Print Core ultimaker 3

[orangesale 2]

Hi guys,

 

I was wondering if anybody here has tryed to change the nozzle from their print core for an after market one ?

Considering theres a lot of them on the market, I'm curious to know if it would work well.

 

https://www.matterhackers.com/store/c/Nozzles/Specialty Nozzles

 

Thanks

[gr5 2,172]

I'm pretty sure none of those will fit.  90% of them are too short and the rest are too long.  The threading goes all the way through the block and into the hex portion of the steel part.

 

The nozzle is much longer than it looks.  However 3dsolex (and my store - thegr5store.com in USA only) sells a 3rd party core for the UM3 which lets you change nozzles.  They still aren't compatible with those e3d style nozzles you linked to but at least there is more selection and if you were going to buy a 0.8 and a 0.25 core then it's a good deal.  Or if you need a ruby or steel nozzle then it's the only choice right now.

 

Taking apart your nozzle is very tricky as the steel part is very very delicate at the heat break but I have a video of how to do it if you are interested.  It will of course void the warranty for your core.  To find the video on youtube search for "um3 core disassembly".

[ultiarjan 1,223]

 

 

[orangesale 2]

Nice, thanks guys, that really helps !

[gr5 2,172]

As you can see in the image above, the nozzle is longer than most but still shorter than those "volcano" nozzles.  I guess you could buy a volcano nozzle and then cut it down to size with a hack saw and then use a die to fix the threads.

[orangesale 2]

If I understand, the only benefit of such product is the fact that you can change the nozzle instead of buying a new printcore ?

 

Is there other pro/cons to consider ?

[kmanstudios 1,120]

8 hours ago, orangesale said:

If I understand, the only benefit of such product is the fact that you can change the nozzle instead of buying a new printcore ?

 

Is there other pro/cons to consider ?

I find that to be a big pro in that you can change nozzles a lot cheaper than cores when the old ones give out (and they do after so many hours of heat and printing) and you can change types of nozzles too.

[gr5 2,172]

Ultimaker only sells I think 3 nozzle sizes: .25, .4, .8 (or is it only 2?  I haven't really paid much attention).

 

With 3dsolex the most popular nozzle would be the ruby/sapphire nozzles (called "everlast") for printing highly abrasive filaments like glowfill which can eat through a nozzle in just a few hours.  Or carbon fill.  Or steel fill.

 

There is also a 0.5mm steel nozzle, and a 0.6mm nozzle if you want part way between .4 and .8.  Also a 0.15 nozzle.  Also a 0.1mm nozzle (yes, really!).  Also there is a 1mm nozzle and I think a 1.2 maybe?  Plus you can just drill out your own desired nozzle size I suppose if you want a 2.5mm nozzle?

 

Pros:

1) Lots more choices for nozzles.

2) Easy to clean a nozzle or replace a nozzle - if it is clogged just remove it and slap on another one - no down time.  You can do the cold pull or other cleaning technique over a gas stove while the printer is printing.

3) Easier to diagnose certain underextrusion issues.  Maybe your bowden is highly worn out and has high friction.  do a cold pull and remove the nozzle, now you can pass filament through a room temperature hot end and feel if there are problems in the path. 

4) The "race" nozzles have better heat conduction (they have two paths inside each nozzle for the liquid filament to flow through) which heats the plastic better and you can print cooler (or faster - but I recommend cooler).  This is particularly useful for ABS which has a very narrow printing temperature range.  It allows you to keep the nozzle cooler so ABS is less likely to turn into gunk yet hot enough to get good layer adhesion.

 

Cons:

1) Price.  If you only will ever need 0.4 and 0.8 and you already have a 0.4 then it's much cheaper to just buy the ultimaker core AA 0.8.

2) The UM cores each know their nozzle size.  The 3dsolex comes programmed as one nozzle size so you have to manually set the line width in cura.  Or you can manually choose for example the AA 0.8 nozzle in cura.  It's an extra step.  Plus if you chose AA 0.8 but the printer thinks it has a AA 0.4 then you have to hit "ignore" once.  So two extra clicks in life (one in cura, one on the printer).  It sounds minor but it can be annoying.