Any word on when this is going to be available? This was one of the key selling points for me. I realize sometimes as early adopters things need to developed, but there has been a few updates now and no word on this feature. Just anxiously waiting I guess.
Well, I agree for sure, more nozzle inventory management, selection, and information features would be most welcome (and judging by other requests here, so do others). That’s some “interesting” marketing copy though. Technically one could say all those features are already available, due to the careful wording (eg. says it “can” store hotend info, not that it will, nor make that info available to us… :-). Except at the end where it promises “instant” matching, which is technically impossible since nothing is instant (just sayn’… not gonna sue or anything!). But it does imply automatic. All of that is arguable of course, since it’s marketing copy in the first place. 
But yea, for now the only minor advantage over any other kind of nozzle is that a tiny sliver of the last used color is shown for the nozzle. Which is useless to separate your black engineering materials. Maybe the printer remembers choices or not, it’s not really clear, and anyway a reset might, I imagine, wipe out that data (again, not clear, or what if you switch printers, etc).
Though w/out some visual identifier on the physical nozzle, once it’s out of the rack how do you tell which is for which material, w/out sticking them back in the rack for ID? Either have to still mark/label them somehow (like any other nozzle), or maybe with some clever external reader gadget which can sync with this alleged/theoretical database of hotends the printer tracks.
-Max
I believe a filament locking feature was teased. I’m pretty sure this was thought up because switching low temp to high temp materials continuously has the potential to degrade nozzle performance.
I made my own hotend box with little labels that I can pop in to identify what’s in what nozzle. Under that are extra lables that i can use as i need. It works for now.
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That’s a sweet box, I like it! Need it, even. My point was that it’s not any different than other “dumb” nozzles you have to label manually. But once we can read the nozzle info externally, that storage box could have a screen display instead of old-school labels.
Just to counter-balance with some positive Vortek feedback, IMHO having 6 hot ends to choose from mounted in the printer at all times is alone almost worth the H2C price of admission (vs H2D). I hadn’t really considered that aspect when deciding.
-Max
Bambu studio v3 march/April 2026 I can feel it
Now with more paid plugins!
My Box is really not even a band aid. Once the nozzles leave the box they can get mixed up very easily. This is why I cant wait for the software to do it.
Yes, we can kind of see the color, but material type is way more important. I think currently it is using nozzles that are in the toolhead from the last print when it should be switching. My purge sometimes is way more than others and its not because of color change.
I have a white felt tip paint marker which works on the nozzle heatsinks (and seems to stay there after use). Not much room for marking of course, but I can fit a letter if I’m careful, like “T” for TPU or whatever. There are other colors also, designed for marking on dark surfaces. This is the kind I have, though it seems maybe the company stopped making them since I can’t find any on their site and only a few on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/American-Crafts-Galaxy-Marker-Medium/dp/B000WWOBHO (and/or search for “galaxy marker”).
-M
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Are the QR codes the same for each 0.4 nozzle etc….
Or does each nozzle have its own special QR code?
Each nozzle has a serial number and version which i think is firmware.
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There is a tiny QR code on top, and it does appear to be unique per nozzle (compared a couple .6 and another pair of .4). A camera with good resolution could read it… But, I hope that code isn’t required for the printer to work, because on at least 2 of my 6 un-installed hotends the QR code is already partially rubbed off. I didn’t check the ones currently in the rack. :-/
-Max
My point was there IS a way to dedicate each nozzle to ~something - now if that is implemented or how you track it - different story, but it looks like there is the ability to track somehow…
This was my solution using fingernail polish. You still have to pay attention to what nozzle the slicer chooses and adjust as needed, but this makes them easy to keep track of at least.
Not my box, but here’s a link: H2C Nozzle Box - Free 3D Print Model - MakerWorld I used TinkerCad to modify the labels on the inlays then painted them in Studio to color code them.
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Just getting my printer up and running after a vortek upgrade. Am I missing something or did they not even bother having a digital record of the last filament a nozzle used? The little colored line on a nozzle doesn’t help at all differentiating between the nozzle using black abs or black tpu.
That’s part of the discussion here, and indeed, that little strip of color is all we get for now. There’s no way to distinguish the actual material used. AFAIK it’s all conjecture at this point that the printer even tracks anything besides color. It should be able to, sure, and what was implied in the advertising, and hopefully it’s doing so already and we just need to be patient for a better UI.
-Max
Holy cow. Write the epitath for the tombstone. Bambu polish is dead and buried.
If it can track color it can track material type. The hotends are serialized and the machines run on the cloud.
“coming in a later update” lol.
Trust in the process, it will be ready in two more weeks!™
Yeah some sort of “color coding” much like what e3D did with REVOs but perhaps for the MATERIALs or that one could “exchange easily…. Heck, maybe someone can/has designed some sort of “clip on” feature to add to the nozzles and showcase what material is this or that nozzle supposed to carry? hint hint