Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage  

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Photos please 

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Unfortunatley i didnt take pictures of it, i just cleaned the heatblock and switched back to a brass nozzle. The leaking was coming from the hole where you screw in the nozzle. The whole nozzle loosens after a couple of heating cycles.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Same happened on my XL, for now I've gone back to Prusa nozzles and print abrasive stuff on my trusted Mk3S, one of which I will keep even after my Mk4 arrives. 

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Ah - I wonder if this is what happened with my hardened steel Nozzle X - it started leaking after a while.  Fixed for now, but I'll have to keep an eye on it.

When I tried to take everything apart for a proper clean I found that the nut on the V6 adapter seems to have tightened compared to when I assembled it, and it's too thin to get a good grip on (especially with the wires in place), so a couple of the flats have rounded.  And of the three grub screws holding the heater and the thermistor in place, one was so tight that it rounded the key.  In the end I fixed the leaky nozzle without disassembling, but I have a couple of problems in store if ever I need to use an original nozzle or replace the heater or thermistor.  Ideally I'd like a couple of spare heater blocks, and although I've just noticed they're listed in the shop, they're out of stock of course.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Did you just retrighten the nozzle or how did you fix the leak?

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Yeah, heated it up and retightened.  I had wanted to isolate the heater block to give it a good clean, but in the end I did what I could with everything still attached.  If it happens again, I won't even both to remove the nozzle for cleaning - I'll just heat it up, slacken the nozzle thumb screws, hold the heater block with the supplied spanner, and get a small socket spanner on the nozzle, then brush everything clean with a soft brass brush.  It was slightly annoying because I'd fitted a silicone sock from day 1 to stop the heater block getting contaminated, but of course the leak was inside the sock so the heater block got a bit messy anyway.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Ill gonna try one last time to retighten the nozzle after a couple of heatcycles and hope for the best.. I dont think it will be possible to use tungsten carbide for this printer. Maybe Ill just buy a copper heatblock and titanium heatbreak for my old mk3s+ instead.

Unless someone knows some secret trick to get this fixed:/

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

I've changed nozzles literally a hundred times on my Mk3 and Mini printers so I'm sure I didn't do anything silly like not hot-tightening the nozzle. At this point I've given up on the idea of using TC with the xL (and Mk4). The Dragon hotends on my other printers have nickel-plated copper heater blocks, so if and when those become available for the XL/Mk4 I'll try again. 

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

I'm afraid dual-material nozzles will be a must for as long as we're forced to use an aluminium block. Stuff with replaced tips but brass body like ruby or diamondback. Or stuff with steel tips and copper body, like obXidian. Those shouldn't leak on an alu block. At least I hope obXidian won't, as I want to get one for my MK4...

RE:

had the same Problem with nozzle X.

my solution: bondtechb cht-bimetal

yes it's not cheap. but i don't have any problems any more. it is copper on the outside and hardend steel insert.

and as bonus i had no problem with 25mm^3 /s

https://www.3djake.de/bondtech/cht-bimetal-reprap-duese

(even dual colour filament works as it should 🙂 )

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Since re-tightening my Nozzle X I haven't had a recurrence of the leak -  got it good and hot, good and tight!

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

I know this is an old issue, but Chris, what brand of tungsten carbide nozzle you were using? I had two versions -  1x from 3D Maker and 5x from DYZE Design. 

5x DYZE Design never leaked. I followed the typical instructions on Prusa Wbsite. 

My 3D Maker leaked horribly. I retightened that nozzle with no luck. I eventually got a new hot block, a new adapter, and another tungsten carbide from DYZE design and it worked flawlessly. All my DYZE design nozzle work the first time without a second thought.  I don't know what it is about 3D Maker, but that nozzle always gave me trouble even on the MK3s+. I eventually was able to tighten it sufficiently on my MK3s+ where it never leaked. But it's not worth the trouble with 3D Maker's version IMO. 

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

In the spirit of sharing information, I have only ever once used a tungsten carbide nozzle and it was on my MK4. It is the 3D Maker 0.4 and after 12 total days of print time (over many weeks) and dozens upon dozens of heat cycles it has not leaked at all. I got everything as hot as I could and used a torque screwdriver to tighten it to 2.5 N m. I was initially worried about leakage but so far it has been great.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Posted by: @savagenyhk

I know this is an old issue, but Chris, what brand of tungsten carbide nozzle you were using?

Mine isn't tungsten carbide - it's the Nozzle X, from Prusa's shop.  No recurrence of the leak since tightening it properly.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

Tungsten nozzles aren't compatible with the aluminum heater blocks due to the difference in material expansion rates of the metals. That's the core issue. You'd need to upgrade the block.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

The plated copper heat block from Levendigs seems to have resolved the leaking issues with my 3DMakerEngineering and Dyze Design TC nozzles. I've run an entire roll of Carbon Fiber PETG with these heatblocks and have had zero issues so far. There may be other makers of copper heatblocks for the MK4, but switching away from the aluminum appears to be the best way to fix this issue.

RE:

Ok, I am interested in this issue so I just bought a couple of the Levendig copper plated heat blocks a minute ago. I am still running my original installed 0.4mm nozzle on my factory assembled MK4 and never had it apart yet. I also bought a few nozzle adapters when I ordered my printer. Exactly which nozzle would I need to buy from 3DMakerEngineering and Dyze Design and can they be used with my current Prusa adapters? After reading all the stories about not so quick change etc I want to do it once with a great nozzle and hope it prints everything I throw at it, mind you I usually print PETG but want to print ABS and ASA and TPU and possibly CF along with PLA.

Thanks!

Posted by: @8bitsaint

The plated copper heat block from Levendigs seems to have resolved the leaking issues with my 3DMakerEngineering and Dyze Design TC nozzles. I've run an entire roll of Carbon Fiber PETG with these heatblocks and have had zero issues so far. There may be other makers of copper heatblocks for the MK4, but switching away from the aluminum appears to be the best way to fix this issue.

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

I never looked at Dyze because I was interested in a full tungsten carbide nozzle, not just the tip, or an alloy.

On my Mk3's and Mini's  with Dragon hotends I've unconditionally very happy with 3D Maker Engineering:

https://www.3dmakerengineering.com/collections/3d-printer-nozzles/products/tungsten-carbide-3d-printer-nozzle

(Make sure you order the V6 type)

and Spool3D.ca

https://spool3d.ca/tungsten-carbide-reprap-m6-nozzle/

RE: Tungsten carbide nozzle leakage

@fushsr

So either of the 2 links you supplied would be a good choice for a solid TC nozzle paired with that copper heat blocks I ordered and fit into my V6 adapters?? If so I am going to order a nozzle and get all my parts ready for when I do my first nozzle upgrade.

Thanks for the info.

Posted by: @fuchsr

I never looked at Dyze because I was interested in a full tungsten carbide nozzle, not just the tip, or an alloy.

On my Mk3's and Mini's  with Dragon hotends I've unconditionally very happy with 3D Maker Engineering:

https://www.3dmakerengineering.com/collections/3d-printer-nozzles/products/tungsten-carbide-3d-printer-nozzle

(Make sure you order the V6 type)

and Spool3D.ca

https://spool3d.ca/tungsten-carbide-reprap-m6-nozzle/