Comparing aftermarket hotends for X1/P1 series

Bambu Filament and Accesories Accesories
1

Thought this might be helpful as more and more options are becoming available.

BBL E3D Phaetus BIQU Microswiss Slice Engineering Luke’s Labratory
Hardened Steel ObXidian HF Conch Panda Revo FlowTech Mako (FIN) Pika (FIN)
Cost Base $18.99 - $36.90 $149.00 $74.95 $124.99 ?
HF - - $52.90 $192.21 $79.95 $128.99 ?
HF+Hardened - $78.00 - $218.64 $84.95 - ?
Nozzle Cost - - - $40-70 $17-30 $25 $25
Sizes (mm) 0.2-0.8 0.4-0.6 0.4-0.6 .15-1.2 0.2-1.0 0.2-0.8 0.2-0.8
Replaceable No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Quick Change No No No Yes Yes No No
HF+Hardened No Yes No Yes Yes No No
Flow Claimed Rate 25 40 35 40 50 43 45
Melt zone 24mm 24mm 30mm 20mm 28.6mm ? 33mm
Heater Power 48W 48W 80W 60W 60W 48W 48W

My Thoughts

  • E3D ObXidian HF
    • Solid option with good reviews.
    • Flow performance limited by 48W heater.
    • Nozzle is not replaceable so you have to buy complete hotend if you want to change size or nozzle becomes worn
  • BIQU Panda Revo
    • Overpriced in current market.
    • Flow performance limited by short melt zone.
    • In my experience, Revo nozzle is prone to accumulating filament and marketed flow rate is overstated.
  • Phaetus Conch Plus
    • On paper hard to beat price/performance.
    • 80W heater makes me nervous though.
    • Not that many reviews.
  • Microswiss FlowTech
    • On paper the best option currently
    • Good price for hotend and nozzles
    • Especially considering quick change nozzle with HF geometry and hardened tip
    • Flow performance should be good considering melt zone length, CHT geometry, and 60W heater.
    • Early reviews promising.
    • I just received it so I will be testing soon.
  • Slice Engineering Mako
    • Hotend is pricey but nozzles are affordable
    • Uses new FIN standard so not many options for nozzles yet
    • Hardened HF nozzles are not available
    • Uses stock heater so might be under-powered at 48W
  • Luke’s Labratory Pika
    • Yet to released.
    • But intrigued by 33mm melt zone
2

One thing I’ve noticed watching some of the Youtube videos promoting these hotends is a lack of info on how much benefit is there really in regards to printing speed. My biggest concern is that (other than the ones that allow quick nozzle changes) is that the firmware for your Bambu printers can’t be updated to really support some of the higher wattage heaters.

My question is, is there enough of a gain to justify the costs of changing your nozzle? Just curious here, not trying to downplay them.

3

That is a good question. For print speed, it depends if you are flow rate limited. Which generally is the case with X1/P1 series when using regular print profiles.

But another reason for upgrading your hotend is better layer adhesion.
Here is a good video discussing that topic → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kignWSzLD7I&t=162s

And many have been using 60W heaters without any issues. The stock 48W seems to be underpowered if you are using CHT style nozzles.

I can’t speak for value. That depends on your price sensitivity.

4

Very interesting, I never really thought about layer adhesion. That point alone could be worth it to me. Thanks.

5

I recently bought an E3D Obxidian 0,4mm nozzle.
I think that flow rates are way understated. With both PETG and PLA I easily reached 40mm³/s with temperature reduced by 10°C compared to stock settings. I didn’t test yet how fast I have to go to see defects. 40 mm³/s is just more than I need.

I also tested layer adhesion with my test setup, I presented some time ago.
For example with Sunlu PETG, with the stock hotend, at 70mm/s, I needed 180N to break parts. at 260mm/s (limited by flow) that was down to 150N.

With the Obxidian at 230 instead of 240°C , max flow set to 35, the force needed was at constant 185N from 70 to 300 mm/s.

Only drawback I have seen so far is more oozing compared to the stock hotend.

Well possible that other HF hotends yield the same improvement in layer adhesion.

Numbers are from memory, I will check them later and correct if necessary.

6

I think you are right! Others have also reported higher flow rates. I had just used the values from E3D’s documentation → High Flow ObXidian™ HotEnd for Bambu Lab X1/P1 Series Maximum Volumetr – E3D

I will update the table to 40 mm^3/s. E3D claims 60% increase from stock so that should be around 40 anyway.

7

@Kehali_Woldemichael I realize it has been less than a week since you got the MicroSwiss stuff, but do you have any testing updates you could share?

I am very interested in the MicroSwiss, as it seems that I am not dexterous enough to do the hotend changes with native Bambu hotends without breaking something.

8

I use the Obxidian for quite a few months now and won’t look back, let alone go back to the Bambu ones.
Limited ?? Can’t agree as I can print PLA at 500mm/s if need be and similar for PETG if you don’t mind the resulting surface quality at those speeds.
For me though the speed isn’t the selling point, it is the consistency and quality of the results.
People seem to think a high flow hotend makes their machine faster - it does not.
All it does is to remove the limitations of cheap, low end hardware :wink:
The heater is only an issue for filaments that do need very high print temps but not really a limitation.

