mendells

I had thought about trying it myself (found some kits online to do it) but the industrial electroless nickel plating that they offer is actually a composite coating, adding PTFE, Boron Nitride, Carbide, and Diamond to give better hardness and low friction. Plus it means I don't have to mess around with nasty chemicals or risk ruining a $50 nozzle :wink:

I found a place nearby that is willing to coat the stock nozzles with a couple different nickel coatings for free (they just want feedback on how the different coatings perform). Has anyone been using ColorFabb XT-CF20 that can provide some feedback on the uncoated nozzle wear?

We have an MakerBot Replicator 2X that hardly gets used anymore, Maybe I'll convert that to use a 3mm E3D nozzle. I'd like to keep the ultimakers as stock as possible.

Has any tried nickel plating their nozzles? We have two UM2s here at work and we would really like to print with ColorFabb's XT-CF20 filament but are a little concerned about the additional wear on the nozzles. Nickel plating seems like it would be an excellent alternative to remaking the nozzles out of stainless or bronze (titanium?). It would provide high surface hardness, low friction and better wear/abrasion resistance than plain brass. I am a little skeptical as to how well the inside of the nozzle will get coated so if anyone has any experience with nickel plating your feedback would be greatly appreciated! http://www.enduracoatings.com/electroless-nickel-specifications.html Thoughts? Edit: Just found out that the minimum lot charge is $750 :/