Super hard nozzles - Test pilots

[danilius]

Gah! I was sure I posted my last message, and clearly it did not get through because I forgot to press submit. Oh well.

Basically I'm printing in ABS, use 6.5mm retraction, and I think that's it.

[Blizz]

RIP. Grrr... Did something wrong in Simplify3D and it wrecked the nozzle by scraping it over one of the buildplate clips. It now has a 30° angled shoulder. Loved it while it worked. If they ever get to market, I'll definitely buy a set!

[Titus]

Pictures or it didn't happen

[Anders Olsson]

RIP. Grrr... Did something wrong in Simplify3D and it wrecked the nozzle by scraping it over one of the buildplate clips. It now has a 30° angled shoulder. Loved it while it worked. If they ever get to market, I'll definitely buy a set!

It would be interesting to see a picture for sure, although I can imagine how it looks

Thank you again everyone for the feedback by the way.
I have been very busy with family things things lately, but we are working on the design, so there will hopefully be an improved version of the ruby nozzle soon.

[Blizz]

Sorry for the delay, lots of other stuff on my mind right now (Like getting my Tooli assembled!).
Anyway, you wanted a picture, here goes:

It still hurts to look at it

[Titus]

Yikes, like a broken heart. Damn. Poor Blizz!

[Izzy]

That does look painful.
On the other hand, I've recently been printing with flexi filament from Recreus FilaFlex, the Ruby nozzle prints fine, I havnt found a problem with any filament yet, although I do need to print a few degrees hotter with the Ruby nozzle, and the surface finish is a little rougher.

[MTVDNA]

Although I haven't tried printing anything else than regular old PLA yet, I find this topic very interesting. I hope these nozzles will be commercially available once I get around to printing some harder filaments

[Izzy]

Hi MTVDNA, (you've got to let us know an easier Name )
The main advantage is when printing with carbon fibre or abrasive filaments, we are testing them on all sorts to try and debug them as it were, to see what they do and don't like to print, how best to clean out filament and clean the outside.
Printing wise I've not found anything that won't go through them, although I am printing with a slightly higher nozzle temperature on average about +5'C to compensate for the thermal qualities, and the top surface is not quite as smooth as when printed with a brass nozzle, but I must say they are a great nozzle.

[danilius]

They are superb nozzles, but I'm crying because I managed to break mine, even though I was just using basic filaments like ABS, PLA and PETG

[LePaul]

Izzy makes a good point I have meant to chime in on as well

I've used the ruby for a few months now and it has handled XT-CF20 (carbon fiber) fine.

I have noticed that I do print hotter with the ruby, all of my PLA prints I am doing lately (9.5 hour print jobs) are done at 216C (218C for the first two layers). Usually on the brass nozzle I would print at 205-210.

I should put the brass one back in and do a side by side comparison of the print quality.

[MTVDNA]

Hi MTVDNA, (you've got to let us know an easier Name )
The main advantage is when printing with carbon fibre or abrasive filaments, we are testing them on all sorts to try and debug them as it were, to see what they do and don't like to print, how best to clean out filament and clean the outside.
Printing wise I've not found anything that won't go through them, although I am printing with a slightly higher nozzle temperature on average about +5'C to compensate for the thermal qualities, and the top surface is not quite as smooth as when printed with a brass nozzle, but I must say they are a great nozzle.

I read the entire topic, and if I understood correctly the nozzle hides some flaws in the print less than other nozzles. I'd rather see that as an opportunity to tune my printer perfectly than as a defect of the nozzle.

[LePaul]

Last night I removed the nozzle and nearly broke my glass plate since I forgot how much bigger the default .4 mm nozzle is versus the ruby!

I did a quick robot test print and discovered I need to re-learn the optimal temperatures with the regular nozzle all over again He looked pretty rough at 218 but down closer to 210 with the right about of air flow worked ok.

Top is the piece with the standard Ultimaker Original 0.4 brass nozzle Bottom is the ruby nozzle print of a similar part. I noticed the ruby does a much better job with those first layers as the left and right edges seem peeled up on the standard nozzle. That print requires a lot of support material and the ruby just smears on it perfectly. Maybe I need to fine tune the temp some more for the std brass one or lessen the retract?

[nakwada]

HA !

This super hard nozzle looks amazing ! Would love to have a chance to test it too.
I have an UM2 with Olsson Block and other E3D gears

[Anders Olsson]

Time for an update I guess, sorry for being away for so long, lots of stuff to deal with here.

After the initial test batch that you have tested we decided to change the design a bit.
The updated design features a slightly larger ruby, a mechanically stronger fixing of the ruby and (hopefully) improved thermal conductivity.

I am abroad right now but there might be a few pieces available for testing still.
"gudo" actually got one of the very early test pieces of this design, that particular sample has an unpolished ruby which might affect surface quality but should apart from that perform as the final design.