So I have had my X1C since May 2023 with 960 hours and am on my 4th 0.4 hardened steel nozzle with 99% PLA being printed through them. I hear people say they have 2000-3000+ hours on a nozzle. I think this last nozzle out of 400 hours or so may have had 20 hours of ASA and maybe 5-10 hours of various CF filaments. The first one was my fault as a rookie I clogged it good and messed it up trying to unclog it within the first 100 hours probably. The second and third ones I got roughly 300-400 hours on them and all of a sudden I started getting this weird texture on any flat surfaces which I think is due to under-extrusion. All other surfaces seem unaffected as I was still producing gorgeous prints as long as there were no flat surfaces and I learned how to iron out the texture when there was but it doesn’t explain why these hardened steel nozzles are seemingly wearing out in 300-400 hours. The texture is even so bad that I can’t do a flow calibration because the texture shows up on all the flow blocks and makes them impossible to read. I can swap in a new nozzle and it prints perfectly. I have tried doing many cold pulls with the different filaments I have used and even purchased some special cleaning filament to run through the nozzles but can’t get the pattern to go away unless I replace the nozzle. I will note that 90% of the PLA I print is Sunlu’s basic PLA.
I think your results are fundamentally different from what others are experiencing. I only have 400 hours on my first HS 0.4 nozzle, but it’s still printing great.
As a nozzle wears out, it generally flows more not less. Reduced flow is almost always either a clogged nozzle or a “lazy” extruder (slipping or skipping).
My X1C came with a 0.4mm needle. I’ve used it a couple of times when flow seemed to be sub-optimal. Worked like a charm.
Do you have an AMS? It might be that one of the tubes has too “acute” a curve to it and filament is wearing away the PTFE (which it will carry on the filament to the nozzle where it’ll plug the nozzle up).
If you don’t have an AMS, it might be that your ambient environment is unusually dusty. Dust that accumulates on an exposed roll of filament will also be carried to the nozzle where it’ll clog things up.
Have you physically inspected the nozzles you’ve discarded? Any close up pictures of the orifice?
I have 700hrs on my P1P which I fitted a hardened nozzle and extruder before I switched it on for the first time and I print lots of abrasive filaments. As suggested by @RocketSled, your issue looks to be something other than the nozzle wearing. The wavy pattern looks like extruder skipping to me. I’d check your extruder gears, the bearings and the filament feed knurling for wear or clogging.