There’s a lot of hotend/nozzle types for Bambu printers now. Here’s how to decide which to get.
* Bambu uses the terms “hotend” and “nozzle” pretty interchangeably. I probably will too.
Why different hotend materials? #
There are three main reasons for different hotend materials:
- Durability when printing abrasive materials
- Thermal conductivity for better heat transfer
- Reduction in stickiness so filament doesn’t stick to the nozzle tip
Abrasive Materials #
Any “filled” filament (e.g. CF, GF, wood filled, metal filled, glow-in-the-dark, etc.) is abrasive, and will wear down nozzles over time.
Most of the time, the wear is from the nozzle tip rubbing against the filament as it’s extruded, giving it the “squish” effect, not from the inside out. The wear turns a perfect 0.4 circle in the nozzle tip into a larger, less-perfect circle. This makes it harder to get perfect prints.
High Flow Hotends #
Print Speed Improvements: Sometimes #
High Flow hotends are designed to increase Max Volumetric Flow rate. People think (because they’re marketed that way) that this means they’ll magically print faster.
This is sometimes true, but is really model/geometry/filament dependent. Models with a lot of small features don’t often benefit from high flow nozzles. Models with lots of large simple shapes can benefit from high flow nozzles.
You can use your slicer to check if the models you print often would benefit from a high flow nozzle. Studio, for some printers, will give you a “High Flow” option for your nozzles. It updates the filament profile with increased MVF and sometimes updates the process profiles to increase toolhead speeds. Compare your print times with and without High Flow settings to see if there’s a speed improvement before you buy them.
Improved Layer Adhesion #
One of the unsung benefits of some high flow nozzles is improved layer adhesion, both at the same flow as non-HF nozzles, and at higher flow rates.
This video details layer adhesion benefits of high-flow nozzles well.
Clogging Risks #
High-flow nozzles generally work by splitting the filament into multiple streams, and then re-combining them. This can make them difficult to unclog. Filled or flexible filaments are more prone to clogging than ’normal’ filaments.
Materials #
Brass #
Basically doesn’t exist for Bambu printers, unless you’re a masochist and find some third party hotend that has brass nozzles. But… don’t do that.
Stainless Steel #
Just fine for unfilled filaments. Bambu only uses this for 0.2mm nozzles now.
Hardened Steel #
The default hotend nowadays. Useful for just about everything, including abrasive materials. Your printer probably came with one.
Tungsten Carbide #
Built for improved abrasion resistance when printing filled materials.
Problem is, tungsten carbide has a higher coefficient of friction than hardened steel, so these nozzles tend to cause more stringing than hardened steel nozzles during retraction and travels.
Bambu’s High-Flow Tungsten Carbide nozzle doesn’t use the split-filament technique, so it’s not as prone to clogging as other high-flow nozzles.
Ruby #
Basically don’t exist for Bambu printers. You’ll need to find a third party hotend that supports ruby nozzles.
Quality and reputation matter here. Low-cost, low-quality ruby nozzles have a tendency clog, chip, or become unseated in the middle of your print.
Get a Diamondback instead.
Diamond #
E3D and Diamondback make diamond hotends for Bambu X1 and P1 series printers. They’re expensive, but nothing is more abrasion resistant, nothing has better thermal conductivity, and nothing has better coefficient of friction than diamond. It’s probably the best hotend material available.
As long as you don’t bend the hotend or have an unrecoverable clog, a diamond nozzle will probably outlast your printer. It might outlast you.