Is There A Way To Purchase U3 .4mm AA Nozzle Only?

[randyinla 14]

I experienced a bad print with old, bad PLA.  The print had lots of retractions and the filament broke just before going into the extruder.  By the time I got home, the melted filament in the nozzle had burned and crystallized under 220c for over 8 hours, clogging the nozzle quite well, indeed.  

 

Then I did something stupid.  I couldn't clean the nozzle no matter what I tried.  Warm pull, cold pull, removed the nozzle and tried scraping.  I then thought it would be a good idea to use a drill bit to drill partially down into the hardened plastic and pull it out, like a stripped screw.  I should have used my lathe with a vice to control the depth better, because as soon as the slowly spinning bit met the plastic, it got pulled too deep into the nozzle.   When I pulled the bit out, I had some plastic ( yay!) but also saw brass (no yay!).

 

Going to my stash of Olsen Block nozzles used reliably on my U2, I realized for the first time that the nozzle used in the new U3 AA/BB print head assemblies has longer & different threads 😞

 

Guess I could steal the .4mm nozzle from my BB core sitting on the table.  (I had already swapped the BB core for my 2nd AA core to do a 2-color print).  Having followed the excellent @gr5 youtube video on how to disassemble the print core, I was soon back in business.  (I have since also seen the cutaway drawings for the .4mm nozzles from both the AA & BB cores.  They are different inside and I don't know if using it for printing PLA/ABS et.al., is worse than using the original .4mm from the AA core?)

 

I went looking for a place that sold just the U3 print core nozzles and found zero.  I understand Ultimaker came up with an easily swappable print core system, but the nozzle is still relatively easy to remove/replace that it seems that there sould be a market for it.  Having to pay $114 for a replacement AA core makes me sad.  Might as well go for a 3DSolex core with multiple nozzles, including the ruby one.

 

Does anyone know of a place that sells just the nozzles for the U3 print cores?

[Smithy 1,146]

As far as I know, there is no shop selling a spare nozzle for the UM print core and I also haven't seen or read about it, that anyone has done it.

 

When you use the BB core nozzle with any other material than PVA, your nozzle will start oozing and you will get stringing during your print.

 

So you will only have to options, buy a new print core or switch to the 3DSolex hard core.

[randyinla 14]

I switched material at the same time I switched the nozzles and went from too much stringing to almost none and thought it was the material swap & temp change that did it.  I was thinking it would ooze more.  That makes sense that it could.  

 

Thanks for the info.  I still have the 3DSolex page open in a tab from Gr5's store.  Sure looks sexy!  Guess I'll have to dish out the cash.  Part of me wants to get another original AA core just so I have a 100% matching pair without possible drippage, as well as a 3DSolex... or two.

Edited May 9, 2019 by randyinla

[pdzamore 1]

I modified a bunch of cores and have a few 0.4 mm nozzles left over. I’d be happy to send you one by US mail. Email me your shipping address: phillipzamore@me.com. 

[randyinla 14]

8 minutes ago, pdzamore said:

I modified a bunch of cores and have a few 0.4 mm nozzles left over. I’d be happy to send you one by US mail. Email me your shipping address: phillipzamore@me.com. 

That’s very nice of you, Philip!  If you have paypal or Venmo, I will gladly pay for the nozzle & shipping!

 

Do you happen to also have a BB .04mm?  I’d love to have one as a backup.

[randyinla 14]

On 5/12/2019 at 7:32 PM, pdzamore said:

I modified a bunch of cores and have a few 0.4 mm nozzles left over. I’d be happy to send you one by US mail. Email me your shipping address: phillipzamore@me.com. 

Thank you, Phillip for the wonderful nozzles (AA.25, AA.4, AA.8, BB.4) & heating blocks!  I was surprised to see Christmas come so early in the year 😃

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by randyinla