1 Topic by TickTock (edited by TickTock 2014-12-24 17:03:30)

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Topic: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

Santa came early this year and I just finished installing a E3D V6 into my SD4 (stock carriage).  First thing I notice is the extrusion from the 0.4mm nozzle is significantly bigger than the stock SD4 0.4mm nozzle.  I mic'd it out at 0.64mm whereas the stock SD nozzle extrusion mic's at 0.42mm.  I double checked the nozzle - it has three dimples corresponding to 0.4mm.  I'll go ahead and try a print but it looks like I will have to order a 0.3 or 0.25 nozzle to have the same resolution as the SD 0.4mm nozzle.

2 Reply by mdrVB6

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

I would trust E3D quality control a lot more than solidoodle,  so maybe you were smaller than you think before.  0.64 sounds about right for free air extrusion from my limited experience.  AS long as you can get a single wall test cube to your target wall thickness, you should be good.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

Free air extrusion is typically much more than 105% of nozzle diameter - so I'd guess your SD nozzle was either partially clogged, or really a 0.35mm (or smaller) nozzle.

There's also a lot of factors influencing die swell, such as internal nozzle geometry. The die swell doesn't really impact the resolution (definitely not as much as the nozzle diameter), so you should be just fine in terms of print quality.

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4 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2014-12-24 16:04:16)

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

Yup I end up with an extrusion multiplier of 0.85 or so with the e3d and octave ABS, and my steps per mm is properly calibrated. Just means your nozzle is clean as a whistle!

5 Reply by TickTock

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

No argument there.  The QA dept at SD is certainly not going to win any awards.  My original SD4 extruder performed phenomenally for a long time - until it didn't.  Was getting inconsistent results.  Tried cleaning, replacing the nozzle, etc, but still had problems.  It is entirely possible that the 0.42mm extrusion is abnormal since I do not know what the diameter was when it was printing well.  Anyway, I printed two cylinders with 0.4 and 1.2mm sidewalls and got 0.48 and 1.28 with the E3D.  This seems reasonable to me so now I'm printing something more interesting. So far so good.

6 Reply by jagowilson (edited by jagowilson 2014-12-24 16:48:42)

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

I highly recommend you upgrade to an MK5. Kindly put, the aluminum extruder is junk. You need adjustable tension for reliable results with direct drive. All you need is the spring from your old extruder, a long M3 screw, some washers and a 625zz bearing. If you need an mk5 I can ship you the bearing for the cost of shipping. I got a pack of 10 and have only used 2; I gave the other one away to another forum member.

7 Reply by TickTock

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Re: E3D nozzles too big? [Edit: No!]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and feedback.  Indeed, the printer appears back to good health.  A MK5 may be in my future but I try to avoid changing too many things at once so I will run with this for a while.