Hey all I’m pretty new to this And I’m looking to increase my print speed and quality. The hot end seemed like the easiest upgrade and it seems that high flow hot ends increase the speed and strength while retaining the same quality overall. Because I’m new I want something that’s relatively easy to do. I don’t really want to be Disassembling and reassembling a thermistor and heater.
I’m torn between a few hot ends and would really appreciate any advice anyone might have.
I got sold into purchasing an E3D diamondback. When I called the website, I was told it would have higher flow and speed. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed when I discovered through trial that this was not the case. I get that it’s very strong, but I’m not printing anything other than PLA and PETG at the moment. With hindsight, the nozzle is very strong for those highly abrasive filaments that I’m not using.
So looking to try again, and I want to get it right this time from what I can tell CHT high flow is the way to go. This leaves me between two options.
Micro Swiss Flow tech CHT CM2 hardened
E3D Obxidian.
Looking for long-term low maintenance and benefiting from faster prints with better adhesion while retaining quality.
I have lots of experience with Obxidian but none with the Micro Swiss. Micro Swiss does have a full length throat which IMHO is a must for a bambu hot end. My E3D was perfect, Micro Swiss bambu hot end is somewhat new on the market and you have to take a bit of a leap of faith on it. I guess it comes down to that and if you need the quick swap ability.
The Micro looks like a good design. I do have a member on my bambu modding discord channel that has one, seems to work well so far have not heard anything bad about them yet. I guess it comes down if you need the quick swap or not.
And the answer is no not right now but I might down the road and so if there’s no performance or quality advantages with the E3D it seems silly not to get the micro and have the feature if performance and quality is equal between the two
Well E3D is the only officially endorsed aftermarket hot end by Bambu, Micro Swiss a bit of a gamble. I think both are designed very well. I did see some reviewer on Micro website that had some small issues, but I dont remember what it was, maybe check those reviews out.
I’m still learning a lot myself, but I’ve been in a similar spot trying to boost print speed and quality without diving too deep into complicated upgrades. I tried the Diamondback early on too. It’s super durable, but for regular PLA and PETG, I didn’t notice much improvement in speed or flow either. It seems more useful if you’re printing with really abrasive stuff. Between the Micro Swiss FlowTech and the ObXidian, I’d probably lean toward the FlowTech. From what I’ve seen and read, it’s easier to install and still gives you that high-flow performance. Plus, you don’t have to mess with the thermistor or heater, which is a big bonus if you’re still getting comfortable with upgrades. The ObXidian looks great too, especially if you think you’ll try more advanced materials down the line, but it might be a bit more than you really need right now. Just my two cents, curious to hear what printer you’re using too, since that could help narrow things down. Hope the upgrade goes smoothly!
The Obxidian they sell complete now so wouldn’t need to do any assembly. Flow tech looks like a more complete system for down the road but don’t really want a wild card haha.
The Micro Swiss also offers the easy nozzle swap for the Exotic materials down the road Which seems like a good option or wider nozzle, easy swap for filled material materials, etc.
The diamondback is not high flow, its a standard straight filament path not CHT 3 split. Also some problems with the print quality with GF filament, see video below. They do have the new HTA which is high flow, which is for X1E only but you can swap it into P1/X1. For some reason they dont sell it unassembled and its not cheap.
