Hardened nozzle: what it is for and when you do not need one

Why a nozzle wears out

Filament with hard particles behaves like sandpaper. Carbon fibres, glass, glow-in-the-dark pigments or metal powder gradually widen the nozzle hole, and the nozzle then lays down less accurate lines. This is classic abrasive wear.

An ordinary nozzle is made of brass. It is soft, conducts heat very well and is cheap, but abrasive plastic ruins it within a few kilos. A hardened nozzle is made of hardened steel or has a hard coating, so it lasts much longer.

The difference only shows after hundreds of hours. A brass nozzle lasts a long time on pure PLA, but wears quickly on filled materials, and you can tell by the dimensions of details slowly growing and the surface getting worse.

What the drawbacks are

• It conducts heat less well, so you need to raise the temperature by a few degrees, and at high print speeds the plastic may flow more slowly.
• It is more expensive, and on ordinary PLA and PETG it adds nothing.

A hardened nozzle is therefore an add-on for abrasive materials, and you do not need one for pure PLA and PETG.

Which materials need one

The ones that need it are mainly filaments filled with carbon or glass fibres (carbon fibre), wood, glow-in-the-dark and metal filaments. Pure PLA and PETG do not require a hardened nozzle. See also filament.

For your order

We only print PLA and PETG, so we do not do abrasive plastics. If you need a part with carbon fibre or a glow-in-the-dark material, write to jakub.novak@boostello.com, but that is not a promise to print it. For ordinary parts in PLA or PETG the nozzle makes no difference, as the model, strength and infill decide.