nozzle diameter but smaller line

I had a question actually about nozzle diameter that I can't seem to find the answer to.
I currently have a .5 nozzle on my printer, it works great i use it for wood filament because it clogs if I put a .4 on it.
I find it a huge hassle to take it on and off when switching plastics because I have to re-level it etc.

My question is since I have a .5 mm nozzle is it able to print at .4 equivalent? The reason I ask is I have tried to find this answer but can't find anything related to it. The most I can find is research in how china makes filament. They use the same nozzle for 1.75 and 3 mm all they do is just push harder and drag less to create a bigger diameter.

Is it possible to do the same general thing ? for example if I have a .5 nozzle but want to print at .35 equivalent. I see in my settings I can change the multiplier factor but I dont think this can work as that I have tried and it will create holes and it looks under extruded which is exactly what you're telling it to do. But in my simplify 3d program it gives you the option when you put in .4 or .5 or w/e it is nozzle. There isa auto setting and a manual setting. If you put in an auto setting with a .4 nozzle it drops it down I think to .38 same with .5 drops to .48 (not 100% sure on this because I am not looking at the program right now but I know its not a 1 to 1 )
If I switch it to manual and it has a .4 nozzle I could in theory say .2 then it would push equivalent plastic at a given speed for .2 line and auto correct line overlap to make sure everything is covered?
Does anybody have experience with this?
I await your reply

In general you can just set the nozzle diameter to +/- 0.1 of the actual nozzle diameter and still have it work ok. Larger deviation will either result in loss of quality or extrusion problems since the amount of material will not fit through the small nozzle fast enough.

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I recently was printing with nozzle size set to 0.3mm in slic3r but using a 0.4mm nozzle. The two effects I noticed, one was the prints seemed slightly sharper (I was probably under-extruding slightly) , the other was that the top infill was a bit patchy. I think most slic3rs use 0.48mm as default extrusion width for standard 0.4mm nozzles as this takes into account die swell (which is filament expanding as it leaves the nozzle). This is more pronounced with free-air extrusion than when extrusion takes place onto/into a model.

I've always though this is one area where slicers make assumptions about die swell which might or might not be correct for your nozzle/filament/temperature. I think better would be a test when loading new filament or changing nozzle/temperature, you would measure die swell in free air by extruding and measuring the extruded filament, then enter that information along with nozzle size, as factor used to set extrusion width which would improve accuracy. Instead of loading new filament then using a nozzle size which might/might not actually be the size of the hole in the nozzle you are using unless you measure it accurately, then assuming die swell is 20%, then adjusting flow by trial and error to improve print quality.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

i just tried it and it works out great! I went down to .25 without any problems on my .5 nozzle then added more top layers and boom beautiful

That's good, I'm not sure I was really suggesting setting the nozzle size smaller but if it works for you....

I really think there is an issue with the trial and error of getting settings that work, its fine when you've been printing a while you see the issue straightaway, or are at least not far off. But trying to find that combination of settings that gives the sharpest/most accurate/both prints is a lot of time spent. Fair enough you learn plenty as you go but still.

Been thinking about doing a sequence of tests of actual extrusion widths based on nozzle sizes and seeing if there is a way to quickly test real world extrusion width (free air extrusion probably) and then lookup which setting to use in your slicer. Its quick and simple and saves a lot of trouble.

Don't suppose you can post a before/after of a print be nice to see how much this improves things, how do fine details look with this setting? That's where I'd expect you to lose resolution as in theory the printer will be trying to lay down the next line of filament too close to the last one.

Have you measured your actual nozzle orifice size? Use micro drills off ebay, checked with calipers first.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

haha sorry i misspoke. I kept the nozzle size the same and the setting the same what I changed was extrusion width. still using .5 on nozzle physical size and .5 nozzle size in the settings just smaller extrusion.

I suspect if I actually changed it to .3 nozzle size then it wouldn't look great

Makes more sense but glad it helped.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions