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:
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Stock Bambu 0.4 hardened steel: 26mm^3/s max flow
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Phaetus Conch Plus 0.6 22mm^3/s max flow AND failed with a “nozzle temperature malfunction”
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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.