Ultimaker 3 nozzles

[fcrass 0]

Hallo UM-community,

 

at our university we are currently using the UM3. Somehow some students managed to clog the BB 0.4 nozzle quite heavily. With some effort I managed to unclog the nozzle, but for some time, we were unable to use the printer. To reduce these off-times, I wanted to buy some nozzles, so we just need to change them in case of urgent need. But this is somehow a bigger problem than I imagined, because it is not possible to buy nozzles from UM for the UM3. The only way is to buy a whole new print-core for over 110,- €. The offered nozzles for the UM2 are not compatible with the UM3. Does anybody by chance have a source for UM3-(BB 0.4)-nozzles?

 

Thanks a lot in advance.

[P3D 46]

You can't swap the nozzles on the original UM print cores. If you want to do this, you have to buy 3rd party print cores like the 3Dsolex HardCores. If you want to go for minimizing downtime, the core-swap concept is about as good as you can get, apart from the price.

[fcrass 0]

48 minutes ago, P3D said:

You can't swap the nozzles on the original UM print cores.

Why not? I could easily disassemble the nozzle.

 

49 minutes ago, P3D said:

If you want to do this, you have to buy 3rd party print cores like the 3Dsolex HardCores. 

 Thanks. I'll have a look at those.

[P3D 46]

6 minutes ago, fcrass said:

Why not? I could easily disassemble the nozzle.

 

OK, maybe "absolutely should not, unless you want to break your printcore" would be the appropriate wording... see this thread:

 

Edited October 11, 2018 by P3D

[fcrass 0]

Ok, wow. I didn't imagine that no one at UM at least spent a thought, that probably 110,- € for a new nozzle could seem a bit expensive.

[P3D 46]

May I suggest that if you are looking for the lowest cost, Ultimaker printers in general may not be the first choice? No offense meant - good engineering solutions (like the mentioned double heatbreak in the print core) don't come for free, neither does all the development work that goes into matching material profiles...

[fcrass 0]

I'm not looking for "the lowest cost". I just find it a bit strange, that UM doesn't sell nozzles just because few people might break a part changing it. It is in my opinion an unnecessary expensive and waste-producing behaviour. 

[JohnInOttawa 104]

Like many here, I've looked into what it would take to convert a printcore to accept a replacement nozzle.  I came to the conclusion that the 3DSolex implementation is, at present,  the most logical implementation of any such approach and the downstream running costs make it far more cost effective to purchase than the time it would take me to hack a lesser solution.

 

From what I can see, there are a number of critical tradeoffs made in the design of the UM printcore.  Weight is a serious constraint on that print head, so building swappability into an original design, for the few who would actually use that feature, may have negatively impacted functionality for everyone else.  Then there would have been the inevitable support channel as that is a part that takes the brunt of abuse. 

 

Do I wish it were a less expensive part?  Certainly.  Would it have been great to have nozzle changeout incorporated? Yes!  Is there an opportunity for someone to set up a used/damaged print core refurbishment centre?  Maybe.

 

In the mean time, 3Dsolex saw an opportunity to fill that void and they (and the agent I deal with) provide excellent support for it.  I have two hardcores and a suite of nozzles for normal, fine and abrasive materials.  Each one can be programmed for either AA or BB.  I presume CC though I haven't tried it.   The purchase has already paid for itself.  They aren't perfect, you can still clog them and changing nozzles has to be done with great care to avoid breaking the very fragile components, but it's a viable option.

 

I hope this is of some use.  Just for clarity, I don't work for anyone who builds or markets ultimaker or 3dSolex parts ?

 

John

[gr5 2,099]

I've never seen a nozzle I can't unclog (by the way I sell 3dsolex parts in USA).

 

If you need to take your UM core apart to unclog it, as a last resort, you can follow the instructions in this video I made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln_tMz8Dwd0

how to properly unclog a core (hot pull, cold pull):
https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/23132-clogged-print-core