and had to get a ss nozzle. are the nozzles on the gcreate hardned or should I be switching to ss nozzles. printer is doing great by the way
We have found protopasta CF to be less abrasive than other brands and in some cases we have been able to run 10+ spools through a nozzle with little-medium wear. That being said, these special filaments will definitely wear out the nozzle over time. The j-heads we use are brass but you can get an E3D hotend with a hardened steel tip if you plan on printing a lof of CF. You can also buy spares from us in our store.
 
#5
Gordon/Kyle etc... is there any known issues printing with a hardened nozzle for all materials?
For instance, any drawbacks if i switched my E3D nozzle to hardened, and printed carbon fiber, abs, pla, petg etc all on that one nozzle?
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

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Staff member
#6
dunginhawk said:
Gordon/Kyle etc... is there any known issues printing with a hardened nozzle for all materials?
For instance, any drawbacks if i switched my E3D nozzle to hardened, and printed carbon fiber, abs, pla, petg etc all on that one nozzle?
We are still waiting on our hardened nozzle to arrive so we can test with it. From what I've read it shouldn't affect the print quality. I am curious as to the heating qualities of SS or hardened steel vs brass. I've also seen brass wear resistant nozzles from protopasta which I would like to try out.

https://www.proto-pasta.com/products/plated-brass-wear-resistant-nozzles
 
#7
I have a little insite with the ss nozzles. I have had zero issues with swapping filaments in a ss nozzle. I have had the same one on my i3 for almost a year now and print almost exclusively with carbon pasta. from time to time I will swap to pla or abs but have seen no difference in my prints. the nozzle just dosent wear like a brass one. If there is any difference in heat up time it is nominal. that is just my experience im sure there is someone out there that will tell you that they swapped to one and then their printer caught on fire and burned the house down lol
 
#10
I am not sure which brass or stainless steal is used for each hotend but according to this chart. The heat conductivity of brass is about 3-10 times better than steal. This would mean a steal nozzle might print slower. I doubt there is a difference with small nozzles or low layer heights. But when using large nozzles in an attempt to melt as much plastic as possible there would be a difference in top speed. I have not tested it, just theory.


http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-metals-d_858.html
 
#12
Thanks for checking in :) i did just buy a stainless steel not a hardened. so I just bought a hardened one from E3D.. may take a little while to get here, but It will.
thanks