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Hey everyone,

i’m really interested in metal filaments, i allready have experimented with test filament from @ColorFabb (40g of bronze and 40g of copper). Do you experience enhanced nozzle wear when you print those (or carbon fiber filament).

Also i’d like to know, if you know where i could get stainless steel nozzles, i’m using a leapfrog Creatr HS and i don’t find it’s nozzle geometry made from stainless steel. If you know a company that might make such precise and low demand parts.

Beside all that if you are german or at least live in europe do you know a reseller of PROTO-PASTA near or in germany, i’m more interested in their metal filaments then their carbon fiber or PC+ABS filament.

If you can answer me one more more of those questions i’d be really thankfull !

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@ColorFabb and @3Dhubs just had a presentation about this.

Yes, carbon fiber wears out your nozzle quickly.

Discussed in this ppt briefly. https://www.3dhubs.com/sites/default/files/talk/attachments/20150224%20NY\_Colorfabb%20Templated%20Event.pdf

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Thanks !

I take a look at the presentation. Do you have any experience with proto pasta or resellers in europe/germany ?

-Marius

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So only carbon fiber will affect the nozzle ? (At least regarding the Colorfabb portfolio)

I think about getting 1,5kg copper, maybe even brassFill when it will be released (within 2 weeks according to a support),

and i ask myself if i have to get a replacement nozzle after printing 1-2kg of metal composite filament.

The presentation doesn’t say anything about increased wear on these filaments.

-Marius

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@ColorFabb and @AlexDick from ProtoPasta should be able to help with this. Cheers!

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@pomaer Proto-pasta Metals are just starting to be available through some resellers in Europe. I don’t know of any in Germany, but we just sent some to Printed Dreams in Spain. The best way to order these materials at the moment is directly through our website at www.proto-pasta.com. Local access through resellers will improve over the next months. Regarding nozzle wear it depends a lot on the material the nozzle is made of for sure. In general, we recommend that you are prepared to change your nozzle as needed, in case it is made of a soft material. We plan to help with some better solutions on how to minimize replacement cost and hassle in the near future. So far, our customers are excited for the chance to print in metal (and other composites) even if its a bit more hassle. Happy Printing!

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Thanks for the response, i’ll try to get my hands on proto-pasta soon !

Would you recomment stainless steel nozzles for printing ? I want to print on custom made nozzles (CNC milled by a local industrial company) so i can decide if i want brass / stainless steel or maybe other materials, i have totally no idea about material sience but i guess that there are very low abrasive materials that still would make quite good nozzles.

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Steel is going to be harder than brass and have better resistance to abrasion. Not sure how that will affect heat transfer. If you have a source for nozzles, give it a try! We are makers too and all about tweaking and experimenting :slight_smile:

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Not sure about other materials, they just made it sound like carbon fiber was the worst for nozzles.

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True, carbon is the worst

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I asked colorfabb and they told me, that neither their wood- nor metal filaments will wear down a nozzle. They printed several kilogramms of these filaments without replacing the nozzle and don’t notice a change.

-Marius

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For those that have MK8 style nozzles (Makerbot Replicator 1, 2, 2x, Mini, 5th Gen, Z18) we sell coated nozzles.

They are coated with abrasion resistant TwinClad XT coating. This should significantly improve the life of a nozzle.

Here is the ebay link: Micro Swiss .6mm MK8 Nozzle for CR-10 / Ender-2 / Ender-3 (2pcs) | eBay

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Metal filament causes the most wear to nozzles. I am working on a nozzle that will last a life time and keep the the same thermal envelope as the current brass printer nozzles. This is my website if you want to check out more on this nozzle. http://www.dura-gem.com If you sign up to get notified I will let you know when i launch my kickstarter.

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To my knowledge carbon fibre filaments cause more wear then the metal composites, but that’s not very important. Why not just go with the hardened steel nozzles by e3d? Hardened steel is the hardest (=> most wear resistant) material you’ll be able to afford, anything beyond that would be crazily expensive. Not only the material cost, but also the machining of materials that are harder then hardened steel is very expensive (or impossible). E3d doesn’t only harden the nozzles, but they also get some chemical treatment to make them more heat-conductive. That’s another mayor point when it comes to nozzles that aren’t made out of brass: brass (and aluminum, copper,…) are very heat conducive, meaning that they give the heat to the outside / filament more efficiently then steel. That’s also, why heat sinks are made out of aluminum. Now aluminum and copper are both VERY soft (in terms of metal) so brass is the best pick. Even if there are exotic alloys that are harder then hardened steel they would cost much more and might not be that heat conducive. Also it’s possible to first machine the nozzles and then harden them, making the drilling etc. much cheaper / possible.

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We’ve just posted some new E3D/Olsson Block Style wear resistant nozzles:

http://www.proto-pasta.com/collections/retail/products/plated-brass-wear-resistant-nozzles

We’ll be adding Printrbot and UP!/Afinia styles next week!