3d print detail / nozzle size

[Sut1576]

hi

after to confirmation information please.

when i do my prints i select my printer in orca ( creality hi 0.4 nozzle )

but slightly lower down just under process it says you have the system process drop down options, in their is selected as 0.20mm standard @creality hi.
strange thing is i do not have a option for 0.4 in that drop down menu

my question is is the printer thinking it printing at 0.4mm or 0.20mm ?

and if i buy a 0.2mm nozzle how to i set and tell the printer to print at 0.2 so i get more detail

thank you
anthony

[CrazyIvan]

but slightly lower down just under process it says you have the system process drop down options, in their is selected as 0.20mm standard @creality hi.
strange thing is i do not have a option for 0.4 in that drop down menu

my question is is the printer thinking it printing at 0.4mm or 0.20mm ?

Are you sure you are not mistaking nozzle diameter for layer height? 0.4mm is a typical nozzle diameter / line width, 0.2mm is a typical layer height, and layer height is the variable for the "quality" settings.

and if i buy a 0.2mm nozzle how to i set and tell the printer to print at 0.2 so i get more detail

You would need to specify it as the nozzle diameter, which would then (probably) automatically adjust a lot of other settings (particularly line width). I'm not familiar with Orca so I can't be more specific, I guess Google will come up with an answer.

Yes, the idea of a finer nozzle is to produce finer detail, but be aware that a model sliced for 0.2mm nozzle is likely to have a hugely increased print time best reserved for small prints. The nozzle has to draw double the length of line, and slower because the filament won't flow so fast through the narrower orifice. 0.4mm is the normal default as the best compromise!

[Oxalainen]

I haven't experimented with smaller than 0.4mm nozzles either, as I've always found 0.4mm nozzle and 0.12mm layer height more than adequate for detail. I once even tried 0.1mm layer height, as that was an option for my old Sovol SV-05 in the slicer. Printed nice, but there was a huge elephant foot effect in the bottom layer, and print time was... Lengthy.

One thing which puzzles me in those smaller than 0.4mm nozzles, is also the question of material flow... The slicer probably should calculate the correct flow for each nozzle, but I'd still worry about clogging the nozzle and entire hotend, as there's a lot of material in hot environment and only little of it is actually extruded out. I probably would not leave a print job like that over night.

[CrazyIvan]

I once even tried 0.1mm layer height, as that was an option for my old Sovol SV-05 in the slicer. Printed nice, but there was a huge elephant foot effect in the bottom layer, and print time was... Lengthy.

I'm sure the elephant's foot could be tuned out, but not the print time!

The big issue with 0.1mm layers (ignoring print time) is layer 1: the thickness of the layer is less than the variation in height of the build plate. It would be usual to increase the thickness of layer 1 to double, but even 0.2mm would not be enough in my opinion. Personally I like rafts – any errors in the first few layers due to Z offset miscalibration or variations in the build plate are fully ironed out by layer 4 (the thickness of the raft), so then layer 1 of the actual model is printed onto a fully calibrated and even raft instead of the hit-or-miss build plate.

The above will be even easier with multi-material printing: print the raft in an incompatible material, then the Z gap can be zero (eg PETG for PLA and vice versa).