Diamond wear resistant nozzles for FDM 3D printers

[subscriber]

Win, win, win

[rsterne]

Well, I've been playing around with the Diamondback nozzles, and their advice about running a temperature tower is good advice, at least for the CF-PETG I am printing, which is the 15% CF by Matter3D in Victoria, BC, Canada.... I had to turn the temperature down by 15*C, from 260C to 245C to get rid of stringing and globbing, and I also increased the fan from 30% to 100%.... That resulted in a large increase in the Z (vertical, layer to layer) strength.... I am running a 0.6mm nozzle, and printing either a 0.2mm layer with a 0.6mm width, or a 0.3mm layer with a 0.9mm width (both 3:1, and with the same nozzle).... The vertical (Z) strength is running at 80% of the horizontal (X) strength, which is pretty amazing.... The wider, thicker lines are significantly stronger, as they have always been, but running the fan flat out seems to be hardening the filament and doing good things to the layer-to-layer bonding.... The prints are beautiful, nice and crisp with no stringing.... I'm going to try printing and testing 260*C coupons tomorrow, with the fan at 100%, and see what happens....

Bob

[rsterne]

I did a couple of tests with the 0.6mm Diamondback nozzle, here are the results....



I know only two datapoints are not the greatest, but all I really wanted to know was if there was an increase or decrease in strength with printing at 260*C (like I used to with a hardened steel nozzles) and at 245*C, which is where the Diamondback nozzles print the nicest.... Thankfully, there was not (in fact the vertical coupons were not quite as strong in the vertical), and the 260*C prints were not as pretty, with a "twig" or two sticking up pointing towards the other coupon (they were printed side by side).... These were easy to cut off, but why print that hot if you don't need to, right?....

My conclusion is that the Diamondback nozzles do need to print at a lower temperature with CF-PETG to prevent stringing, and using 100% fan instead of 30% really improves the vertical (Z) layer-to-layer bonding.... In fact, when printing at a layer height of 0.3mm and a line width of 0.9mm (a 3:1 ratio) the "Z" coupons had a jagged break, and you could not even see the layer lines.... They were 80% as strong as the horizontal (X) coupons printed at the same time....

I am REALLY impressed with the combination of the Diamondback nozzles and the 15% carbon filled CF-PETG from Matter3D Inc. in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, BC.... At $65 CAD per kg. it is one of the least expensive CF-PETG's around, and if you want a cheaper one, they do a 10% which is nearly as good, for just $40/kg.... and those are the regular prices, I got a roll of the 15% on their "Black Friday" sale for just $43 (all prices in CAD, which is currently at $0.69 USD).... If you are going to get a Diamondback nozzle for printing CF filled materials, consider just buying the 0.6mm, and forget the 0.4mm.... You can print beautiful prints from 0.2-0.3+mm layer thickness, and line widths from 0.6-1.0 mm.... That should cover all of your CF printing needs, IMO....

Bob

[subscriber]

I am glad the diamond nozzle works well for you, Bob.

[TorqueMaster]

Bob,
Great tests as always, thanks for trying out this new nozzle.    The 0.3 x 0.9  results are a real eye-opener  -- I do not recall -- have you tried that size vs 0.2 x 0.6 in regular PETG?

For the pricey diamond nozzle -- it got me thinking -- what makes it print that much better?

Smoothness of the nozzle tip -- I imagine a brass nozzle could be polished, but still not be as smooth.  Possibly diamond/molten plastic friction is lower than brass/molten plastic friction as well?  Not intuitive, no idea.    With my cheapie brass nozzles I do sometimes see faint "chatter marks" on the top surface of a print line as is it laid down -- but do not know if they are due to the nozzle roughness or carriage wheel roughness or extruder pressure... the prints turn out fine, though and maybe that tiny bit of roughness increases layer adhesion, hard to say.

I think the thermal conductivity of the diamond is a bit moot.  Copper/brass is pretty good.  Hardened steel is awful.  This nozzle by nature of NOT being hardened steel is the key.  Your hot-end is probably like mine -- has a silicone cover/insulator to keep heat in -- that covers all but the last few mm of nozzle.  The diamond is only at the tip, very small surface area, I doubt it contributes much difference to the hotness of the extruded plastic at that point.

Being hard enough to withstand CF is the big plus obviously.  I think one of you mentioned the majority of wear is on the nozzle surface parallel to the print bed?  Meaning it does wear the brass nozzle shorter, but the 0.40 hole remains essentially the same size until obvious substantial wear has ground it past the cylindrical bore portion at the end of the nozzle?  Which would affect the thickness of the first layer of a print, if not Z-adjusted for the wear, but will not affect layer spacing or fusion.

I'm playing devil's advocate I guess -- why I should not outlay half the initial cost of my printer for one of these cool nozzles, when I can get the brass ones for ~30 cents each, or nickel plated copper for about $1 each?  Or hardened steel, about $1 each, if my hot-end has the extra range to handle the plus 10-15 degrees C required... (for the CF-PETG above -- it does not...)

[rsterne]

0.3 x 0.9mm is about 40% stronger than 0.2mm x 0.6mm in PETG from a 0.6mm nozzle (in Z), both tested at 260*C where they were the strongest....

Charts from the Diamondback website.... Click to enlarge....



You can draw your own conclusions.... The instructions that come with the nozzles say to run a temp. tower because they print at a lower temperature, and they are highly polished on the end where nozzles wear first.... I bought both a 0.4mm and a 0.6mm, but the 0.6mm is all you need if you are only going to use it for CF filled, I think.... Expensive, yes, but certainly do the job.... I think the combination of hotter filament being extruded, plus more fan cooling, works great, but perhaps there is another reason for the increased layer-to-layer bonding I am missing.... All I know is that it works great!.... 300*C maximum, however....

Bob

[WobblyHand]

I was thinking about getting one of these nozzles so I could try CF PETG.  The Diamondback's were listed for $125!  Bob is clearly stating the Diamondbacks are good. 

I found a different brand, Durozzle, that were $64.  Any feedback on these?  They are a little more expensive because they use the MK4 Nextruder tubes, rather than just a simple nozzle.

[rsterne]

I paid $94 USD on Amazon for the Diamondback.... The ones for my printer (Spider hot end) from Durozzle are $89, so not a lot of difference.... Ahhhhhhh.... now I found them on Amazon for $60 USD.... They do look similar to the Diamondback....

Ruby nozzles are very hard too, but lousy thermal conductivity.... Like the ads say, a diamond nozzle should outlast your printer....

Bob