I’m experiencing persistent and critical clogging issues with the 0.2 mm nozzles on both of my Bambu Lab X1 Carbon printers – despite following all setup procedures very carefully. Here’s the full context:
• I’m using original Bambu Lab PLA filament, properly dried in the AMS before each print.
• Both nozzles were installed correctly, and I performed full calibration on both machines.
• I’m printing on PEI plates heated to 70 °C (instead of the default 55 °C) to improve first-layer adhesion.
• Layer height was set to 0.06 mm.
• In both attempts, the clogging occurred during the first layer.
First print attempt:
• Used the official 0.2 mm nozzle preset.
• Nozzle temp was default (around 210 °C).
• Result: Clogged almost immediately.
Second print attempt:
• Cleaned the nozzle, re-dried filament, reinstalled and recalibrated.
• Increased nozzle temperature to 230 °C.
• Used customized slicer settings to reduce stress on the nozzle:
• First layer speed: 40 mm/s
• Supports: 70 mm/s
• Infill: 100 mm/s
• Estimated flow rate: ~1.5 mm³/s
• Result: Same clogging issue again.
Additional context:
• Both printers run flawlessly with standard 0.4 mm nozzles under identical conditions (same filament, plate, models).
• This issue only appears when using 0.2 mm nozzles with PLA, making me think it’s either a preset issue or a fundamental limitation with the nozzle.
I’ve ruled out:
• Filament quality or moisture
• Poor bed adhesion (using 70 °C on PEI plate)
• Incorrect slicer settings
• Low extrusion temps
• Improper installation or calibration
Questions:
• Is this a known issue with the 0.2 mm nozzle when used with PLA and 0.06 mm layers?
• Are there officially supported slicer profiles or parameter adjustments that solve this?
• Is the 0.2 mm nozzle actually viable for PLA under these real-world conditions?
At this point, the nozzles are simply not usable for production, and I’d appreciate any concrete advice or updates. This affects both of my machines and is causing serious delays.
“Clogged almost immediately” doesn’t really imply heat creep to me.
I’ve never tried a 0.2mm nozzle, so take my thoughts for what they’re worth, but the combination of that tiny nozzle and such thin layers is going to really bring your flow rate down to almost nothing compared to more common settings. You might try thicker layers and see what happens - maybe try it with 0.12 layers. You’re just so far outside the optimized settings that it may take a lot of tweaking to dial that in.
I thane your word for the heated plate of 70 Celsius - changed it back to the 55, but nothing changes. I can’t get further then half of the first layer
You seem to be missing my point. The volume you can push through a .02 nozzle is very small compared to a .04. It’s half the diameter, but the cross-sectional area is only .0003 square millimeters vs .0012 square millimeters for a .04, so 1/4 the area. (Pi*radius squared - cut the radius in half, and the area is now 1/4) Re-slice at those .08 layer and .04 nozzle settings and check the flow rate for that, and you’ll see what I mean.
Your flow is so slow, and now you’re trying to run at 50% speed on top of it, I think your problem may be too little flow. At least try one with thicker layers, or running at higher speeds, or both.
height and flow are two very different things. 0.08 is borderline minimum to print with even with 0.2 nozzle. in height. Flow is the pressure used to extrude filament. If flow is too low it will not stick as it cools too fast coming out of the nozzle.
Printing fast will just make it worse. Printing on textured buildplates with a 0.2mm nozzle and 0.08mm or less height is almost not possible as your extruded filament is litterally thinner than the grooves in the textures.
Retraction again is totally different, and is set in the filament settings. Too much retraction is killer for 0.2 nozzles as it will retract too far back and cause crystalization of filament inside the nozzle which reduce time before 0.2 nozzle clogs. and it WILL clog, often!.
As others say, keep it low. like 1 or 1.3mm max.
Then it is your temp.
70 degrees for PLA is insane. I use 35 degrees on the bambu cool plate with glue and never have problems. With the super tack i use 40 degrees for PLA.
Using high heat on buildplate with 0.2 nozzle and superthin layers I have found to be a bad combo, as it will not let the filament cool fast enough and it gets ripped off before it can stick.
Thanks everyone. The problem turned out to be the Textured PEI plate. Smooth plate with glue works even with the standard 0,06mm preset for the 02 nozzle.
