Hello, I’ would like to ask and suggest that best IMO nozzle size is to have 2 nozzles of different size.
To be able to print every possible thickness from 0.1 to anything with 0.1 step size we need to have two nozzles.
First nozzle should be 0.1mm
Second nozzle should be 0.3mm
By using both nozzles any thickness like 1mm, 0.6mm, 1.5mm etc. can be printed. The small nozzle is good for small details like gears, or parts that need to fit one into into another. Also this would allow standardization across printers and freedom of designing things.
One could expect that software will select best printing method and use 0.1mm nozzle for details, outer shell. And larger nozzle for everything else.
Getting back to today 0.4mm nozzles they seem to be the limiting factor of 3D pritners, not only many printers have various nozzle sizes but the designer with objects that have wall thinness like 1mm, 0.3mm, 0.5mm etc. these objects can’t be printed with most today’s printers. The problems is nozzle size. If the wall thickness doesn’t divide into sigle or multiple passes of nozzle the wall can’t be printed or looses details, or dimensions are not exact.
Maybe this is not so obvious on printing figurines, but since zortrax is designed to print usefull 3D models, gears, prototypes, etc. I think that using dual nozzle size that could compliment each another is the way to go.
Furthermore I would like to add that adding a nozzle dedicated to infill is beneficial too. The size should be IMO 1mm. That is because you can easily print various metric walls with it. Like 1mm, 2mm, 3mm etc. By using the two nozzles above a complete gamut of thicknesses becomes available limited by 0.1mm step size.
To make nozzle output stable I think zortrax should use the same idea like Robox has, that is to use needle valves for the extruder with flow tracking, making it possible to switch nozzles quick and to know if there is a problem to stop the print.
