0.4mm nozzles just became obsolete

Every 0.4 nozzle is just one spool of glow-in-the-dark filament from being a 0.6 nozzle.

I printed a small watering can using a .4mm nozzle. The process took 8h 39m; it came our very nice. My wife let her friend abscond with it so I printed another one. This time I used a .6mm nozzle and even added a 3rd perimeter; the process took 3h 53m and looks almost exactly like the .4mm nozzle. Thanks much for the knowledge gained on your site. This isn't the first time you have "learned" me.

Thank you. 0.6 nozzle ordered for my 10 day old Bambu X1C. I did check, and the Arachni option is available in Bambu Studi slicer.

The speed increase just in software over the last couple years has been amazing. With the slicer improvements, fine-tuned profiles from people like CHEP, and tech like Input Shaper correcting vibration, software is no longer the limiting factor and we are finally printing as fast as the hardware (nozzles, extruders, bearings) can handle.

I would have liked to see this comparison with some non glittery/sparkly/silky material, which tends to make bad prints better looking. I would use a material that is as matte as posible to better appreciate the pure quality of the printed geometry. In any case, the comparison is super cool and is the kind of content I like the most!

Thumbnail gold again from Tom

Great summary. I’ve found the same thing as I develop Cura 5.0 profiles. The new features of the Arachne engine allow 0.6 nozzle to produce decent detail at much faster speeds vs the 0.4 standard nozzle.

Hi Thomas! This video definitely belongs in the "Best 3D Printer Tips Ever" drawer. I only print functional parts and switching to a 0.6 mm nozzle has been a blessing. Without your suggestion and explanations, I would never have thought of it, so thank you very much for that!

I would've liked to have more of a comparison between 0.4 and 0.6 both with arachne. I agree that 0.6 makes sens for most usecases and especiallly engineering parts.

I remember when I got my 1st CR10 MAX and couldn't believe it came with 0.4 as standard, before I even printed a test print I installed 0.8 which works perfectly for my larger products. All my other printers run 0.6 and achieve great detail even at .4mm layer heights, and when time is money you quickly realise bigger nozzels are an incredibly good investment. I've actually won business because I have been able to turn around jobs so much quicker that expected. Often they are functional prints rather than cosmetic ones, so using 0.8 and 0.6 nozzles has sllashed the print time and so turnaround time. Multiply that time saving across multiple printers and it's a game changer. Thanks for aother great video 👍 James

One thing to keep in mind with those running a bowden setup: a 0.6mm nozzle will have a lot more stringing, and might not be able to get rid of it entirely.

Switching to 0.6 for the models that don't need a lot of fine details is a good idea, especially with more modern slicers. However, (small) finely detailed models just tend to come out better with smaller nozzles (given the same slicer!). You know what's really great? You can swap out the typical nozzle within minutes if you like. That way you can print lots of details with a small-bore nozzle, and quickly print larger mechanical parts with a larger-bore one.

I made the switch to 0.5mm a couple years back and it's been great. Even with the classic slicing methods, 0.5 really didn't loose much definition but allowed for significantly faster prints. Makes your question of why we switched to 0.4 in the first place even more interesting.

As a result of this excellent video I have changed my standard nozzle to 0.6 mm and standard layer height to 0.3 mm. Using the 0.3 mm Quality printing preset I am very happy with the reduced print time. I just started a print job involving 29 interconnected pieces that using the 0.4 mm nozzle and 0.3 Draft preset was going to take over 22 days end to end print time. Using the new settings this becomes slightly less than 15 days end to end print time. One caveat, the support material required for one complex part was a real bear to remove compared to the part printed with the 0.4 mm settings.

The thumbnail is clever, throwing out the .4 nozzle like how andy threw out woody.

In an educational setting, the slow speed of 3D printers is by far the biggest limitation. I have used bigger nozzles in the past to get quicker prints and I think you just convinced me to do it again. Thanks for the great video!

For a given nozzle size, you can increase extrusions width much more than slicer tricks can reduce extrusion width. Put another way, use the largest nozzle you can for the smallest details you want to print. With a 0.4mm nozzle, I've printed with extrusions up to 1.5 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick. Put another way, it's pretty easy to print bigger than the nozzle size and it's harder to print smaller than the nozzle size. Just find whatever size works best for you, but keep your mind open to pushing the extrusion width without switching nozzles out.

I switched to 0.6mm nozzles some time ago on Tom's suggestion. I have been very happy with the boost in print speeds and haven't really run into issues with the 0.6mm nozzle. I'm very excited about this new Arachne algorithm. Another thing that's worth noting with larger nozzle sizes is that you have a larger range of choices for layer height. What I mean is that with a 0.4mm nozzle, you can print from between 0.08 and 0.32 mm layer heights. That's a range of 0.24 mm. With a 0.6mm nozzle, you can print from 0.12 to 0.48 mm layer heights, which is a range of 0.36mm.

Great advice, you are completely right! I made the switch yesterday (i3 MK3S+ 0.6 Nozzle) and the results are fantastic. Thanks very much!

Amazing. Spent today changing out the nozzle and recalibrating at 0.6mm. Test printed part of a large mech model in various configurations since I know what to expect out of it at 0.4mm. After using watching your video, I cut a literal hour off the print time of the model part with no practical loss in quality. Just crazy! About the only thing I am still dialing in is support interface distances now. Thanks so much, Thomas! Cheers!