I just swapped my original E3D brass nozzle on my Prusa MK3 with a E3D Nozzle-X 0.4mm to be able to print abrasive filament. And yes it’s a pain in the ass changing Nozzle’s on that E3D V6 Hot End but with this Z-Catch Nozzle removal tool it was surprisingly easy.
Since the Nozzle-X is hardened steel everyone said I have to increase the temperature by 5°C – 15°C because of the different thermal conductivity. I wanted to know how much “exactly” I have to increase °C for the Nozzle-X. Therefore I measured the exact temperature difference between the two directly at the Nozzle.
E3D Brass nozzle: Extruder temperature set to 215°C.
Nozzle measured > 200.8°C.
E3D Nozzle-X: Extruder temperature set to 215°C.
Nozzle measured > 195.5°C.
Of course I’ve waited a couple of minutes until the temperature had stabilized. But don’t be fooled the temperature directly at the Nozzle is always a little less because the heating element is inside the heatblock. I did the measurements this way to find out the difference in temperature between the two Nozzle’s.
So I have to increase my temperature for my prints with Nozzle-X by +5.3°C.
UPDATE: Since I got a lot of messages to do a PID tune after my Nozzle change – I did 2x a PID tune to test some things. After first PID tune I had to increase the temp by +8°C to get the same temp difference and I thought maybe I did a wrong measurement. After the second PID tune I got exactly the same +5.3°C difference. I double checked everything to be sure and Im now confident I will increase the temp on my Nozzle-X by +5°C
Maybe thats why some people change their temp by +5°C and other +10°C ?
Btw. check your Nozzle under a magnifying glass some of them may have some QM problems. I bought a new one and it had scratches from the manufacturing. Of course it got replaced immediately.
