I was wondering if anyone has experience with purchasing 3rd party hotends?
They cost about the same but it’s convenient to purchase 3rd party ones from Amazon…
I originally purchased a seperate 0.4mm hardened steel hotend when I ordered my printer, but I’m thinking about getting a 0.8mm nozzle and just noticed that Amazon had a cr*p ton.
Thoughts?
I have been looking at the ones on Amazon U.K.
I need a new nozzle for my A1 mini as one is blocked and nothing I do will fix it.
Surprise, surprise BL has no stock of normal 0.4mm nozzles (or most of the other sizes for all series printers) in the U.K.
Having read the reviews tens of models I have found the following:
BL is usually expensive, but, their genuine hot ends are reasonably priced for the A series printers. Less so for my P series.
If the Amazon reviews didn’t make me convinced the models available in the U.K. would cause more problems than they solved, I would buy several even though they are more expensive. Because I could at least buy them!
If only BL had stock!
I am having to wait for BL to restock in a couple of weeks!
MalcTheOracle does a great job summing up the “like BL” hotends. There are other choices. Unfortunately they are much, much more expensive. I realize you’re probably not interested in more expensive, but I thought I’d share.
The E3D HF Obxidian has decent comments, although most often it’s said to need a better heater to take advantage of HF than the 40w the stock comes with. You can get better heaters but it’s another added expense, which I’d argue should be included with the purchase from E3D. I found the print quality to be as good or better than stock BL. While considerably more expensive one of the benefits would also be needing to be replaced a lot less than the stock. To be fair though the stock hardened will last quite awhile even with abrasive.
There is also the Panda Revo from BTT. The benifit of this hotend is the ability to use Revo nozzles and have quicker nozzle changes, as well as a higher flow rate. Revo also come in Obxidian (like the E3D Bambo hotend). However you can purchase just the nozzles and swap sizes as you see fit, even to HF options. These are an added cost to an even more expensive hotend. The biggest benefit here besides opening up HF options is the quick change nozzles and a 60w heater for impdroved flow. I prefer this hotend over the E3D for that reason alone, as I switch often. I’ve found print qualiity to be very good (as the E3D) but it comes at an increased price that may kill the value for most.
I purchased because I’m a geek and use poor judgement when it comes to spending money. One among many charachter flaws.
I’ve recently installed the [BIQU - Panda Revo] Hotend and I must say first test @ 35mm/s^3 was amazing! Even used a PETG Transparent Glitter filament. The largest benefit is being able to hotswap nozzles of different sizes and types (Obxidian, Hardened Steel, Brass, Diamondback) I mainly purchased this for this benefit along with being able to use a smaller nozzle size for a special client project which needs a [0.15mm] to achieve the tolerance in which E3D’s Revo is the ONLY brand/Manufacturer of a nozzle this small.
You’ll feel the difference with higher quality wiring for the ceramic heater core and Thermistor as well. It’s hefty in price, but so were these printers 
Is it worth the money?
In the U.K. it is on sale for £100.
Ke in mind, I could buy an A1 mini (£169) for less than two of the Panda Revo hot ends.
Do you find yourself in need of higher speeds or change nozzles frequently? While obvious questions I’m sure you’ve thought about, if either is no, then no it’s not worth it.
The speed and flow improvements are best realized in the .6 nozzle. The .4 HF handles it a bit better. The .4 it comes with is no slouch either, I just don’t see a $130 improvement.
Nozzle swaps are easy, very easy. Let it cool and unscrew the nozzle by hand, reverse to get the new one in. If you’re impatient there are prints that could be done to allow a “hot” swap, if you will.
No, I do not swap that often.
The A1 nozzles are extremely fast and easy to swap as they are. It takes less than 30 seconds to swap.
It takes around the same time to change the option in the menu.
I’m currently documenting the tests/usages of the nozzle @ 35 mm/s^3
I have yet to go above that value but first filament was a multicolor glitter PETG and it went flawless with no hiccups and zero adjustments to the settings I had for other PETG’s.
I’m awaiting the Obxidian 0.4 and 0.6 revos now so the tests will be based off the stock brass 0.4mm revo
I’ll be doing overhang tests as well since I’m using the panda jet alongside the panda revo.