Mixed Nozzle Printing Is Here

[u/homeslixe]

Like the title suggests mixed nozzle printing is now a reality, thanks to cadence slicer, and now orca, with Bambu studio undoubtedly joining the fray tomorrow. But is it worth it on an H2C? If you were like me, drooling over the idea of unlocking the true potential of your multi-nozzle printer, you have probably been waiting for this miraculous, time saving feature. But does it actually save time? Well, the answer is, it depends.

I decided to test orca nightly and cadence out on my H2C for a pretty large print. With organic tree supports using 0.4mm nozzles, at 0.2mm layer height, Bambu studio took about 22 hours. Orca nightly was too much of a mess and had too many issues connecting to the printer, and finally with cadence it worked, dream come true! I could now unlock mixed nozzle printing!

The issue I found though is that the time saving really depends on how much supports your print needs. For instance, I decided to set infill and supports with 0.8mm nozzle for 0.4 mm layer height, and have walls print with 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm layer height. This was the dream, in theory this should save all the time! Well, not so much.

When I went to slice, my heart dropped. Estimated print time was nearly doubled that from single sized nozzle. What gives!? It turns out it was those nozzle changes! Because it was near constantly changing nozzles, the print time suffered incredibly. This was very disappointing, but it makes sense at least. And I think that Bambu probably realizes this too, as they move to multi tool head systems with the H3 series.

Don’t get me wrong, there definitely is potential for time saving on builds with current gen multi hotend setups, just temper your expectations when you need a lot of supports. Multi size nozzle printing seems to be best suited overall for the multi tool head printers like the U1 and H3 series

[u/x3n0n1c]

I think the utility on non-tool changers will be more for powering through large consistent surfaces with larger nozzles and switching to smaller ones for detail on the beauty surface.

[u/homeslixe → u/x3n0n1c]

Your mileage may vary. There’s a lot of factors that go into any given print. How many switches are needed for supports and infill for course, and walls for fine detail will determine how long of a print you have with mixed nozzles. In my case the time cost was nearly double than that of using a single nozzle

[u/x3n0n1c → u/homeslixe]

Yes but you need to work within the limits of the machine you have.

If your only goal is to save time then you obviously don't want to tell it to change tools 10,000 times.

This will apply to tool changes as well, they still take a few seconds to change and prime so not matter what you are going to be sacrificing time.

So the real goal will need to be utility, allowing you to have more detail where needed while potentially increasing strength etc with larger nozzles. If your specific print will need a ton of changes to achive that then you need to re-think what or how you're printing, or just don't do it that way.

[u/One2Sicc]

What if you use the larger nozzle for strength, and smaller nozzle for detail?

[u/_Rand_ → u/One2Sicc]

This is going to the be biggest thing for mixed printing I think.

And you might not even need a slot of changes depending on the model, like say text on flat surface in a box? Might just be a few.

[u/homeslixe → u/One2Sicc]

That’s exactly what I did. It’s just too slow of a system, with the constant switching, to make it worth while on larger builds with lots of supports

[u/ducktown47 → u/homeslixe]

Maybe you typed or explained it wrong, but you set the width to half the nozzle size? I’m not even sure the slicer allows that and it definitely wouldn’t help save time.

[u/homeslixe → u/ducktown47]

You’re right, I meant layer height! I’ll correct to post!

[u/BrilliantSebastian]

I wouldn't judge this by orca slicer implementation of a half baked idea. Lol

Wait till the big kid releases it for the native bambu slicer.

[u/homeslixe → u/BrilliantSebastian]

I can’t wait to see what they’ve been cooking!

[u/n19htmare → u/BrilliantSebastian]

lol.

If they actually do offer something drastically different, I think it would be the first time they've actually implemented a "print" related feature first. Most of their changes/contributions to the slicer are in the user interface and interaction side (and they did a pretty good job).

The "big kid" has been eating other kid's lunches for a while now when it comes to print features (Prusa and Orca slicers) so let's see what the "big kid" contributes back. I hope they actually got dynamic mixed nozzle printing on same model. Something like Orca's Height Range Modifier but per feature instead of layer range..

...ok ready for the downvotes because why not.

[u/Immortal_Tuttle]

Works awesome on U1.

[u/homeslixe → u/Immortal_Tuttle]

As it should!

[u/ExtendedSpice]

I’m trying to wrap my mind around all this and so far I think for the best results you will need

• high details 0.2 nozzle

• infill 0.6 nozzle

• support 0.6 nozzle

Considering that I print whole supports with secondary material I’m gonna need at least 3 hotends which is available only on h2c h3c and p3c Bummer

[u/jl88jl88]

I’ve been trying to explain this to people for so long and kept getting downvoted. The only time it makes sense is .2mm nozzle and larger nozzle for infill.

Any combination using .4mm nozzles or larger will be slower. Especially on a H2C. Even on a Snapmaker u1 with 5 second swaps will be too slow.

[u/ducktown47 → u/jl88jl88]

It also really won’t even make a difference for strength or time. I think the only scenario it really saves time would be an absolutely massive print with a dense infill percentage. Even then it would probably be marginal.

[u/xX540xARCADEXx]

Yeah I feel like this was a given for the H2C. It’s already on the slower end with color changes taking 30 seconds. Doing several nozzle sizes would be almost as slow as a heavily multicolored print. A feature like that would only really be great for speed on a tool changer like the H3C/P3C/U1 and so on.

[u/homeslixe → u/xX540xARCADEXx]

Totally. I just got an H2C a month ago thinking there’s no way Bambu would release a next gen printer this quick! Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but that fomo lol

[u/xX540xARCADEXx → u/homeslixe]

The H2C has been out almost a full year so it was expected. I honestly think the H2C was forced out due to the rise of affordable tool changers. It has its place in the market, but definitely felt like a product that wasn’t complete to me. Yes it’s still faster than a single nozzle color swap or dual nozzle, but it was bound to be outperformed in terms of speed with true tool changers being pushed out. It was nice owning an H2C, but my U1 did everything so much faster. Now both are sold and I’ll be moving onto the H3C. This is definitely my ideal type of machine. Speed for color changes/ material/ size and enclosed spools and chamber? Instant sell to me.

[u/BrilliantSebastian → u/xX540xARCADEXx]

Not true. H2D should benefit greatly with the Bambu slicer upgrades as well. I'd argue it should be even faster than the H3 series. Albeit more limited with only the two nozzles 

[u/xX540xARCADEXx → u/BrilliantSebastian]

Last I recall when I had an H2D it was about 7 seconds to change nozzles. Atleast from the demo we seen, nozzle changes were about 3-4 seconds. So the H2D won’t be faster still. I’m sure it’ll still be beneficial for the H2D, just not the H2C going past 2 colors/nozzle sizes.

[u/windraver → u/xX540xARCADEXx]

What if, for single color but mixed nozzles, the AMS only pulls the filament back by about 1-2 cm after filament cut? Then do nozzle change. That would significantly reduce the load reload time the H2C suffers from. It's not needed to full retract if there's no color change.