Why just under 50W if the electronics are rated for 60W ??
Unless you have racing boat no one really keeps an engine at the red line from the moment it starts…
While Bambu might have used 60W hardware I severely question that they did this as the default.
Meaning the heatsink, if present won’t hold up to the task if you are in a hotter climate with above average room temperatures.
So going with a 80W hotend without some in-line mod to supply the power will certainly wreck things sooner rather than later.
So 60W is still good to go ?
Be my guest to try and risk it but before you do you should ask yourself if you REALLY need the extra heating power…
Also how this might affect things in the head.
For power electronics you always try to stay a bit under the rated limit - for good reason…

9

I don’t fully disagree with the points you raised. The E3D ObXidian HF is a quality product. I just have different criteria for selecting a hotend that make it a poor value for me.

  1. Lack of an inter-changable nozzle and limited nozzle sizes. I use a variety of nozzle sizes (0.2-0.6) and value being able to quickly and easily change nozzles.
  2. I mostly print polycarbonate and nylon so high temp performance is important to me. And I am more concerned about layer adhesion rather than print speed. The stock 48W heater becomes the limiting factor in performance once you start using nozzles with CHT style internal geometry.

I don’t see any evidence of a 60W heater causing problems. I myself have been using the 60W Panda Revo for the past year without issue.

But I do agree 80W is probably excessive. Hence why I said the Phaetus Conch makes me nervous. I have seen some people online reporting issues when using heaters higher wattage (i.e. >60W).

10

Not yet! But I will share my results when ready.

11

Screenshot 2025-04-29 at 1.11.08 AM
Screenshot 2025-04-29 at 1.11.08 AM1920×1115 98.3 KB

There was a very interesting youtube video I watched on comparing the aftermarket hot ends. I took a screenshot to show that even if you aren’t looking to race your printer with higher flow rates, across the board the layer adhesion is increased with CHT style nozzles.

Here’s the video, lots of good info in there comparing hot ends.

12

I have done a comparison of the Phaetus Conch Plus 0.6 hotend vs the stock Bambu 0.4 hotend (yes I am aware they are different sizes, but that was the initially the point of my test) If you don’t want to read to the end (I don’t blame you) The results are:

  • Stock Bambu 0.4 hardened steel: 26mm^3/s max flow

  • Phaetus Conch Plus 0.6 22mm^3/s max flow AND failed with a “nozzle temperature malfunction”

  • You wouldn’t buy a Ferrari to put Yugo spark plugs in it, so just stick with Bambu.

    Analysis of Phaetus Conch Plus 0.6 vs the Bambu 0.4 hardened steel hotend.**

All tests were performed with Sunlu PETG at 255C

Phaetus Conch Plus 0.6 Hotend

Below are screenshots of the failure message and failure layer for a volumetric speed test. The Conch 0.6 hard-failed at layer 56 : 22 mm^3/s, throwing a “nozzle temperature malfunction.” Bambu does not have a temperature log, however while watching the temperature being reported, the temperature starts to drop about 1 degree per 5 mm^3/s and this instability/incapability to maintain temperature is what ultimately causes the test to fail.

I have also attached a screenshot of the sliced layer to show the flow rate at the failed layer

I have a Conch 0.4 nozzle, but I don’t see much point in testing it since the 0.6 performs so spectacularly poorly. I can return that nozzle unused unless you want me to replicate the same test.

fig 1. Failure of the Conch Plus 0.6 hotend

fig 2. Flow rate at failed layer for the Conch Plus 0.6 hotend

Bambu 0.4 Hardened Steel Hotend

The below screenshots are testing the Bambu stock 0.4 hardened nozzle. You will see that around layer 82 (26 mm^3/s) the nozzle starts to underextrude, however the layers are continuing to print. To avoid damaging the printer/causing a jam, the test was halted at layer 97 (29 mm^3/s). It should be noted that the stock hotend remained at a stable and exact temperature of 255C throughout the entire test.

fig 3. Failure of the Bambu 0.4 hardened steel hotend

fig 4. Flow rate at failed layer for the Bambu 0.4 hardened steel hotend

Conclusion:

The stock Bambu 0.4 hotend with PETG has a maximum volumetric speed of 26 mm^3/s. Depspite being a larger hotend with a theoretical higher flow capacity, the Conch Plus 0.6 hotend fails at 22 mm^3/s or about 85% of the maximum volumetric flow of the stock bambu 0.4 hotend. Furthermore, the failure mode is catastrophic with the Conch hotend yielding a malfunction instead of underextruding.

13

With the E3D Obxidian 0,4mm I have tested up to 45 mm³/s and it still worked fine on my X1C at default temperatures. I didn’t bother any faster, because I rarely use even 35 mm³/s, so the hotend doesn’t limit me in any way.

The title is a bit misleading. It sounds like you tested a bunch of different hotends :wink: But good to know that the Conch is a non starter.

14

It’s a bit of work in progress - I’ve just tested the obxidian 0.4 with PETG and it is blazingly fast 40mm^3/s I’m still assembling data, but unfortunately the latest version of Bambu Studio has completely roached my list of filaments both in the studio and on the Bambu. Basically the latest Windows version bricked my X1C - can’t select any filaments other than a handful of custom ones (not even Bambu filaments!?!?!?) and I really don’t feel like creating all new custom filaments.

Anyway - I reached out to Phaetus and they claim both hotends I have are mispackaged with incorrect heating elements (hmmm…) They are sending new elements so I’ll re-test.

15

Oh sorry, I somehow missed that your post was a response in an existing thread. The forum showed me your post as the first and only one. Or U was too stupid. Please ignore my remark.