Hi all
A higher nozzle diameter has the benefit of being able to print faster due to to bigger layer width. There is a tradeoff, you’ll have to lower print speed and/or raise temperature to maintain proper layer adhesion. That means that there is an optimal nozzle size for a given print speed/temperature combination. You also don’t want temperature too high because it will burn/degrade your filament.
In my experience layer adhesion is quite poor with a nozzle of 0.8mm and it also prevents you from printing finer details (gear teeth for example). The tradeoff versus a 0.4mm nozzle doesn’t seem worth it especially if you print overnight.
What are your experiences?
This is like asking “what’s your favorite color?”
Every print and every project is different. At work I used to use .8 because I wanted speed above all else since the models were all functional and tended to be quite large. I think I might have tried a 1.0 but didn’t like the results.
At home I’ve settled for .4 just because I usually start prints in the afternoon and print overnight. An extra 20 or 30% print time isn’t a deal breaker if it’s for personal projects.